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Eight must-have technologies for IT director

Johannesburg, 08 Jul 2010

Today's dynamic business landscape is no place for complex, inefficient storage systems with dead-end growth paths. The generation of data continues to explode and access to that data is more critical than ever. This is according to Ingran Africa managing director Andre Moller.

IT departments are forced to purchase, house, power and cool more hardware than needed. Most enterprise storage solutions under-utilise data centre resources, and administrators waste considerable time and effort managing complicated storage systems, leaving organisations at risk of unnecessary downtime. All of these factors quickly eat into the bottom line.

The lack of flexibility and scalability leads to early obsolescence and costly forklift upgrades. Ultimately, administrators are left to coerce rigid storage systems to address core business needs, only to repeat the cycle with each inevitable system overhaul.

More importantly, backup and recovery is slow and unreliable, leading to gaps in productivity and backlogs in business transactions. To compound matters, organisations continue to find themselves locked into proprietary storage platforms that can't be easily expanded or upgraded. Quickly, the costs associated with managing enterprise data can become overwhelming.

With Compellent, enterprise data is actively, intelligently managed throughout its life cycle so one can constantly adapt to changing business conditions. Together, a Fluid Data architecture, storage virtualisation, intelligent software and modular hardware bring unprecedented efficiency, simplicity and security to enterprise storage. This ensures that data centre resources are utilised to their full potential.

Built-in intelligence and automation ensures data is available when and where it's needed and an open, persistent hardware platform scales in line with business needs to protect storage investments over the long-term.

There are eight Compellent technologies that combine to create new levels of efficiency and flexibility while cutting cost now and in the future.

1. Fluid Data architecture: Storage is managed at the most granular level with built-in system intelligence to enable the dynamic flow of enterprise data.
2. Storage virtualisation: Storage is virtualised at the disk level to create a flexible pool of storage resources shared by all servers all the time.
3. Thin provisioning: Allocation is completely separated from the utilisation so any size volume can be created at any time, yet capacity is only consumed when data is written.
4. Automated tiered storage means data dynamically cascades from tier to tier according to actual usage, freeing up high performance rives for mission-critical applications.
5. Space efficient snapshots: Continuous snapshots only capture changes in data for real-time protection with instant recovery to any point in time.
6. Thin replication: Data is replicated between local and remote sites using space-efficient snapshots and native IP connectivity, eliminating the need for high-speed data links or identical system configurations.
7. Unified storage resource management: All storage resources are managed through a single, point-and-click interface providing a complete view of the entire storage environment.
8. Open, agile hardware platform: Storage is designated for persistence, not obsolescence, leaving a single, modular platform coupled with technology independence.

Organisations no longer have to be confined by the rigid boundaries and perpetual expense of conventional storage systems. By actively managing data at a more granular level, Compellent provides dynamic, virtualised storage that readily adapts to constant change. The utilisation of storage resources is optimised to cut storage costs now and in the future. Built-in intelligence and automation simplify and streamline data management, saving staff time and minimising human error.

He says advanced, space-efficient snapshot technology protects against downtime for continuous availability without squandering storage resources. “And an open, agile hardware platform safeguards storage investments over the long-term by remaining technology independent and scaling without limit.

“By leveraging Fluid Data in the data centre, organisations can significantly lower the cost of managing enterprise data throughout its life cycle - and readily adapt to constant change. With Compellent, you have the freedom to choose the technologies that support your IT infrastructure today and readily adapt to change tomorrow - all without disruption. And you don't have to repurchase your base software licence when you upgrade controllers to integrate new technologies,” he concludes.

For more information, contact Ingran Africa on (011) 454-6113 or visit http://www.ingran.co.za.

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Ingran Africa

Ingran Africa, a privately owned South African company that was formed in 2002, is a specialist supplier of products and services in its three focus areas namely thin client technologies, enterprise data storage solutions and bandwidth compression and management. The company is a registered black economic empowered (BEE) company with a level 2 rating from BEE Matrix.

Ingran Africa is focused on bringing new emerging technologies into the South African market. The company specialises in data storage infrastructure, data storage management software, implementation services and disaster tolerance/recovery planning services. Its solutions represented are from technology OEMs that offer compelling solutions with real business benefits.

Its mission is to supply and support best-of-breed IT solutions within the boundaries of its focus. Its primary loyalty is to its clients and its commitment is to provide them with high quality, dependable business solutions at a fair price, thereby establishing long-term business relationships and supporting them on an ongoing basis.

The company focuses on areas where it has experience and competence so that it can deliver a professional and value added service to its clients. Specialities include data storage, backup and disaster recovery solutions and support services.

Ingran Africa has been greatly involved with the data storage market; it has identified the need for a specialised data protection company delivering high levels of service as a “one-stop solutions provider”. The company has built a trusted reputation in the IT industry with partnerships being awarded by local and international companies.

Its strategy is to provide the best business solution and to build long-term relationships coupled with the best customer service. Its skills allow it to approach customers differently from its competitors, as it is not bound to a particular technology or brand. It also allows Ingran Africa to integrate different technologies and to deliver the best solution to its customers.

Editorial contacts

Ivor van Rensburg
IT Public Relations
(+27) 082 652 8050
ivor@itpr.co.za