As data grows exponentially, companies are focusing more on reducing the complexity and cost of their IT infrastructures and attempting to unite islands of information. Hitachi Freedom NAS offers a viable solution through the convergence of NAS and SAN in a single system.
Shoden Data Systems, local distributor of Hitachi Data Systems, has announced the Hitachi Freedom NAS, the latest addition to the storage vendor's Freedom Data Networks portfolio of network solutions.
Fanie van Rensburg, MD of Shoden Data Systems, says the new product allows customers to include both network-attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) storage requirements in a single platform of centrally managed storage that is highly reliable, scalable and easy to use. In configuring the Hitachi Freedom NAS, either the Hitachi Freedom Storage Lightning 9900 Series or the Thunder 9200 system is attached to a NAS server, supplied by Network Storage Solutions (NSS).
This gives users the option of allocating part of the capacity in a single storage unit - up to 37 terabytes in the Lightning 9900 and up to 7.2 terabytes in the Thunder 9200 - for use by NAS for filer applications, while other parts of the same storage platform are used by SAN.
"In terms of actual business benefits," explains Van Rensburg, "customers can store mission-critical applications in a SAN environment, where performance is key, while NAS can be deployed for less data-intensive applications - all on one storage platform. If at any stage, a NAS-allocated application experiences huge demand or growth, customers can simply re-deploy that application to the SAN environment to improve performance.
"In addition," he continues, "customers can reconfigure earlier generation Hitachi Freedom storage systems as NAS file servers, thus lengthening the useful life of these products and enabling a higher return on investment."
The Hitachi Freedom NAS may include multiple NAS server engines, in a freestanding or clustered configuration for a High-Availability fail-over mode, depending on the customer's storage capacity requirements. Customers operating in Windows NT/2000, A/S 400, and Unix environments can protect their storage investments and substantially lower their total cost of ownership, including storage management costs, through file sharing capabilities within a standard Ethernet network.
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With offices in Johannesburg and Cape Town, Shoden Data Systems (Pty) Ltd is the sole distributor for Hitachi Data Systems in SA. In addition, Shoden Data Systems is the sole distributor of INRANGE Technologies Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of channel extenders, fibre switches and ESCON directors.
Shoden Data Systems is also a Veritas Premier Partner and provides integrated, managed, best-of-breed storage area network solutions to the marketplace.
Based on more than 200 collective years of experience in the service, support and marketing of Hitachi products, Shoden Data Systems uses its intellectual capital and industry-leading products to provide customers with total solutions in the storage, enterprise servers and connectivity arenas. The following offerings are available:
- . Storage - the HDS Freedom storage range, including Lightning 9900 and 9200.
- . Connectivity - the Inrange FC/9000 Fibre Channel Director, ESCON directors and channel extenders.
Hitachi Data Systems
Committed to helping customers exploit the value of information technology for success in the Internet economy, Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd (NYSE:HIT), is a leading provider of business solutions for the world's most information-intensive corporations. For further information on Hitachi Data Systems, access www.hds.com.
Hitachi Ltd
Hitachi, Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 2000 (ended 31 March 2001) consolidated sales of 8 417 billion yen ($67.9 billion*) The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd, please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com
* At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar.
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