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Tag: unified-storage

  • Sun Expands Unified Storage Family


    Sun Microsystems is extending its Unified Storage family with an array that allows solid state disk (SSD) drives and hard disk drives to be used in the same chassis and under the same management interface.

    The Sun Storage 7310 is a comprehensive, Flash-powered storage system that includes leverages Hybrid Storage Pool capabilities.

    In addition to the maximum 64GB of DRAM cache, it can be configured with up to an additional 600GB of SSD cache (1.2TB for cluster version) for enhanced application performance.

    John Fowler, executive vice-president, Systems, Sun Microsystems, said the Storage 7310 opens up a door for customers to more widely deploy high availability clustered storage and experience the power and economic benefits of Unified Storage.

    Other features within the Sun Storage 7310 storage system include:

    • Three times (3x) less power consumption than traditional storage solutions
    • Scalability up from 12TB to 96TB capacity with no interruption to system availability
    • High network throughput with four 1Gb Ethernet ports per controller and optional 10Gb connectivity
    • Single controller offers two PCI slots for additional network or tape-backup connectivity for easy plug and play integration

    The Storage 7310 is available immediately and costs from USD $40,165

  • IT Decision Makers Unclear About Unified Storage

    Unified storage has yet to make an impact on IT decision makers, with few even able to define what it stands for and even less aware of the business benefits of implementation, according to a survey.

    The study was conducted by Gartner and ONStor among 1600 IT and business decision makers from four continents and over 37 countries who attended the recent Gartner Data Center Summit and SNW Europe.

    It found that only 58 per cent of those questioned were familiar with the term unified storage.

    Unified storage has been defined as a single integrated storage infrastructure that functions as a unification engine to simultaneously support Fibre Channel, IP Storage Area Networks (SAN) and Network Attached Storage (NAS) data formats.

    Despite this, of the 50 per cent who said they could define it, 43 per cent thought it referred to virtualised storage and 56 per cent believed it was a combination of back up and storage.

    Narayan Venkat, vice president of corporate marketing at ONStor, said more had to be done to ensure IT professional were better briefed about unified storage.

    “What is absolutely clear from these top line survey findings is that the market needs more education on the benefits of unified storage, and that is where the vendor community needs to join forces with analysts to drive this message home," he said.

    Other key findings highlighted:

    • 21 per cent of the same who had heard of unified storage believed it would deliver a lower total cost of ownership

    • A further 21 per cent believed it would provide a more flexible network moving forward

    • The ability to protect the current investment in infrastructure was only cited by 8 per cent and only 6 per cent felt it would reduce operating costs and capital expenditure