GAMING

Just like virtual memory makes things easier, users want “virtual capacity” storage. Disks that eliminate storage tasks and automate capacity provisioning so that users can meet their growing need for disk space without interruptions and hassles. Virtual capacity eliminates out of disk space warnings that force users to shut down systems just to add more disks. Users also want industry best price performance and the flexibility and freedom of choice to buy latest open market disks to avoid being locked-in to specific storage vendor offerings. Recent users such as Bitburger Brewery, LG Electronics, Lufthansa, and Hunterdon Healthcare have all touted the benefits of having choice and flexibility in managing and protecting mixed IBM, HDS, EMC and HP storage using DataCore software. DataCore has taken the next logical step forward in storage virtualization. DataCore’s automatic “Virtual Capacity” capability is now being made available on DataCore’s SANmelody disk server platforms. This powerful breakthrough in open storage management and provisioning surpasses the competition and dramatically lowers the price point so that storage users can finally afford to experience the compelling productivity, time savings and lower cost benefits of automated “Virtual Capacity” – the industry’s true open storage virtualization. “Virtualization technologies have been all the rage in storage, as vendors have been looking for unique ways to help users manage and provision disk storage with greater efficiency. IBM’s recent SAN Volume Controller, HDS TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform and EMC’s recent announcements have rekindled interest but they still haven’t delivered on the promise of virtualization. The lack of true automation, the unwillingness of vendors to break their lock-in features - allowing open hardware purchasing flexibility, and the high prices being charged have made these solutions far too costly and impractical for most companies,” stated George Teixeira, CEO DataCore Software. “DataCore’s powerful ‘virtual capacity’, openness to hardware choice, and new pricing combine to break down these barriers”. DataCore’s powerful auto-provisioning capability lets users serve up massively large logical disk volumes, sized from gigabytes to terabytes. To application servers, these ‘virtual capacity’ disk volumes are simple to use since they appear, perform and work just like any other locally attached disk. The difference is that the actual physical disk capacity is drawn from a storage pool on an as-needed basis therefore ensuring optimal disk space utilization. Setting up disks that grow automatically is simple and requires just a single command. “Virtual capacity” volumes work not just over fibre channel SAN networks but also on existing IP/LAN-based infrastructures using iSCSI storage networking. "The current manual approaches for provisioning storage often require hours not seconds to create volumes and make them available to an application or an end user. Many of the newer virtualization products on the market require users to lock in to a specific hardware vendor's 'solution set' and concerns remain over whose hardware can be included in the hardware-based virtualization scheme. DataCore's approach is superior. I am hard pressed to think of any other storage software vendor who offers anything close in terms of giving users so much choice on which vendor’s disks and hardware to use," says Jon William Toigo, renowned storage author, IT consumer advocate and CEO of Toigo Partners International in Tampa Bay, FL." DataCore’s “just enough space just-in-time” - Reducing Costs and Maximizing Productivity “DataCore’s virtual capacity is a major leap forward. You now can defeat the ‘running out of space’ downtime problem and avoid the ‘guesswork’ cost of over buying storage. This innovation truly automates the process of storage provisioning and delivers dramatic improvements in utilization.” – John Padovano, Manager of Technology for EngenderHealth. Divorcing capacity allocation from physical disk constraints using DataCore software returns five important cost reduction and productivity benefits: 1. Disk utilization is maximized since all free space remains in the global storage pool. 2. Applications only occupy space they are really using. This effectively stretches storage budgets by 60-70% which could more than pay for the introduction of DataCore software. 3. Critical applications run undisturbed as their capacity requirements climb. Unlike conventional approaches in which adding storage causes application downtime and user interruption. 4. IT personnel no longer spend time responding to disk re-allocation and resizing requests. 5. Capacity planners have a much better understanding of their total disk needs to properly address long-range provisioning. Said differently, business applications run smoother, more predictably and cost less to operate and maintain after the introduction of DataCore’s unique “Virtual Capacity” capability. Open Storage Choices – Maximum Flexibility “Aside from performance, one of the distinct advantages that was instrumental in my buying decision was the flexibility DataCore provided – it runs on standard servers, uses any disk from any vendor, works over iSCSI, Fibre Channel or both, and it can serve up virtual capacity efficiently to a wide variety of Windows, Novell, Linux, and Unix application systems” – Ann Schneider, IT department, CPA firm Wall, Einhorn & Chernitzer, P.C., Norfolk, Virgina. Latest SANmelody and Auto-provisioning Pricing, White Papers, and Information are available at: http://www.datacore.com/products/prod_SANmelody.asp