Enterprise Storage
NetApp Sets Up Qualification Program for iSCSI Adapters
Network Appliance Inc. this week announced its third-party program for iSCSI adapter vendors to qualify as NetApp-supported solutions. The program uses an independent third-party company, Finisar, to supervise qualification testing carried out at Finisars Medusa Labs facility in Austin, Texas. iSCSI adapters that complete the testing can be marketed as NetApp-supported. “We believe that iSCSI adapters will plug and play just like any other Ethernet components,” says Mark Santora, senior vice president of marketing at Network Appliance. “However, since iSCSI is a new technology, customers are looking for assurances that different vendors products have been thoroughly tested and work together. This program provides that assurance for NetApp customers.”
Read the full story on:Enterprise Storage Forum
Hitachi Reportedly Sets Target Date for iSCSI Blade
Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) will deliver an iSCSI blade for its high-end Lightning 9900V storage array in the fourth quarter of 2003, according to a report from Byte and Switch. An industry source familiar with HDSs plans said the Gigabit Ethernet-based iSCSI blade was supposed to ship this quarter, but that the company revamped its original design. The main purpose of the iSCSI option will be to run HDSs TrueCopy disk-replication application over IP, according to the source. HDSs iSCSI option would follow on the heels of the expected rollout of EMC Corp.s four-port iSCSI option for its Symmetrix DMX systems in September.
Read the full story on: Byte and Switch
Personal Storage
M-Systems Flash Key Now Bootable
Making the DiskOnKey bootable through the BIOS, M-Systems implemented open source, general publicly licensed FreeDOS developed by FreeDOS.org. Engineers at the company devised a unique methodology for the computers logicboard to initiate data transfer once it has recognized the DiskOnKey is plugged into a USB port. All DiskOnKeys carrying the DOK T4 chip are boot capable, which can be easily activated through the specially designed bootability graphical user interface.
Read the full press release on:Mobilemag.com
Storage Business
Overland Posts 2003 Profits
Tape systems vendor Overland Storage Inc. posted strong fourth-quarter and full-year profits for 2003 this week, citing a leap in sales of Overland-branded products. For its fourth fiscal quarter, ended June 30, 2003, the company posted a profit of $3.3 million, or 25 cents per share, compared to a year-ago loss of $600,000, or 6 cents per share. Overland also saw its revenues soar 62 percent to $56.5 million during the quarter, up from $35 million for the same quarter last year. Overland CEO Christopher Calisi said that a 32 percent ramp in sales of the companys branded products—as opposed to rebranded products, sold through its OEMs—during the fourth quarter helped improve its results, and boosted the companys gross margins to 27.6 percent from 26.0 percent a year earlier.
Read the full story on: Byte and Switch