Storage stalwarts and startups alike gathered last week in Palm
Desert, California, to show their latest advances with networked
storage gear, during the Storage Networking World conference.
Analysts have predicted that networked storage will take over as
the leading technology in data management over the next three
years, and the conference highlighted a growing trend among vendors
of delivering software that can manage hardware from various
companies, making it possible to control a large pool of data
instead of working with small subsets of storage systems.
In addition, companies demonstrated products that use emerging
protocols such as iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface)
and let users send large chunks of data over IP (Internet Protocol)
networks.
Hitachi Data Systems has teamed with switch maker Nishan Systems
to add long-distance, IP-based backup products to its storage
line-up. Hitachi will resell Nishan's IPS switches along with
Hitachi's own TrueCopy replication software to help users open up
data sitting on Fibre Channel networks to other servers and storage
systems.
The switch can also link disparate Fibre Channel SANs (storage area
networks). The average price for a TrueCopy licence on Hitachi's
Lighting 9900 series storage systems is $14,050 (£9,778), and each
switch costs $30,000 (£20,877).
Tek-Tools released the second version of its Storage Profiler
software for Web-based storage management. This product helps users
with basic management tasks such as tracking storage resources,
reporting on usage and planning for purchasing more storage gear.
With this latest release, Tek-Tools has added support for EMC's
Symmetrix storage systems and the Linux operating system. It has
also made it possible to compile reports on an entire company's
storage resources instead of limiting the reports to one vendor's
products or one department.
The software works with Solaris, Windows NT and 2000 and NetWare
operating systems and starts at $7,500 (£5,220) for a 10-user
licence.
Pirus Networks announced its PSX-1000 switch for both SAN and NAS
(network-attached storage) architectures, allowing administrators
to connect server and storage systems that use various protocols
for exchanging data, including iSCSI, Fibre Channel, NFS (Network
File System) and CIFS (Common Internet File System).
The PSX-1000 helps administrators manage multivendor hardware by
creating one view of all the storage in a network and making all
the storage appear as one large disc. The product price starts at
$85,000 (£59,000).
Neartek announced its Virtual Storage Engine 2 (VSE2) software for
managing data backup tasks on tape storage systems. The software
lets administrators control tape backup functions for a wide
variety of servers, ranging from mainframes to midrange systems.
The product can work with servers running IBM's AS400, Unix,
Windows NT and NetWare operating systems, and can automate data
backup across all these systems. On the low end, VSE2 starts at
$14,000 (£9,740), but it can cost up to $1.7m (£1.2m).
Auspex Systems said it would start shipping its NSc3000 controller
this month, which links storage gear from different vendors and
creates a bridge between systems on an IP network and those in a
SAN. The NSc3000 supports the CIFS, NFS and FTP (File Transfer
Protocol). The product would cost between $30,000 (£20,877) and
$45,000 (£31,316), depending on the configuration.