Compaq Computer today announced new enterprise storage area network (SAN) solutions for high availability with the lowest cost of ownership in the market. Ideal for disaster-tolerant configurations, the new solutions are available for the Windows NT, OpenVMS, and Compaq Tru64 UNIX operating systems and are backed by service and support by Compaq`s global services organization.
Today`s announcement expands upon the company`s Enterprise Network Storage Architecture (ENSA), designed to make computer storage a flexible, shared resource in an enterprise, and is part of a larger strategy to reduce the complexity of enterprise computing. "Businesses today have various options to mitigate interruptions in their computing systems and increasingly those options revolve around the storage of data," said Julian Simpkins, Storage Product Manager, Compaq Computer. "Compaq offers high availability SAN-based solutions for the entire enterprise to ensure continuous operations for our customers` businesses at a much lower cost of ownership than solutions from competitors. In addition, Compaq offers customers the services they need to run their IT environments from consulting and support to complete outsourcing."
New solutions include:
StorageWorks solutions with the latest Fibre Channel switch technology to allow customers to configure highly scalable SAN solutions. Customers can also replicate business-critical data over long distances for protection against disaster.
New disaster tolerant software - the StorageWorks Data Replication Manager - for complete data integrity in case of a primary data center outage or natural disaster.
A higher capacity configuration of the Enterprise Backup Solution - a SAN-based backup and restore solution for Windows NT or NetWare customers - for protecting mission-critical data.
Data products for additional data protection, including an improved uninterruptible power supply system.
Storage-related consulting and support services and data center outsourcing from Compaq Services.
"With these new solutions, Compaq is reinforcing its ability to deliver on its ENSA vision," said John McArthur, storage analyst at International Data Corporation. "The introduction of Fibre Channel switch technology and peer-to-peer remote copy software are significant steps in helping customers build SANs right now."
Scalable SANs for Remote Connectivity
Based on a common architecture, Compaq`s StorageWorks Enterprise Storage Array 12000 (ESA12000) and RAID Array 8000 (RA8000) are designed for demanding commercial enterprise applications and offer customers centralized management, high availability, and exceptional performance and scalability in open systems environments. Today the systems are available with Fibre Channel switched fabrics, a high-end solution that extends the architecture with increased performance, reliability, and remote-site connectivity. Customers can configure highly scalable SANs for disaster tolerance with StorageWorks RA8000 and ESA12000 solutions and new 8- and 16-port Fibre Channel switches that enable thousands of connections - a maximum of 32 switches with 8 parallel links between any pair of switches.
As the SAN multiplies in size, its overall performance increases with every 100/MB per second Fibre Channel device that is added. Today, the new switches enable customers to create duplicate sites at distances of up to10 kilometers for disaster protection. The switches also provide enterprise-level SAN management features such as device and fault isolation, enhanced error reporting, and diagnostics for high availability. Prices for a 400 GB switched fabric SAN using a StorageWorks RA8000 system and a StorageWorks Fibre Channel 8-port switch start at R590,0001. Prices for a 1 TB and 5 TB switched fabric SAN using a StorageWorks ESA12000 system and a StorageWorks Fibre Channel 16-port switch start at R1.4m and R5.9m respectively.
Disaster Tolerance at Affordable Prices
In the event of a disaster, customers` businesses can continue without interruption with the StorageWorks Data Replication Manager software and switched fabric SANs comprising StorageWorks RA8000 or ESA12000 systems. This RAID controller-based software replicates online business-critical data in real time at local and remote sites for protection and ensures business continuance for the most demanding applications. Synchronous data replication such as this is key for mission-critical applications such as data warehousing. The StorageWorks Data Replication Manager software replicates data at Fibre Channel speeds of 100/MB per second at distances of up to 10 kilometers between sites. Data restoration can take place in seconds or minutes, where other disaster recovery methods may take days or even weeks. The lowest price point in the industry, a fully configured disaster-tolerant configuration that will replicate 1 TB of data starts at R3.2m for hardware and software.
High Capacity Enterprise Backup Solution
Designed for large-scale Windows NT and NetWare customers running mission-critical environments, the Enterprise Backup Solution is an integrated SAN backup solution comprising hardware from Compaq, including Fibre Channel host adapters, hubs, tape controllers and SCSI tape libraries, and software from leading partners. The solution was designed to meet customers` demanding backup and restore requirements with high performance and centralized management. It offers Fibre Channel bandwidth performance of 100/MB per second for decreased backup windows and an architecture that enables concurrent backups from multiple servers to single or multiple DLT libraries.
The Enterprise Backup Solution now supports a larger tape library - the TL895 - for increased capacity. The new library supports up to 7 DLT drives and up to 96 cartridges for up to 6.7 TB of data. The solution also offers higher performance and easier management for large-scale Windows NT and NetWare environments. List prices for the Enterprise Backup Solution (excluding software) range from R420,000 the DLT 15 Library Model 35/70 up to R1.3m with a fully configured TL895 tape library.
Compaq Services for Customers` Entire IT Infrastructure
As enterprises increasingly rely on technology for business operations, they need to eliminate single points of failure. Compaq`s holistic approach to high availability takes into account the customer`s entire IT environment and engages the customer in a proactive partnership to ensure the highest levels of system availability. Throughout the IT lifecycle, Compaq Services offers service and support to help customers plan, design, implement and manage storage as part of their overall computing environment, including systems, storage and networks. At any point in the lifecycle, customers can choose Compaq`s storage-related consulting and support services, such as:
Site planning and readiness services
Infrastructure consulting including facility planning and design
Hardware and software installation and support services
High-availability services including: availability review and partnership, disaster-tolerant and disaster recovery services
Additionally, through FutureSourcingSM, Compaq can manage all or part of customers` computing environments on an outsourced basis, so that CIOs and IT staffs can focus on core business issues and future IT needs. Compaq`s FutureSourcing services enable customers whose IT departments are constrained by resources or storage expertise to access the capabilities of Compaq`s experienced service professionals and a global operations management infrastructure.
With the explosion of data and information management necessary for e-commerce, enterprise applications, and other mission-critical applications, storage area networks will become an even more critical and integral part of the IT infrastructure. In order to compete in today`s Web-enabled, global business infrastructure, customers are now adapting new business models and technologies.
Compaq Services will build on its 40 years of experience as a trusted advisor to provide a comprehensive lifecycle solutions approach to help customers plan, design, implement and manage their storage area networks while protecting their current and future IT investments.
Compaq Storage
Compaq is the leading provider of open and industry-standard storage in the industry according to International Data Corporation`s report, "Year in Review, 1998: Disk Storage Systems." Compaq offers leadership industry-standard storage solutions for servers, multi-vendor environments, and business-critical computing. Today`s new solutions demonstrate the strengths of the Compaq StorageWorks brand name, which is based on a broad product family and widely recognized for supporting the most demanding business applications.
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