BlueArc Turns Titan Up Another Notch

BlueArc has unveiled new management software for its high-end unified storage system that offers a range of features from virtualization and information lifecycle management (ILM) to remote mirroring and compliance.

The new features include virtualization, data migration, iSCSI and WORM (write once, read many) support, and remote volume mirroring.

At $100,000 for a basic Titan system and $10,000 for each additional management feature, BlueArc product marketing director Jon Affeld calls the package “a very compelling value proposition in one product.”

BlueArc’s new Virtual Server feature gives end users the ability to create as many as eight logical servers within each physical Titan. Each virtual server can have a separate IP address, multiple management policies and dedicated port bandwidth. Administrators can migrate virtual servers to match project workloads, usage patterns, availability and other needs.

The new Data Migrator feature allows administrators to create policies based on a set of rules, parameters and triggers to automatically migrate data from one tier of storage to another to make sure that data is stored on the appropriate medium as it moves through its lifecycle.

Remote Volume Mirroring capabilities let system drives located in different RAID arrays be synchronously replicated at the block level, allowing real-time campus and metro data mirroring at different locations up to 10 kilometers apart.

iSCSI support adds sustained wire speed performance for block-level data transfer over standard IP networks using SCSI commands, in addition to file-level support, and the WORM file system prevents data on a disk from being modified or deleted for a user-specified time period, adding to ILM and compliance controls.

BlueArc hopes the new features will help it hold onto its status as the fastest-growing high-end NAS vendor, with more than 130 customers and 100% sales growth. Affeld says the company is “fully funded to profitability.”

“Over the last year, BlueArc has moved further into the enterprise market, where speed of data access and data integrity are absolutely critical,” said BlueArc marketing vice president Steve Daheb. “This software release is another step towards making sure that we provide these customers with the absolute best storage option available today. Only BlueArc is able to combine high performance with the ability to adapt storage as business conditions change, ensuring that data is available as needed.”

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