INDUSTRY

Magirus, one of Europe's largest suppliers of VMware software and the leading value added distributor in the IT infrastructure marketplace, announced today that the company has signed a strategic agreement with DataCore(tm) Software to market and distribute DataCore's storage networking software to build on its success in deploying Virtualization Infrastructures. DataCore's world record performance, automated Virtual Capacity management and the software's ability to reduce costs while adding flexibility enable Magirus to deliver a new level of storage and networking solutions to SMB and Enterprise users. Magirus will leverage its training and consulting services along with its expertise in server and infrastructure virtualization to deploy DataCore based solutions. System integrators (SIs) and value added resellers (VARs) now have immediate access to a range of storage, expertise, training, services and software from which to tailor affordable iSCSI/LAN and Fibre Channel SAN end-user storage solutions to complement and expand their VMware and Microsoft virtual server business. "Virtual infrastructures have gone beyond simple server consolidation to a new level that with DataCore incorporates the storage and SAN resources. DataCore and VMware work well together to reduce costs by increasing server and disk space utilization, speeding up deployments and simplifying the workload on our system and storage administrators," states IT Director, Günther Atlhoff of DVV Stadtwerke Duisburg, one of the first users to benefit from the agreement. "We chose to go virtual and it was a wise decision. We enhanced our productivity and minimized disruption to our users; it saved us significant time and money." DataCore's powerful Virtual Capacity auto-provisioning allows users to upgrade their infrastructure to easily add disk space over a SAN or existing IP LAN without the need to reconfigure hardware, open up systems or even reboot application servers. Virtual Capacity lets administrators serve up massively large logical disk volumes, sized from gigabytes to terabytes. To application servers, these virtual disk volumes are simple to use since they appear, perform and behave just like any other locally attached disk. "Magirus differentiates itself in its ability to go beyond the product to support and train its customers on getting the full productivity and cost saving advantages of virtual solutions. They understand the issues of managing storage growth and the critical need to adapt and respond quickly to change", stated George Teixeira, CEO of DataCore Software. "Magirus delivers the benefits of going 'virtual' with a range of flexible DataCore solutions designed to address the needs of Disaster Recovery, Non-disruptive Disk-to-Disk Backups, Remote IP Replication, Consolidation, Business Continuance, and Rapid provisioning of servers and storage." Magirus consultants are trained and certified according to strict DataCore standards and are able to provide qualified advice to partners in the sector and compile individual solutions on the basis of DataCore best practices. The partners thus receive complete solutions at one stop. Other support is provided by the experts at the Magirus Technology Center for the implementation of virtual infrastructures in existing system environments, optimizing utilization of existing IT resources. DataCore training courses for the partners in setting up and managing virtual storage is also available through Magirus. "The DataCore product portfolio provides our partners with a simple way to add value and to expand and augment their virtual server business. Having introduced the benefits of virtualization through products like VMware, they can now offer their customers the next step in building a 'virtual enterprise' - virtual storage," says Jürgen Rahn, Director Software EMEA, at Magirus: "By offering complete virtualization solutions and expertise, we help our partners differentiate from the competition, bring more value to customers and cement long-term, trusted relationships with those customers as their 'virtualization architects.' DataCore reinforces Magirus' position as the leading distributor for server and storage consolidation and virtualization. To get started on building your virtual infrastructure, download the joint white paper prepared by DataCore and Magirus: "Virtual Servers and Virtual Storage Make Sense!" at www.datacore.com