Hitachi Data Systems today announced further commitment to the adoption of open standards for storage networking with its full support of the SNIA Storage Management Initiative (SMI).
Fanie van Rensburg, MD of local HDS distributor, Shoden Data Systems, says this endorsement of the SNIA SMI aligns with HDS' TrueNorth vision and strategy for open information management.
"The goal of both efforts is to provide customers with the freedom of choice to take advantage of multi-vendor, interoperable storage networking solutions based on industry standards," he explains.
Under the TrueNorth strategy, Hitachi Data Systems recently announced its next-generation Hitachi Freedom Storage Lightning 9900 V systems and the HiCommand Management Framework, an open, standards-based tool. This strategy provides customers with freedom of choice in integrating best-of-breed products to manage their storage infrastructures while leveraging high-performance storage systems.
The SNIA SMI is a programme to develop, standardise, and drive the adoption of an open storage management interface, based on the Bluefin draft specification. The Bluefin specification is the cornerstone of the SMI standard and describes an enhanced CIM (Common Information Model) / WBEM (Web-Based Enterprise Management) interface for discovering, managing, and monitoring devices on a storage network.
"As heterogeneous storage networks grow, management and interoperability are a customer's top concerns," continues Van Rensburg. "By removing the management interoperability bottleneck, a standard interface will allow customers to select the best management solutions based on their ability to solve critical business issues rather than on their ability to work with particular products.
According to Van Rensburg, Hitachi Data Systems has worked closely with the SNIA from its inception and is consistent with its commitment to an open, collaborative approach to the storage market. Furthermore, Hitachi, Ltd is a founding supporter of the Partner Development Process (PDP) and technical contributor to the Bluefin specification.
Share
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 Channel and ESCON/FICON 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:
1. Storage - the HDS Freedom storage range, including Lightning 9900 and 9200
2. Connectivity - the Inrange FC/9000 Fibre Channel/ FICON Director, ESCON Directors and Channel Extenders
Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems, the fastest growing enterprise storage provider, is a leading supplier of storage hardware, software, solutions and services. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd (NYSE: HIT), Japan's largest electronics company, Hitachi Data Systems is committed to providing the storage infrastructure for the world's most information-intensive corporations. With 2 600 employees, Hitachi Data Systems does business through direct sales and resellers in the public and private sectors in 170 countries on six continents. Its customers include more than 50% of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd
Hitachi, Ltd, headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 2001 (ended 31 March 2002) consolidated sales of 7 993.7 billion yen ($60.1 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 133 yen to the dollar.
Editorial contacts