SnapVantage Links StorageTek Arrays to IBM zSeries Servers

Storage Technology Corp. this week will announce SnapVantage virtualization software for connecting StorageTeks Shared Virtual Array products to IBMs zSeries Linux-based virtual servers.

The $25,000 SnapVantage, which is available now, can virtualize up to 500 such servers, controlled through a Web browser. That compares to the 50 virtual servers one person could manage otherwise, StorageTek officials said.

Server virtualization can help users reduce server deployment time, save disk capacity, simplify management and increase uptime.

"Were relying on IBMs success," said Tom Major, vice president and general manager of the Louisville, Colo., companys disk business unit, which will make the announcement this week at the Storage Network World/EuroStorage event in Cannes, France.

The servers from IBM are currently used by only a small portion of customers. However, its not the type of thing that StorageTek would build for other servers. "This takes advantage of the virtualization in our disk subsystems and marries it to the virtualization that IBM has. Its specific to that environment," Major said. The porting was simple because zLinux systems have much in common with StorageTek arrays.

Other SnapVantage features include custom image deployment and disk space assigning, use of the Snapshot data replication software, and implementation support from StorageTeks professional services group.

"At the high end, you do have virtualization there today, you can run multiple operating systems on a box, [but] it is becoming a very active role in the [middle] to low end," said International Data Corp. analyst Vernon Turner, in Framingham, Mass. "It helps to lower total cost of ownership." Hewlett-Packard Co. has similar products of its own and from buying Compaq Computer Corp.; IBM plans to get the functionality via its recently announced Project eLiza self-managing server line.

StorageTek also announced Version 8.2 of SANtricity Storage Manager last week. The version adds remote volume mirroring to StorageTeks D-Series software suite and the snapshot functions to the D173 disk system, officials said. Version 8.2 hikes the possible number of partitions from 16 to 64. SANtricity Storage Manager 8.2 is available for 9176, D173 and D178 disk systems, starting at $2,000.