Hopkinton, Massachusetts, 03 Aug 2005
EMC Corporation today expanded the industry`s broadest portfolio of data migration software and services with the addition of two new host-based solutions that help customers more easily and effectively move information within and between storage systems - a key enabler of an information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy.
The new EMC Open Migrator/LM software provides automated online data migration between heterogeneous storage systems in Windows and Unix environments.
The new EMC/Softek Logical Data Migration Facility (LDMF) software, developed jointly by EMC and Softek Storage Solution Corporation, is the industry`s first migration software that enables online relocation of mainframe data at the dataset level (see separate announcement from EMC and Softek). These host-based products add to the industry`s most comprehensive portfolio of array-based and network-based migration solutions including the EMC Symmetrix Remote Data Facility (SRDF) family and the EMC Open Replicator and EMC Invista products, and they allow customers to balance performance, functionality, availability and economics to achieve specific service levels based on their requirements.
"Migrating data is one of the most difficult challenges customers have to manage. There are many reasons why data needs to be moved, including server and storage upgrades, and the growth in data volumes has made this increasingly difficult," said Dennis Martin, Senior Analyst at Evaluator Group. "EMC has developed a set of solutions and services that minimises the risk and automates some of the most time-consuming tasks. This provides a mechanism and roadmap for customers to implement tiered storage, which is the foundation of ILM. Customers now have the flexibility to easily move their data to the most cost-effective storage platform based on its importance at any given time."
The EMC Open Migrator/LM software moves Unix- or Windows-based data from a source to a target - either within a storage system or between two heterogeneous storage systems - while that specific information remains available to the application. Traditionally, migrations of this type require extensive periods of downtime. This new EMC software is easy to use and is an ideal fit for moving application data, migrating internal storage to an external storage system, migrating data between heterogeneous storage systems and from direct-attached storage to a storage area network (SAN).
The EMC/Softek LDMF software was developed in conjunction with Softek, a leading provider of data migration software. In February 2005, EMC and Softek announced a reseller relationship enabling Softek to offer EMC`s portfolio of mainframe software, and this relationship has been expanded to include joint software development. LDMF integrates technologies from both companies to non-disruptively relocate mainframe data to different volumes within a storage system or to another storage system.
An industry first, the LDMF software relocates data non-disruptively at the dataset level on storage arrays in mainframe environments. It is the only online alternative to a lengthy manual and often error-prone process requiring extensive downtime. The LDMF software is a major step forward for all mainframe storage customers, especially those moving from older, smaller volumes to new systems with larger drives and volume sizes because data is moved in the background while systems are online and volume sizes are converted automatically.
David Donatelli, EMC Executive Vice-President, Storage Platforms Operations, said: "Customers in every industry tell us that migrating data is one of their largest problems. We believe we have now solved some of the most difficult technical challenges associated with migrating data in both open systems and mainframe environments. As more customers implement information lifecycle management strategies, the ability to transparently move data is key. The EMC Open Migrator/LM and EMC/Softek LDMF software enable customers to put their data where they want it with greater flexibility than ever before and dramatically reduce the cost of managing information."
Customers can implement the EMC migration solutions directly, or EMC can implement them as part of its portfolio of professional services. EMC`s experienced services personnel move more than one petabyte (1 024 terabytes) of data each month for customers and help them deploy a more effective storage infrastructure and consolidate their information for improved management.
Availability
The EMC Open Migrator/LM software will be generally available in August 2005 with enterprise, departmental and workgroup licences based on the number of servers.
The EMC/Softek LDMF software is expected to be generally available in September. Softek will sell LDMF software through its direct sales force in North America and Europe.