Skip Links

Network World

  • Social Web 
  • Email 
  • Close

Update: Hitachi unveils high-end storage array

By Deni Connor , NetworkWorld.com , 09/07/2004
Newsletter Signup
  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print

Hitachi Data Systems announced this week a high-end storage array that runs long-promised data pooling and replication software that will let users support multi-vendor storage systems from one interface.

The TagmaStore Universal Storage Platform was unveiled at an event in New York.

Virtualization, or pooling of data on arrays from different vendors, has been a desire of customers who want to consolidate their storage platforms and manage them together.

While David Bratt, technology architect for H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fla., has not had a chance to beta-test the new product, he is interested in it because it would solve many of his daily problems.

"Virtualization is a huge advantage for me for management purposes, as well as a cost savings, since I can attach more servers through a single Fibre Channel port," says Bratt, who manages a heterogeneous storage environment with a Hitachi 9570V and 9910V, direct-attached SCSI storage and IBM's proprietary Serial Storage Architecture system.

"Better storage utilization is also an outcome," Bratt says.

Hitachi's new Hitachi Virtual Volume Manager will allow as much as 32 petabytes of data to be virtualized in a single pool.

TagmaStore will have three models, which will scale to 332 terabytes. The entry-level Model USP100 will scale to as much as 77 terabytes. The Model USP600 has a capacity of 154 terabytes and as many as 128 Fibre Channel ports for connection to host computers. The largest model, the USP1100, scales to 332 terabytes and has 192 Fibre Channel connections.

The array will include virtualization software, called Universal Replicator, on a blade in a storage controller and have the capability to replicate information across unlimited distances to dissimilar storage arrays for disaster-recovery purposes. Hitachi will be the first major vendor to integrate heterogeneous rather than homogeneous virtualization and replication features onto a storage controller.

"The box is an über-array with significant amounts of cache and performance," says an analyst who asked not to be identified. "Not only will the Hitachi array be able to pool data from a variety of sources but it will be able to use a single replication and management technology to move data between different arrays."

The array will support Fibre Channel, IBM's mainframe connectivity ESCON/FICON technologies and iSCSI, which lets users attach storage-area networks (SAN) to an Ethernet network. The array is expected to combine network-attached and SAN data into one virtualized storage pool.

Analysts say the Hitachi announcement could give the company an important tool to battle competitors. According to Gartner, Hitachi external controller-based storage accounts for about 8% of the market, trailing EMC, which has a 21% market share, and HP, which has almost 19%. The product also addresses the need for a heterogeneous storage virtualization strategy.

"Vendors have done a disservice to the industry - we've had vendors trying to misconstrue basic [logical unit] and volume management as virtualization," says Stephanie Balaouras, senior analyst for The Yankee Group. "But true heterogeneous systems integration and the virtualization of replication and back-up technologies hasn't been there."

  • Share/Email
  • Tweet This
  • Comment
  • Print
Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find Out More

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download this White Paper

Don't Fall for the Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Review this information

information examination

An examination of information security issues, methods and securing data with LTO-4 tape drive encryption

Read this analysis

Comment
Login
Forgot your account info?
Add comment
Anonymous comments subject to approval. Register here for member benefits.
Have a NetworkWorld account? Log in here. Register now for a free account.

Videos

rssRss Feed
Partner Content

Explore the Ultrium Edge

The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.

Find Out More

Disk and Tape Square Off

Discover what disk and tape really cost and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization

Download this White Paper

Don't Fall for the Myths

The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.

Review this information

information examination

An examination of information security issues, methods and securing data with LTO-4 tape drive encryption

Read this analysis