Features - Storage Innovations:

ENTERPRISE DISK PUSHED TO HIGHER CAPACITY AT StorageTek

Doing more with less is a familiar refrain in data centers today. With shrinking IT budgets and fewer resources available, storage managers are tasked with keeping businesses running without wasting storage capacity. Enter StorageTek's V2X2 Shared Virtual Array (SVA) disk storage system.

StorageTek (Storage Technology Corp), a data storage and solutions expert, has announced hardware and software enhancements to the SVA disk storage system for both mainframe and open systems environments effectively doubling open system capacity and providing enhanced reporting, SnapShot and replication capability. With the launch of the latest enhancements to StorageTek's V-series of virtual disk offerings at Storage Management Conference (SMC) 2003, StorageTek offers mainframe and open systems customers a cost-effective solution for protecting, sharing and managing information. The product will be showcased at StorageTek's Booth.

"Our customers have told us loud and clear to help them eliminate excessive purchasing of under-utilized disk storage capacity while providing an enterprise-class storage solution to protect, share and manage the lifecycle of their data," said Bill Farnum, StorageTek vice president, SVA Product Line. "At the same time, customers tell me they need a storage solution that can do more with fewer people and disk resources. The StorageTek V2X2 SVA is the only storage device that can provide business continuity copies of critical data that requires zero storage capacity."

"When we purchased the V2X, we knew we could use 100 percent of the terabyte capacity with no impact on performance," said Rick L. Hershberger, vice president and manager of Computer Operations at FirstMerit, Akron, Ohio. "The SVA is also easy to manage, since we only have to concentrate on one parameter from SVA Administrator reports. And, with SnapShot software, we can produce a total copy of all our disks in a few minutes."

Gary Wasko, manager of Technical Services for Allied Insurance, added, "I am very pleased with the ability SVA provides to collapse down four separate platforms to one platform, the ease of migrating almost seven terabytes of data with no outage, and the reliability and performance of the box."

"The total cost to manage disk storage today is rising more than ever before," said Ed Broderick, principal analyst, The Robert Frances Group. "Enterprises today still need to find ways to resolve their data storage requirements while not over-extending IT staff and resources. With StorageTek's SVA, companies have an enterprise class disk storage solution that provides ease of management and resource optimization to satisfy their growing business needs while sticking to their IT budget."

The StorageTek V2X2 SVA enhancements include:

• Increased capacity: With the latest high performance Seagate 73GB drives, open systems users gain twice the effective capacity while both open systems and mainframe users gain an additional 10 percent performance gain. The SVA's advanced design allows customers to utilize 100 percent of their purchased storage capacity and provides automated storage management functions.
• Enhanced Remote Copy Functionality: As part of the SVA Virtual Power Suite Software, Power Point-to-Point Remote Copy (PPRC) software ensures that a synchronous remote mirror or an asynchronous point-in-time copy is available at a secondary site for production access in the event of disaster. PowerPPRC dramatically decreases synchronization time between disk subsystems. Users can quickly and easily maintain remote copies of their production database without impacting production performance.
• Simplified Reporting: SVAA Point-in-Time Reports, a key component to the SVA Virtual Power Suite, provides a consistent, easy to comprehend subsystemlevel SVA reporting structure for all supported operating systems (except VM) via a common Web-based interface. Reports include subsystem summary, device detail and I/O interface detail all of which provide customers with a nontechnical reporting structure. The new capability includes the ability to access and view reports from anywhere in the world.

Availability

The V2X2 SVA, SVAA Point-in-Time Reporting and PowerPPRC are available to customers worldwide today. SVAA Point-in-Time Reporting and PowerPPRC can be applied to all existing SVA installations. Training and support are available from StorageTek Global Professional Services and StorageTek-certified service partners.