Hitachi Data Systems Joins Unified Computing Crowd

Hitachi Data Systems has jumped aboard the unified computing system bandwagon currently occupied by Hewlett-Packard, Dell/Brocade and Cisco Systems’ UCS partnership with EMC and VMware.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based subsidiary of Japan’s Hitachi announced April 19 that it is launching its own open-standards-based, unified computing platform aimed at cloud computing deployments for ISPs and enterprises.
Partners in the system include Microsoft for its virtualization layer and infrastructure services, QLogic for network adapters and Emulex for storage controllers. VMware’s ESX hypervisor can also be deployed within this setup, depending upon the user’s choice.
Emulex 10Gb/s FCoE adapters are both network and storage adapters for HDS. They provide both 10Gb/s Ethernet network connectivity and 10Gb/s FCoE storage connectivity.
At the same time, HDS also announced a worldwide OEM agreement to distribute Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2, Microsoft System Center suite and Microsoft SQL Server 2008 products.
To differentiate itself from the already established unified system players, HDS has included what it calls an “intelligent orchestration layer for automated, dynamic management of servers, storage, network and applications as a collective unit,” Hitachi marketing executive Miki Sandorfi told eWEEK.
“This really is the first truly open systems unified computing platform, unlike those already out there which require lock-in to the networking, infrastructure and services,” Sandorfi said.
“With ours, customers can swap out components as they see fit, depending on their needs. Can’t do that with any of the others. You have to use what they give you to use.”
At its bare essentials, the Hitachi unified system consists of HDS software, storage and server products, including Hitachi blade servers and Fibre Channel and Ethernet components; Microsoft’s infrastructure software, Hyper-V hypervisor, and SQL Server database; and a choice of networking products to provide a system for highly virtualized environments.
“As part of ongoing efforts to improve the utilization of IT assets and boost operational efficiency in the use of those assets, IDC finds that a number of organizations are planning to expand their use of converged IT infrastructure solutions in the coming year,” said IDC vice president and storage analyst Rick Villars.
“Hitachi Data Systems provides a unified compute/storage/network foundation with intelligent orchestration for optimal resource management will make it easier for IT organizations to respond to changing business requirements.”
The new HDS unified computing system is available now. Go here for more information.