DEFENSE

CentricStor Version 3.0, a powerful, heterogeneous virtual tape system that supports the predominant operating systems and backup applications, was launched with doubled throughput, new management functions, expanded support options and support for high capacity, low-cost Serial ATA disk. Taken together the new features and functions represent the most significant release of the product since its inception in 2000. Developed by Fujitsu Siemens Computers, the leading European IT provider, CentricStor is available in the United States from master distributor PeakData Inc, a Colorado-based storage solutions provider, and PeakData's reseller partners. Previously only available with high-performance fibre channel disk cache, CentricStor now can incorporate lower cost, high capacity Serial ATA disk. As a result, customers can more easily afford to retain more data in cache for longer periods of time to assure the fastest possible recalls. In addition, customers can now achieve new service level agreement (SLA) capabilities through management software that enables users to mix and match high performance fibre channel and ATA drives and assign different priorities to different data. The new management features enhance CentricStor's value in an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy. In addition, processor improvements incorporated into CentricStor have resulted in performance that scales to 8.6TB per hour of data throughput (from server to disk cache in the CentricStor system) from the previous 4.3TB per hour. A minimum configuration now can run at 2TB per hour versus the previous 1TB per hour. The new platform also now offers enhanced disaster recovery capabilities by enabling the efficient import and export of physical cartridges from the CentricStor system. The addition of FICON support (previously CentricStor could attach to Escon and fibre channel only) dramatically enhances backup and restore performance in mainframe environments. CentricStor, which already supports most major mainframe and open systems backup applications, has added support for CA's BrightStor ARCserve Backup and Legato's Xtender products. CentricStor enables today's complex data centers to consolidate their tape environments onto fewer real tape devices and tape libraries while shrinking backup windows and dramatically reducing data recovery times. The net result is a less capital and resource intensive environment that saves money and time and reduces business risk. "The connectivity of CentricStor is unique and enables seamless integration into existing heterogeneous environments," confirms Norbert Deuschle, a storage expert and independent market analyst and senior consultant with the META Group. "A sophisticated policy-based automation of the entire storage, especially for backup and restore, will be an indispensable part of a comprehensive ILM." "Our customers are deploying CentricStor as a central automation component for data protection in heterogeneous environments. Customers worldwide, such as SAP in Europe, Orange County Public Schools in the U.S. and Fujitsu customers in Asia already use CentricStor as the central platform to consolidate their entire business-critical data backup," said Helmut Beck, vice president of storage at Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "The latest improvements, in particular the refinement of Policy-based automation, are a milestone towards the goal of complete ILM." "By expanding the performance and capacity of CentricStor, while increasing the management flexibility, Fujitsu Siemens has made a compelling value proposition even more powerful," said Mike Holland, vice president and general manager of the CentricStor business unit at PeakData Inc. "As we all know, not all data is created equal. Putting more and more undifferentiated data on lower cost disk can create a false sense of economy simply because disk prices are declining. It can still be quite wasteful, however. CentricStor now combines low-cost disk with sophisticated management tools to assure that whatever disk or combination of disk you have is used optimally." CentricStor is the first and only self-contained, heterogeneous virtual tape system that supports the predominant operating system environments and back-up applications as well as major tape automation platforms and tape devices from such prominent companies as StorageTek, ADIC and IBM.