WOODLAND HILLS, CALIF. - Storage software and hardware vendor Nexsan Technologies introduced an IP storage bundle last week that will let users access the company's RAID arrays from a Gigabit Ethernet network.
Called Veriture-iP, the storage bundle consists of a StoneFly Networks IP storage (iSCSI) appliance, Nexsan's InfiniSAN ATAboy2 storage arrays and storage management software. It is designed to let small and midsize businesses and departments or workgroups within a corporation connect their SCSI arrays to the Ethernet network, where they can be allocated to any server.
"Customers will gravitate toward simpler IP-based [storage-area networks] if [vendors] can deliver simple-to-use, appliance-like storage management engines that do not require Fibre Channel expertise," says Steve Duplessie, senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group.
Veriture-iP connects to the Ethernet network via the StoneFly appliance, which in turn connects to the company's InfiniSAN disk array. IP Storage (iSCSI) adapters fit in the network servers and let them access data located on the InfiniSAN disk.
Management software from StoneFly, called StoneFusion, groups the data residing on the geographically separated InfiniSAN ATAboy2 arrays into a virtual pool of data. Once virtualized, the data on these arrays appears to the network manager as a single logical group of data, which can be reassigned to individual users on the fly.
Up to 15 InfiniSAN arrays can be attached to the SCSI ports of the StoneFly appliance, allowing the management of more than 25 terabytes of data.
Nexsan competes with vendors that converge network-attached storage with Fibre Channel and direct-attached storage. While Nexsan and StoneFly focus on small and midsize departments in the corporation, storage companies such as EMC, Auspex and Network Appliance aim their products for enterprise-size businesses.
The bundle is available now starting at $22,500 for a system configured with 1.68 terabytes capacity.
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