Members of the Storage Networking Industry
Association’s (SNIA) Supported Solutions Forum (SSF) said Tuesday they
have developed a new storage interoperability solution that helps midrange
storage users combine disparate storage systems in their data networks while
safeguarding their corporate data with offsite backup.
The culmination of testing by SNIA members IBM , MTI
Technology , FalconStor Software
,
VERITAS Software , and Brocade
, the
solution allows end users to combine IBM’s FAStT700 Storage System with
MTI’s Vivant 400 storage system.
In addition, FalconStor’s IPStor Software added data protection to the mix,
with remote mirroring, local mirroring or migration to a different storage
system, while VERITAS’s Volume Manager Dynamic MultiPathing (DMP) Software,
HP’s Physical Volume (PV) — Links Software, and IBM’s Redundant Dual Active
Controller (RDAC) Software provide the multipathing capability.
While the combination of disparate hardware and software revolving around
this news bit may be complex, if not outright confusing, one analyst called
the result a “breakthrough” for the storage industry, which has been seeking
more and more ways to create heterogeneous storage networks. Data Mobility
Group Senior Analyst John Webster explained what the announcement means.
“This is a significant breakthrough for many users who want the ability to
invoke copy functions between disparate arrays without relying on an array
vendor’s solution in order to do so,” said Webster in a statement. “This
type of migration or replication scenario supports disaster recovery,
business continuance, acquisition and merger, content distribution, content
management and other applications where users require this level of
functionality.”
The SNIA said vendors who use the hodgepodge product have can get support
through the SSF’s TSANet Cooperative Support Group Relationship
infrastructure, which provides multi-vendor contact information and an
escalation process via the Internet. With this, vendors can access the
information at any time of day.
A white paper that addresses this technology may be viewed here.
