Details of EMC's Large New Product Launch

Storage giant EMC likes to do product launches in a big way. But on Jan. 18 the company outdid even itself with a rollout of 41 new enterprise storage products, the most it has introduced at one sitting.

EMC's new items, which will become available this quarter, include a line of low-end storage servers aimed at SMBs called VNX and VNXe, which eventually will replace the company's standard Clariion and Celerra products; an upgraded version of the Data Domain backup packages; a new Data Domain archiving array; its first branded Isilon "big data" array; and new software for its Symmetrix VMAX systems.

The new entry-level VNX and VNXe storage systems feature a starting price of about $10,000, EMC Vice President of Marketing Shane Jackson told eWEEK. Jackson said the machines can be configured in a few minutes using a wizard interface to provision e-mail boxes and storage allotments, storage targets, access controls and other policies for up to hundreds of e-mail users.

EMC insists that no advanced IT experience is necessary to install, provision and maintain this system; a live demonstration at the launch event illustrated this.

The new Isilon OneFS arrays, the first to come out since EMC's acquisition of the Seattle-based company last fall, handle up to 10PB of data in a single file system. Isilon machines are used by media companies for high-definition video rendering and for scientific labs for massive data-set projects.

The company unveiled new high-performance versions of the EMC Data Domain deduplication backup system that EMC Chief Operating Officer Pat Gelsinger said are "seven times faster than our closest competitor" [thanks mostly to new software and faster chips], and the new Data Domain Archiver. "The Archiver simply means that you can simply do away with any kind of tape archiving," Gelsinger said.

Fast Facts on Data Domain Arrays

The new Data Domain Global Deduplication Array, aimed at large enterprises, processes up to 26.3TB/hr of content; provides up to 768TB raw capacity for global deduplication; features logical capacity of up to 28.5PB; supports backup applications that include EMC NetWorker, Symantec NetBackup, Backup Exec, IBM TSM and others now supported through a VTL software option.

The Data Domain DD800 Appliance, designed for large and midrange IT systems, can process up to 14.7TB/hr; holds up to 384TB in raw capacity; and features up to 14.2PB of logical capacity. It can provide seamless integration and up to 8.1TB/hr throughput for IBM i and open systems environments; can scale from 75TB to 14.2PB logical capacity; and provide network-efficient disaster recovery.

The Data Domain 860 processes up to 9.8TB/hr, is as much as 2.5x faster than its predecessor; holds up to 192TB raw capacity and up to 7.1 PB logical capacity; and features data-in-place upgrades for future scalability.

DD Archiver a first for EMC

EMC's Data Domain Archiver uses a common Data Domain controller, management and namespace, and it  features tiering for active and archive tiers. The archive tier consists of independent logical storage units and policy-driven movement of aging data from active tier to next archive unit.

When they fill up, Archiver storage units are sealed for fault isolation while remaining on line and immediately available for access. The disks do not ever spin down, however, unlike other Virtual Tape Library deployments.

Archiver fast facts: Active tier has short-term data protection of 90 days or below; archive tier has scalable long-term retention in multiple years; high throughput deduplication storage of up to 9.8TB/hr; contains up to 768TB of raw capacity and 28.5PB logical capacity; includes fault-isolation of archive units for long term recoverability; supports DD Replicator and DD Retention Lock software options; and supports Data Domain Data Invulnerability Architecture to ensure data integrity.

EMC's new Symmetrix VMAX storage networkware is capable of supporting petabytes of information and up to a whopping 5 million virtual machines, Gelsinger said.

Among the new features are an advanced version of EMC's two-year-old FAST (Fully Automated Storage Tiering) software that automatically optimizes an array based on data usage; new server virtualization, security and federation capabilities; and new operating software that doubles system performance with no hardware upgrade required.