Network Appliance will partner with Cisco Systems,
Veritas Software and FileNet to offer integrated systems for data
life-cycle management, regulatory compliance and disc-based data
backup.
NetApp has also announced several products, including two file
servers and an appliance that integrates network-attached storage
(Nas) file serving capabilities with storage-area networks.
NetApp has also reached partnership agreements with makers of
switches and storage management software to offer a variety of data
management and backup and recovery technologies.
NetApp's agreement with Cisco involves qualifying its storage
systems on Cisco's MDS 9000 family of multiprotocol directors and
switches and allows NetApp to resell the switches in conjunction
with its enterprise storage portfolio. NetApp expects to make the
MDS 9100 series fabric switches available within 45 days.
NetApp is also partnering with Veritas to integrate data
management software with its ATA disc-based NearStore to address
regulatory compliance issues and offer disc-based data
protection.
NetApp will resell Veritas software products as part of the
fully integrated solutions, building on the two companies' joint
product development and go-to-market programmes.
NetApp will integrate Veritas' Data Lifecycle Manager 5.0 with
products to enable policy-based data migration and archiving
between NetApp's fabric-attached storage (FAS) systems and
heterogeneous servers, which are connected to NetApp NearStore
systems.
The integration will enable backup for Microsoft Exchange and
file systems running on Windows, Unix and Linux host systems,
according to Rob Soderbery, vice-president of business development
at Veritas.
"Sixty per cent of our customer base uses Veritas for tape-based
backup. Having this as a seamless transition for them to go from
tape to disc backup is a huge advantage for them," Soderbery
said.
NetApp also signed a deal to use FileNet's Enterprise Content
Management software on its NetApp FAS and NearStore arrays. The
deal allows NetApp to use FileNet's Image Manager, Content Manager
and Records Manager suites.
NetApp also introduced the FAS980 and FAS980c (or clustered)
arrays as the lastest members of its FAS900 family of storage
servers.
The hardware can serve up both file and block-level data and has
greater scalability and performance than previous storage server
models. The FAS980 scales to a capacity of 32TB, and the FAS980c
scales to 64TB. NetApp said the arrays can handle mission-critical
applications such as databases, CRM and ERP software.
Both filers run NetApp's Data Ontap 6.5 operating system and
offer file access for NFS and CIFS using Gigabit Ethernet and DAFS,
as well as block-level access over fibre channel and the Internet
SCSI protocol.
NetApp today announced the gFiler, which is a file server engine
that supports block and file-level access on other vendors' arrays,
including those of Hitachi Data Systems and IBM.
NetApp is upgrading its NearStore array, a storage server that
uses inexpensive ATA drives for secondary storage. NetApp said the
R200, which will be available this month, replaces the R100 and
R150 models, and can scale from 8TB to 96TB using 320GB drives and
an enhanced version of SnapVault data management software.
Lucas Mearian writes for Computerworld