EMC Rainfinity extends file virtualisation leadership with new enterprise archiving support for content addressed storage

EMC Corporation, the world leader in information management and storage, today announced version 7.0 of the Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution, extending EMC's market-leading capabilities in file virtualisation and management to support enterprise archiving from heterogeneous file and network-attached storage (NAS) systems to the EMC Centera content addressed storage (CAS) platform.

The Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution now offers customers a single platform to manage both active and inactive files throughout a file's lifecycle across heterogeneous environments.

EMC Rainfinity is the leading file virtualisation solution in use on the market, according to an October 2006 research survey by TheInfoPro, a leading independent IT research network. TheInfoPro recently released its Wave 8 Storage Management Fortune 1000 Report, showing that file virtualisation holds the top position on TheInfoPro's Storage Technology Heat Index. The Heat Index measures users' reported spending and implementation plans and is based on interviews with TheInfoPro's TIPNetwork of Fortune 1000 IT professionals.

A June 2006 Taneja Group survey of global IT decision-makers also indicated that 62% of respondents identify file management as either the top priority or one of the top priorities requiring immediate attention in the data centre.

"IT organisations clearly want better ways to manage growing file system resources, not only to manage infrastructure capacity and performance, but also to gain a higher degree of control over the lifecycle of file-level data," said Brad O'Neill, Senior Analyst and Consultant, Taneja Group. "The EMC Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution offers enterprises a highly scalable, out-of-band platform designed to deliver an array of essential file management services and now with EMC Centera support that includes the critical area of archiving."

The Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution includes seven purpose-built applications that optimise capacity management, performance management, storage consolidation, tiered storage management, data protection, synchronous replication and global namespace management - all from a single, easy-to-use interface. In version 7.0, EMC introduces the new File Management application which automatically identifies and archives static files based on customisable policies to lower total cost of ownership, streamline backup and recovery, and address governance and compliance requirements via Centera.

"The EMC Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution has helped our IT organisation achieve dramatic efficiency gains and a higher level of control over our enterprise file systems," said Bill Fleming, Senior Systems Administrator, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. "Our IT organisation has been impressed with the Rainfinity solution's ease of use across our mixed-vendor environment, and we're thrilled it now provides native file archiving support."

"EMC recognises that while file virtualisation is a strategic technology, customers also are looking for solutions that can deliver immediate benefits and help them prepare their environments for virtualisation," said Frank Touwen, CEO of EMC South Africa. "The EMC Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation solution offers enterprise customers a single product that helps tame file system sprawl while leveraging the rich universal archiving capabilities of the EMC Centera platform."

Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation version 7.0 is available immediately through EMC.

EMC Rainfinity file virtualisation solutions are deployed at global customer sites in major industries including automotive, aerospace, biotech, education, healthcare, manufacturing, technology and financial services - including four of the top five US banks. More information on Rainfinity Global File Virtualisation can be found at www.EMC.com/rainfinity.