Troika Networks In and StoreAge Networking Technologie announced the availability of the Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM storage virtualization and data protection solution for VMware ESX Server installations. This unique solution marks a significant step in next-generation virtualization and data protection technology by joining storage virtualization and server virtualization into an integrated approach to data center management. The combined Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM solution for VMware ESX Server enables administrators to create and provision any-sized storage from a common Fibre Channel Storage Area Network (SAN) storage pool, while at the same time creating and provisioning virtual servers using VMware ESX Server virtual infrastructure software. "Until now, a missing ingredient to the virtual server story has been the capability of managing virtual storage and virtual servers simultaneously," said Steve O'Brian, vice president of marketing at Troika Networks. "The Troika/StoreAge solution not only brings this capability to market today, but also provides an affordable network-based delivery platform for easy deployment in any SAN environment." The Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM Solution The Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM solution is based upon Troika's Accelera Network Storage Services Platform, a purpose-built network-based product for hosting a variety of storage management and data protection applications. Integrated into Troika's Accelera platform is StoreAge's SVM and suite of data protection storage services, which provide virtual volume management and advanced data protection across all storage within a SAN. The integrated solution offers centralized storage management and a comprehensive set of business continuity features, including snapshot, mirroring and replication that extend across heterogeneous storage and server environments. "In today's complex, heterogeneous SAN environments, deploying management and data protection applications are more important than ever before," said Mark Spowart, president of StoreAge Networking Technologies. "This combined virtualization and business continuity solution meets the unique needs of today's enterprise customers by providing the ability to simultaneously manage virtual storage and servers via an efficient, cost-effective, highly available, network-based platform approach." The Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM solution allows IT Administrators to provision individual VMware ESX Server virtual machines with dedicated storage volumes, allowing for flexible allocation of storage resources in as little as 500MB and as much as 2TB per virtual machine volume with the click of a mouse. The solution also offers an application programming interface (API), allowing administrators to automate provisioning, expansion, copying and modifying of storage volumes. In addition, the solution supports high availability failover and fail-back using VMware ESX Server's built-in failover drivers, and supports online server migration with VMware VMotion. "The prospect of combining storage virtualization and server virtualization technology to ease the management of enterprise data centers is very compelling," said Arun Taneja, founder of the Taneja Group. "By delivering a solution that joins these two technologies, Troika and StoreAge are providing customers a practical approach to extend the value of virtualization technology and move toward utility computing in the data center." The Troika Accelera/StoreAge SVM storage virtualization solution has been fully qualified by Troika and StoreAge for VMware ESX Server 2.1.1 and 2.1.2. The solution includes all hardware and software required to add storage virtualization to VMware ESX Server environments, as well as documentation and resources for integrators and end users to successfully implement and support the solution. The solution supports a wide variety of storage hardware and infrastructure products. Troika is a member of the VMware Software Alliance Program.