eWEEK content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.
Storability Inc., one of many storage service providers that have turned to selling software, will announce an upgrade to Global Storage Manager this week.
New in Version 3.2 is support for direct-attached and network-attached storage, as well as support for databases from Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp. and Sybase Inc., said Hemant Kurande, chief technology officer of the Southboro, Mass., company.
IBMs databases will be supported by the end of the year, Kurande said.
Global Storage Manager 3.2 provides customized administration views through browser-based and local Java consoles, support for CIM (Common Information Model) interfaces and event threshold monitoring, Kurande said.
In addition, it supports real-time storage topology mapping, compared with the prior versions static mapping, and the ability to launch a storage vendors own tools.
Also new is support for Veritas Software Corp.s Foundation Suite, Kurande said. Foundation Suite is Veritas bundling of its Volume Manager and File System products.
“We are now automating the workflows between the different [software features]; that is one of the emphases of our future releases,” Kurande said.
That workflow automation will come next year, he said. Also coming is administration for SLAs (service-level agreements), plus integration with data migration and hierarchical storage management tools, he said.
Storability, like other storage service providers moving into the storage management software space, has a different worldview than other small companies and their offerings because it approaches enterprise IT shops and their users as stand-alone service providers and subscribers.
Like many users, David Graham knows he needs storage management but isnt yet ready to take any chances. Graham, IT operations director at Vignette Corp., in Austin, Texas, has 36 terabytes of data on direct-attached file servers and on Network Appliance Inc. network-attached storage devices. He began using assessment services from Storability a year ago but has yet to buy the software, in large part because of cost.
“Were like all other companies,” Graham said. “Were trying to simplify our infrastructure, do some consolidation, lower costs. [But] were going to have to deal with that issue soon.”
Version 3.2, available now, ranges in price from $200,000 to about $1 million, Storability officials said. The price depends on the number of agents purchased for applications, devices and sites, they said.