Features - Storage Innovations:

IMPERIAL TECHNOLOGY ANNOUNCES WhatsHot

Imperial Technology, the company accelerating application performance, has announced WhatsHot, a new software product that tracks file usage by individual file name and outputs information that can be used to optimize data placement in storage infrastructures.

"Given industry estimates that 50% of all data inquiries are directed at less than 10% of total data, it's amazing that contemporary Unix and Microsoft operating systems don't track file usage. It certainly makes business sense to know which files are essentially Hot Files and to optimize the storage infrastructure to maximize access to those critical files," said Robert David, CEO and President, Imperial Technology. "WhatsHot does exactly that. WhatsHot effectively illuminates the file interaction between server and storage, and enables administrators to take proactive actions that result in infrastructure productivity gains."

WhatsHot comprises a simple and non-invasive software agent that resides on the server to collect real-time file access statistics. Once a brief snapshot is complete, WhatsHot provides a concise report that illuminates key file usage parameters, including total file usage, time per access, percent file contribution of total workload, and average access size per file.

Enterprise customers deploying EMC, HDS, Sun, HP, and other high-end cached storage arrays that feature large cache front-ends will immediately recognize the value of WhatsHot. This class of storage generally offers a large cache that can be partitioned to create volumes to lock critical information into cache-using software products such as HDS FlashAccess, EMC PermaCache, Sun StorEdge 9900 Resource Manager, and HP SureStore E Cache LUN XP. The administrative challenge deploying these powerful products is selecting the right files to lock into cache, a difficult task given the lack of tools until now. A quick WhatsHot snapshot taken at a peak processing period will clearly identify hot file usage and allow administrators to define or refine files that should be placed into these cached LUNs for maximum productivity. Likewise, WhatsHot can identify files that are currently locked into cache and which could be redeployed to a less performance-intensive storage medium.

WhatsHot effectiveness is not limited to usage with persistent cache LUNs, it's also a broad-based and valuable tool for IT infrastructures where a tiered hierarchy of storage devices is used. It's a tool for empowered administrators to accurately determine file placement on maximum-performance storage (Hot Files); moderate-performance, cost-effective storage (Warm Files); or high-capacity storage (Cold Files) devices.

WhatsHot is a powerful administrative tool that uses actual real-time empirical data to monitor and measure file usage metrics and joins Imperial's recently announced Serv2Stor software as a foundation for Imperial's growing productivity enhancing suite of software deliverables. WhatsHot for Sun Solaris is available immediately, with additional operating environment releases scheduled later this year.