Dell to provide customers a new level of data security

Dell today announced it is the first major storage provider to deliver the next generation of Linear Tape-Open drives and media—known as LTO-4—to help protect and manage business-critical data. With device-level encryption, the Dell PowerVault LTO-4-120 enables greater levels of security, capacity and performance for tape-based storage.

Industry research shows that most companies rely heavily on tape for backup, archiving and compliance. A recent survey of storage customers, for example, indicated that 81 percent will either increase or maintain their level of investment in tape backup and restore. Additionally, the survey showed that more than 50 percent of companies use tape for compliance storage.

Based on the LTO-4 Ultrium format, key features of the Dell PowerVault LTO-4-120 drives include: greater security, more capacity/performance, and intergenerational operability.

Dell expects availability of the drives and media to begin April 20, 2007. Pricing for the external standalone Dell PowerVault LTO-4-120 drive starts at Rs 2,34,791.

Asigra eases remote office backup performance

Asigra has unveiled a new edition of the its flagship product with 64-bit Televaulting. Asigra’s next-generation backup and recovery software supports orders of magnitude increases in overall performance with new capabilities, including enterprise-wide data reduction and block-level incremental processing of significantly larger files to support highly optimized remote office/branch office backup.

Organizations are becoming increasingly distributed and processing a logarithmically greater amount of data at remote sites as new applications increase the data load on corporate networks, slowing down enterprise-wide backup and recovery efforts. Asigra’s 64-bit edition of Televaulting takes full advantage of environments utilizing 64-bit CPUs to deliver the highest performance available for consolidated, multi-site enterprise data protection, allowing higher levels of data reduction and processing of network data.

Asigra Televaulting is agentless, multi-site backup/recovery software that combines utility service provisioning with a disk-based WAN-optimized architecture to overcome the limitations of traditional distributed-backup software. Televaulting’s simple, reliable and affordable multi-site backup and recovery consolidates ROBO backups to a central datacenter.

EMC implements support for SNIA SMI-S v1.2

EMC Corporation has announced its continued commitment to interoperability and customer ease of use in support of open standards for storage management. EMC has completed early implementation of key profiles and features of the Storage Networking Industry Association’s (SNIA) Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) version 1.2 for 36 current and previous models of its EMC Symmetrix and EMC CLARiiON storage arrays.

EMC is one of the first vendors to implement the new SMI-S v1.2 profiles and features including Block Storage Views, Storage Server Asymmetry and Volume Composition. These features include Block Storage Views, Storage Server Asymmetry, Volume Composition, Access Points, Block Server Performance, Disk Drive Lite, Extent Composition, FC Initiator Ports, FC Target Ports, iSCSI Target Ports, Location, Masking and Mapping, Multiple Computer System and Software.

IBM extends enterprise-level encryption to mid-market

IIBM has announced new tape storage offerings based on the Linear Tape Open (LTO) Generation 4 standard, offering new levels of capacity, performance, and function, with an ideal pricing structure for mid-size customers. IBM’s enterprise-class tape encryption functionality is now incorporated into several LTO 4 tape storage products. IBM today builds on its rich history in tape storage innovation to bring its outstanding encryption technology to LTO tape storage systems.

IBM’s new tape systems offer improved performance of up to 240MB per second data rate, which is 50% faster than LTO Generation 3, and increased cartridge capacity up to 1.6TB, double the capacity of LTO 3. These new tape systems also offer improved management functions, reduced space consumption, improved storage consolidation and enhanced library utilization, over LTO 3. IBM’s LTO 4 tape drive encryption also helps address data security needs with rapid drive-level encryption for high backup performance; data compression and encryption for high cartridge capacities; and reduced need for additional encryption appliances or the drain on server resources.

BlueArc and HDS to offer multi-vendor storage virtualization

BlueArc in partnership with Hitachi Data Systems, has demonstrated the Titan 2000 storage system’s interoperability with Hitachi Data Systems’ Network Storage Controller NSC 55, delivering the ability to consolidate multi-vendor storage environments, leveraging existing assets and maintaining highest levels of performance, scalability and ease of use.

BlueArc Titan 2000 systems, attached to Hitachi Data Systems’ NSC 55, serving data from multiple vendors’ disk offerings, presenting customers a single point of management for heterogeneous tiered storage, including leading vendors such as EMC, HP, IBM, Sun, and LSI Logic. Hitachi Data Systems and BlueArc has also be demonstrating replication between their respective booths on the show floor, delivering combined block and file virtualization, including virtualized LUNs, volumes, file systems, namespace and servers.

Imation to offer LTO 4 format soon

Imation Corp has submitted its first sample lot of LTO Ultrium format generation 4 for media compliance testing. Already a leading manufacturer of LTO generations 1, 2 and 3, Imation will manufacture the generation 4 media at its state-of-the-art Tera Angstrom coating facility in Weatherford, Okla., the only facility in the world built specifically for terabyte-class tape manufacturing.

The LTO Ultrium format generation 4 doubles storage capacity over generation 3—up from 800 GB in generation 3 (assuming a 2:1 compression) to 1.6 terabyte compressed capacity. And transfer rates are also improved—reaching speeds up to 240 megabytes per second. For security purposes, generation 4 will feature encryption capabilities designed to enable LTO tape drive hardware-based writing of encrypted data to the LTO Ultrium tape cartridge, which helps protect the storage and transport of sensitive information.

Dell to use SSD on Latitude D420 notebook

Dell announced that it is offering a 1.8-inch 32GB solid state drive (SSD) from SanDisk on Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks. The company is one the first to offer a flash-based drive as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDD) on corporate notebooks. Dell sees potential for flash-based drives and is committing to offer them across next generation Latitude notebooks because they enable better reliability, increased performance and noise reduction.

A SSD is a hard drive alternative based on flash memory. Unlike a traditional HDD which uses spinning discs and read/write heads, a SSD is designed with flash memory with no moving parts. The new drive has the same shape and size as a HDD and uses the same connectors for integration into existing systems.

Sun touts open source storage

Sun Microsystems has announced it is donating storage technologies for storage developers within the OpenSolaris community. This will enable community members to combine OpenSolaris with hardware from any source to create compelling storage solutions at a fraction of the price of traditional proprietary storage vendors. This combination of open source and commodity hardware heralds a new stage in the storage industry.

Sun is taking the lead in creating a community-driven software development platform that speeds time-to-market for storage application development and which better addresses customers’ ever-evolving data management and archiving needs. Sun is donating the source code to the Storage community at http://opensolaris.org/os/community/storage/ which will feature email forums, design documents and open source code.

EMC helps customers improve governance

EMC Corporation announced the newest versions of its e-mail and file system archiving software to further simplify management of crucial electronically stored information (ESI) to meet internal and external governance requirements. EMC EmailXtender 4.8 software gives customers a new, flexible approach to e-mail archiving, enabling administrators to easily monitor archive operational efficiency. The new EMC DiskXtender 6.2 for Windows file system archiving software enables customers to easily search single or multiple file systems, making electronic discovery more accurate, fast and affordable.

4th generation fibre channel host adapters

ATTO Technology has announced the release of two new models to its product line, the Celerity FC-41EN and FC-42EN. The Celerity FC-41EN and FC-42EN represents the 4th generation of 4-Gigabit Celerity Host Adapters based on PMC-Sierra’s Tachyon DE4 Fibre Channel controllers, offering speeds of up to 800 MB/sec. per channel and high-performance x4 PCI-Express host connections. ATTO was the first company to ship 4-Gb Fibre Channel host adapters in 2004 and with the introduction of 4-Gigabit Fibre Channel (4-Gb FC) products, ATTO adds the next generation in PCI-Express and Fibre Channel support.

Decru unveils SecureView

Decru unveiled its SecureView management framework to enable centralized management of encryption, keys, and policies across the enterprise. The SecureView framework is available on all Decru appliances, providing a secure, simplified interface to manage security for heterogeneous storage environments.

As enterprises have moved from piecemeal encryption to broader, enterprise-wide initiatives, the need for powerful unified management has emerged. The SecureView framework is available immediately to centralize control of Decru security and key management appliances, providing secure management of up to 1,000 devices from a single interface. Features include administrator management, role-based access controls (RBAC), configuration and patch management, rolling upgrades, performance and access monitoring, and centralized graphical user (GUI) and command-line interfaces (CLI) to enable the automation of operations across groups of appliances.

2nd generation protocol analyzer for computing and storage applications

Finisar Corporation announced the second-generation PCI-Express (PCIe) protocol analyzer for its Bus Doctor platform. Finisar’s new PCIe protocol analyzer supports both 2.5 and 5.0 Gb/s data rates and is the only testing platform that correlates PCIe traffic with 14 other protocols resulting in the highest level of accuracy in a multi-protocol environment. This combination of capabilities helps developers quickly identify and resolve errors and impairments in a wide variety of PCIe-based applications.

PCIe is a key technology for removing system bus bottlenecks and improving overall performance in computing and storage applications. PCIe was developed as the replacement I/O bus for PCI and PCI-X and is present in almost all new computers shipped. For computing and storage applications, PCIe provides a significant improvement in bandwidth for moving data in devices such as Host Board Adapters (HBAs), server and storage arrays, and Network Interface Cards (NICs).

Monitor and analyze SAN with ease

Building on the industry’s powerful tool for monitoring and analyzing storage area networks, Finisar Corporation introduced NetWisdom Enterprise Rover, a family of intelligent monitoring and analysis solutions capable of spanning across all SAN links within today’s enterprise data centers. Offering real-time, line-rate support for 4 Gb/s FC SAN infrastructures, the new Rover functionality integrates physical layer switching technology with monitoring and analysis capabilities of NetWisdom Enterprise to deliver a cost-effective approach to complete SAN link protection and optimization.

HP has introduced new entry-level server

HP has unveiled the HP ProLiant ML115 server, a new addition to its x86 server line-up that is designed to meet the growing IT and budgetary demands of small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs), while optimizing their business outcomes.

The HP ProLiant ML115 is an easy to use, affordable,
entry-level computing solution built with the needs of Indian SMBs in mind. Powered by Second-Generation AMD Opteron 1000 series processors based on DDR2 memory and dual-core technology or single-core AMD Athlon 64 processor 3500+, the HP ProLiant ML115 is available at the price of a desktop server. The server is ideal for networking, file-and-print, shared Internet access, small team email and LAN infrastructure. The HP ProLiant ML115 joins a strong portfolio of ProLiant servers that customers of all sizes around the world have come to depend upon.

IBM introduces new servers for SMBs

IBM has announced a radical new way for its small and medium business clients to adopt and manage their IT infrastructure. Small and medium business clients will now be able to purchase a complete, “all-in-one” system for their business on a per-user basis, enabling clients to grow technology resources at pace with business needs. This scalable pricing model is being launched in conjunction with the new System i Express solution designed for 5 to 40 users as well as a second system optimized for the mid-market, both featuring IBM’s leading POWER5+ processor.

System i Express includes the features most important to small and medium businesses, such as a simple, built-in workload manager that allows clients to run and manage multiple applications independently on one system instead of deploying a new server every time they need another application, as is typical in Windows-based environments. The System i Express offerings, the model 515 and model 525, are expected to be available in late April.

Servers with mainframe-class reliability with open systems advantages

Sun Microsystems and Fujitsu unveiled a new line-up of co-developed servers that hold the promise of dramatically reshaping the computing market by delivering mainframe-class reliability with open systems advantages. The new servers, based on the SPARC architecture are the fastest SPARC servers ever, and will be marketed by both companies and affiliates. The systems are ideal for customers requiring highly scaleable, reliable servers, and needing to achieve increased system utilization and performance through virtualization. The servers leverage the powerful combination of Fujitsu’s expertise in mission-critical computing technologies and high-performance processor design, and Sun’s expertise in open, scaleable, network computing.

Dell unveiled two cutting-edge servers

Dell has unveiled two servers designed to reduce power consumption and deliver dramatic improvements in performance and performance per watt for enterprise customers. Dell’s PowerEdge 2970 and PowerEdge Energy Smart 2970 will be the first servers from a major OEM vendor to market with the new Dual Dynamic Power Management feature ready to enable optimized quad-core performance and power management. Both servers are designed to handle multiple generations of AMD Opteron processors, providing a seamless upgrade path to quad-core and allowing customers to increase computing capacity, consolidate and deploy virtualized environments without altering their data center infrastructure.

The PowerEdge 2970 server is engineered to draw up to 34 percent less power and deliver up to 105 percent greater performance per watt2 over the previous generation of Dell servers featuring dual-core processors.

An affordable multi-function server for SOHO and SMEs

Plustek announced the launch of PlusServer MFA1000S, a highly affordable multi-function server for home and small office (SOHO) and small and medium enterprise (SME) environments. PlusServer MFA1000S offers diverse functionalities like web email, anti-virus, anti-spam, firewall, Quality of Service (QoS), Multi Router Traffic Grapher (MRTG), voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), SMS, system recovery etc. It also functions as web server, email server, FTP server, PHP MySQL server, NAT server, Samba server, DHCP server, DNS server and Dynamic DNS server.

PlusServer MFA1000S allows SOHO and SMEs to run their own email services such that company’s classified and confidential information is not under third party’s safekeeping. Secondly, it lowers the cost and difficulty of running the email system substantially. PlusServer MFA1000S is available in India at a maximum retail price of Rs 1,10,000 (inclusive of all taxes and duties) from all authorized channel partners of Plustek Inc.

Intel details upcoming new processor generations

Marking the next step in Intel’s “tick-tock” product strategy and cadence to deliver a new process technology with an enhanced microarchitecture or entirely new microarchitecture every year, Intel Corporation will begin producing its next-generation Penryn family of processors in the second half of this year. These new processors benefit from enhancements to the Intel Core microarchitecture and also Intel’s industry-leading 45nm Hi-k process technology with its hafnium-based high-k + metal gate transistor design, which results in higher performance and more energy-efficient processors.

Intel has more than 15 45nm Hi-k product designs in various stages of development, and will have two 45nm manufacturing fabs in production by the end of the year, with a total of four in production by the second half of 2008 that will deliver tens of millions of these processors.

Windows Server “Longhorn” Beta 3 announced

Microsoft Corporation unveiled the first publicly available test version of the next edition of Windows Server, codename “Longhorn.” The release will allow prospective users to evaluate the increased control, protection and flexibility offered by the forthcoming product. Windows Server “Longhorn” beta 3 is available for download today at http://www.microsoft.com/getbeta3. The final version of Windows Server “Longhorn” is on track for release to manufacturing in the second half of 2007.

Windows Server “Longhorn” builds on the improved reliability and security of Windows Server 2003 R2 to help alleviate these pressures by addressing the automation of daily management tasks, tightening security improving efficiency and increasing availability.

In addition, innovative security technologies help prevent future attacks by helping reduce the server footprint and potential attack surface with the new Server Core installation option, and by providing ongoing health monitoring and compliance through new features such as Microsoft Network Access Protection (NAP), Read-Only Domain Controllers and the Windows Firewall with Advanced Security.

IBM opens new Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India

IBM has announced the opening of a new Autonomic Computing Technology Center in Bangalore, India. The new development center was created to address the overwhelming demand from India-based business partners and customers for technology and systems that are self-managing. An extension of the India Software Laboratory, the new center is dedicated to advancing IBM’s global Autonomic Computing initiative, which has worked for the past five years to reduce complexity by automating processes and building intelligence into IT systems.

The Autonomic Computing Technology Center in India joins an existing center that IBM opened in the Yamato Software Development Laboratory, in Japan in July 2005.

Intel appointed new Channel Chief for APAC

Intel Corporation announced the appointment of Kamil Hasan as Director, Reseller Channel Operation (RCO), Intel Asia-Pacific. As Intel’s channel chief for APAC, Hasan is responsible for driving the demand and sales of Intel products through its valued distributors and channels in the Asia Pacific region.

Hasan has over 18 years in the IT industry, commencing with Intel in 1997 as channel account manager in Pakistan. Since then, Hasan has progressively built a solid reputation amongst Intel’s APAC channel customers as district sales manager, area sales manager before his advancement as country manager for Intel Pakistan. In December 2005, Hasan rejoined the Reseller Channel Operation as regional distribution manager, based in Singapore.

Red Hat launches Global Services Centre in India

Red Hat announced the launch of its Global Services Centre in India. The opening of this Global Services Centre contributes to Red Hat’s vision of drawing on open source competencies and creating centres of engineering, support and services across its global operations. This Global Services Centre, based in Mumbai, will build and implement open source enterprise solutions and services for Red Hat’s global customers in close partnership with global Indian software services companies.

IBM Opens System P Servers to thousands of x86 Linux applications

IBM has introduced an open beta version of a virtual Linux environment that enables x86 Linux applications to run without modification on POWER processor-based IBM System p servers. Once released, the technology—called the IBM System p Application Virtual Environment (System p AVE)—is designed to open a universe of thousands of x86 Linux applications to the System p platform.

IBM’s recent launch of three System p-based Web-tier servers aimed at consolidating x86 Linux workloads. Customer orders in the first quarter show a fast start for the System p5-560Q as a Linux consolidation solution. IBM intends to extend the leadership of System p servers to the Linux marketplace; the platform is already the number one UNIX server with a 31.5 percent revenue share worldwide in 2006, according to IDC. IBM posted 14% first quarter revenue growth for System p products this year.

With nearly 2,800 applications that already run natively on Linux on System p servers, System p AVE will allow most x86 Linux binaries to run unmodified as well, which will expand the x86 workloads that can be moved to a System p server, thereby increasing the power, cooling and space savings customers can get by consolidating x86 server footprints onto System p products.

WD introduces AV drives

Western Digital has announced a new family of hard drives for audio and video recording products, one of today’s fastest growing digital storage markets. Drawing on its expertise as a leading supplier to major consumer electronics and surveillance manufacturers worldwide, WD has designed its new 3.5-inch WD AV hard drives with technologies that provide the increased reliability, cooler and quieter operation and low power consumption required for these demanding environments. The WD AV drives in capacities ranging from 80 GB to 500 GB are available through the company’s distribution network.

The high capacities, high reliability and cost effectiveness of hard drive technology have enabled a range of audio and video recording applications, including digital set-top boxes, personal video recorders, IP gateways and mainstream surveillance systems. To ensure broad compatibility, WD AV drives have been tested in a wide range of audio and video products including set-top boxes, DVD recorders and mainstream surveillance systems. WD AV drives are currently available with EIDE and SATA interfaces in capacities ranging from 80 GB to 500 GB through WD’s worldwide distribution network.

Hitachi goes terabyte with business hard drive

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) announced that it has met its commitment to begin shipping the world’s first one-terabyte hard drive (HDD) to retail customers within the first quarter of 2007. The Deskstar 7K1000 began shipping to retailers and e-tailers in March 2007 with inventories reaching critical mass in April 2007. CDW is among the first organizations to make the terabyte hard drive available to customers.

The Deskstar 7K1000 hard drive delivers ultra-high capacity, which is well-suited for high-performance, gaming and media center PCs and external storage devices. It is built on the industry’s most reliable perpendicular magnetic recording technology, allowing Hitachi to extend capacity beyond that available in current products. The hard drive features a 3.0Gb/s Serial-ATA (SATA) interface and large 32 MB data buffer to provide the performance required for high-end PC applications.

HP introduces new storage
systems for SMBs

StorageWorks division of HP has announced the launch of three new storage offerings further delivering on its commitment of providing affordable, robust storage solutions for the growing SMBs in the country. The storage offerings include disk-based backup and recovery system (D2D Backup), HP StorageWorks MSL8096 Tape Library and the newest HP StorageWorks 1200 All-in-One Storage System (HP AiO1200) to help SMBs choose the right technology for their specific business needs.

The new HP MSL8096 Tape Library offers up to 76TB of compressed storage capacity in only an 8U form factor and is available in a variety of configurations. The MSL8096 Tape Library provides customers choice of hot-swap Ultrium 960 or Ultrium 920 SAS Tape Drives as well as the option to add a redundant power supply for even greater reliability. HP AiO1200, the newest member of the HP’s easy-to-use family of storage systems helps customers easily and reliably store, share, manage and protect rapidly growing pools of application and file data. It seamlessly blends file serving, shared storage array and data protection functions.

IBM announces new storage and services solutions

Recently IBM has announced new hardware and services designed to help small and medium business (SMB) clients better compete and pursue new business opportunities by using information as a strategic asset. IBM is announcing new configurations of its entry-level System Storage DS3000 series and new storage services offerings. Building on current products and services, these new offerings expand IBM’s cross-company effort to transform the way organizations manage and access information through a range of complementary hardware, software and services offerings.

The new storage offerings include enhanced configurations of the IBM System Storage DS3200 and DS3400, powerful entry-level disk arrays featuring integrated management software. Various components of the DS3200 and DS3400, such as controllers, cables and host bus adapters (HBA) will now be bundled into specific configurations, making it easier for SMB customers to purchase the solution that best suits their business needs.

The newly configured IBM System Storage DS3000 series products are currently generally available with a starting price of $4,200. The new storage services are currently available from IBM Global Technology Services.

Trek unveiled power packed security solutions

Trek 2000 International Ltd has unveiled three new solutions at this year’s CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, Germany. Pivoted upon Trek’s ThumbDrive, the new solutions are focused upon the areas of data security, encryption and data compression. Leading these three new solutions is ThumbDrive STRIKES. STRIKES is the acronym of “Secure TRansaction, Identity, Key, Encryption & Storage”. The ThumbDrive STRIKES is a flash drive with an integrated high-end smart chip. The smart chip can communicate with a computer device through the built-in USB interface or the ISO 14443 Type-A contactless interface.

The ThumbDrive Hardware AES employs a flash memory controller with built-in data encryption engine which conforms to the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES). It provides high-end encryption to secure data stored on the flash drive. The encryption engine is able to encrypt data with 256-bit key, which is one of the strongest encryption solutions today. ThumbDrive Compression is a flash drive equipped with automatic data compression capability. This compression solution is very effective that it is able to compress data to virtually store upto 7 times as much data.

Quantum announced new A-Series professional video drive

Quantum Corp has announced that its award-winning A-Series Professional Video Technology will be available on the LTO (Linear Tape-Open) tape drive platform, beginning with LTO-3. By adding this leading mid-range format to the A-Series product line, Quantum will provide video professionals with a new, higher-performance archive solution offering up to 400 GB (native) of removable networked storage capacity in a tape-based file system that is MXF -aware.

Quantum’s new LTO-3 A-Series drives are designed to provide a higher capacity archiving solution than traditional video tape-based storage. Native capacity for an LTO-3 data tape is 400 GB (native), equivalent to more than 30 hours of 25 Mb/s High Definition (HD) content. Each tape carries its own file system directory, allowing direct drag and drop access by applications and operating systems such as Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

Hitachi launches three enterprise-class HDDs

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST) has announced a trio of new products: the 15K RPM Ultrastar 15K300, 7200 RPM Ultrastar A7K1000, and the company’s first small form factor (SFF) enterprise hard drive, the 10K RPM Ultrastar C10K147. Hitachi’s new hard drives target a broad range of enterprise storage systems, from mission-critical and lower duty cycle storage applications to servers, delivering the quality and reliability customers have come to expect from Hitachi’s Ultrastar enterprise-class hard drives.

Expanded enterprise segment participation is a key element of Hitachi’s plan for business excellence as the segment continues to experience consistent growth and drive technology innovation that can be leveraged across other Hitachi products. Delivering a new portfolio of enterprise hard drives in 2007 helps support Hitachi’s profitability initiatives and places the company in a strong position to achieve its goal of 20 percent year-to-year volume growth in enterprise. Hitachi’s 2007 enterprise product portfolio will be delivered in the second quarter of 2007.

Quantum unleashes StorNext 3.0

Quantum Corp has introduced StorNext 3.0 data management software. With this newest generation of Quantum’s StorNext solution, the company has enhanced the architecture to add more value to business operations. StorNext 3.0 extends high performance, resilient data sharing to servers on the local area network (LAN) and integrates Quantum’s patented data de-duplication technology to reduce data retention costs even further. In addition, it enables customers to expand storage capacity and replace storage devices while keeping the system online. Quantum plans to begin shipping StorNext 3.0 in the second calendar quarter of 2007.

Sun Microsystems expands storage portfolio

Sun Microsystems has announced it has expanded its leading storage portfolio to include the Sun StorageTek ST2500 Low Cost Array (LCA), Sun’s first serial-attached SCSI (SAS) storage array and newest member of the modular disk storage family that works with heterogeneous data center environments. Sun also announced next-generation data management capabilities for its industry-standard storage portfolio that include the addition of partitioning functionality to its StorageTek SL8500 enterprise tape library and secure encryption to its Sun StorageTek T10000 FICON tape drive.

As more Web 2.0 companies and existing enterprises like Elektrofilm, Rhythm and Hues, and Thought Equity Motion move their growing core businesses to the Internet, the way the world manages data is changing to support this resulting data growth. Sun recently became the first major vendor to begin to open source its software stack through the OpenSolaris community (http://www.sun.com/aboutsun/pr/2007-04/sunflash.20070410.1.xml) and recent launched products portfolio enhancements reaffirm the company’s commitment to deliver end-to-end open storage solutions that better protect, archive and retrieve customer data, their most important asset.

Stellar has launched digital media recovery software

Stellar Information has launched an improved & enhanced version of its photo recovery tool for windows called as Digital Media recovery Software. This new advance photo recovery software surpasses its predecessor as well as other software of its kind. Software recovers deleted, lost or corrupted images, pictures, audio files from removable media like digital camera, pen drive and any type of digital card reader.

Stellar phoenix Digital Media recovery software is a photo recovery tool for recovering lost or deleted digital pictures from memory sticks, flash cards, Sony memory stick, IBM micro drive, SD cards, MMC cards, XD cards, Secure Digital Card, Zip Disks, Mini Disks, or any other external drive which can be mounted as an external drive. Software supports Nikon (NEF), Canon (CRW, CR2), Olympus (ORF), Sony (SR2), Kodak (K25, KDC, DCR), Fuji (RAF), Minolta (MRW), Pentax (PEF), Sigma (X3F), JPEG, TIFF, BMP, GIF, and PNG files, AVI, MIDI, WAV, MPG & MP4 files.

HP unveils storage software for mid-size businesses

HP has announced a new version of its storage resource management software that allows mid-size businesses to gain control over their rapidly expanding storage environments. HP Storage Essentials Standard Edition Storage Resource Management (SRM) Software automates complex and manual tasks, and improves the utilization of IT resources via a single, secure, web-based interface.

HP Storage Essentials is built on the latest open standards, including SMI-S and J2EE, and integrates with HP Systems Insight Manager software for unified server and storage management. HP Storage Essentials Standard Edition reduces complexity in small to medium HP storage-based storage area networks (SANs) by offering customers a complete view of their storage systems. Using HP Storage Essentials provides customers with greater optimization of SAN and network-attached storage (NAS) capacity, increased IT staff efficiency and simplified end-to-end management processes.

The single web-based interface efficiently centralizes and automates a complete storage infrastructure, from Windows and Linux servers to HP StorageWorks EVA and HP MSA disk array families, HP ProLiant Storage Servers, HP EML E-Series tape libraries, host-bus adapters, and fabric switches.

Intel unveils quad-core storage Server

Intel Corporation unveiled the industry’s first 2U, 12 drive, integrated quad-core storage server: the Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2. This hardware platform enables a new price/performance class for the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) market. Powered by the quad-core Intel Xeon processor 5300 series, this new rack mount server can be configured as a broad range of enterprise and small business storage solutions, including Network-Attached Storage (NAS), Storage Area Network (SAN) and application servers.

Since introducing the first-ever quad core processors in November of last year, Intel is now shipping 12 different server and desktop processors with four processing engines or cores. Intel had expanded the line to the embedded market in early April and now to the storage industry. The Intel Storage Server SSR212MC2 also comes with an option of including one or two Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series processors, as well as a choice of enterprise-class Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS) or high-capacity Serial ATA (SATA) hard drives.

Iomega unveiled new desktop hard drive

Iomega has released new Iomega Power Pro Desktop Hard Drive, a 2TB drive powered by four hot-swappable SATA hard drives with hardware-based RAID security features, giving users a cost-effective but powerful storage solution for the large data and image files created in today’s business environment. A total solution featuring high capacity, high performance, a versatility in connections, redundant data security choices and backup software, the new Iomega Power Pro Desktop Hard Drive allows business professionals to easily expand their current storage capabilities and archive important files all in a single device.

The new Iomega Power Pro Desktop Hard Drive is Windows and Mac compatible, including the new Windows Vista operating system. The Power Pro has versatile performance with a choice of computer connections: FireWire 800, FireWire 400 and USB 2.0, resulting in blazing transfer rates of up to 70MB/sec.

SNIA appoints Tom Clark to its board of directors

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) has appointed Tom Clark to its board of directors. Clark, a 20 year veteran of the storage industry, is currently the Principal Engineer for Technical Marketing at Brocade.

Tom Clark is a SAN evangelist for Brocade and a noted author and industry advocate of storage networking worldwide. He previously served on the Board of Directors for the SNIA from 2000 to 2003 and also held chair positions for SNIA initiatives such as the Interoperability Committee. Prior to joining Brocade, Clark was Director of Solutions and Technologies for McDATA Corporation and the Director of Technical Marketing for Nishan Systems, the innovator of storage over IP technology.

Blu-ray Disc sales surpass one million mark

Blu-ray Disc has become the first high definition format to sell more than one million discs, a milestone it has achieved in less than a year. Blu-ray Disc sales also accounted for 70 percent of the high-definition movies sold during the first quarter of 2007, according to sales figures published today by Home Media Research.

Blu-ray’s sales lead has increased each month since the first of the year and nearly three out of every four high-definition movies sold in March were on Blu-ray Disc, according to the HMR sales figures. Industry projections suggest that this steady growth trend will continue based on the fact that seven of the eight major studios are releasing an increasing number of blockbuster movies on Blu-ray Disc, most of which are likely to be available in high-definition only on Blu-ray Disc.

Microsoft and EMC allied on network management technology licensing

EMC and Microsoft announced a network management technology licensing agreement and a broader technology collaboration—combining the market’s leading solutions for network and systems management for delivery of network-aware, end-to-end service management. The two companies unveiled the alliance, today at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2007 in San Diego, CA.

Key to the announcement, Microsoft is licensing EMC Smarts network discovery and health monitoring technology to be included in a future version of Microsoft System Center Operations Manager, the company’s award-winning solution for end-to-end service monitoring in the enterprise IT environment. Additionally, EMC is also developing value-added network management and root-cause analysis management packs to be used in conjunction with both current and future versions of System Center Operations Manager.

IBM positioned in leader quadrant

IBM has unveiled that the analyst firm Gartner, Inc. has positioned IBM in the “Leader” quadrant in its Gartner Magic Quadrant for Storage Resource Management (SRM) and SAN Management Software for 2007.

“With the data deluge that today’s businesses are facing, more and more companies are looking to storage software to manage data growth, improve application availability and lower IT costs,” said Shailesh Agarwal, Country Manager—IBM Storage, IBM India/South Asia. “We believe IBM continues to lead with our unbeatable storage portfolio—including software, hardware and services—and our comprehensive approach is helping clients minimize the complexity associated with managing multi-vendor systems so that they have access to information on demand.”

LSI completes merger with Agere Systems

LSI Logic Corporation announced that it has completed its merger with Agere Systems Inc., effective April 2, and that it will rename the newly merged company LSI Corporation. The company will continue to trade under the stock symbol LSI on the New York Stock Exchange.

The new LSI is uniquely positioned as a semiconductor and storage systems leader with an unparalleled innovation pipeline and a broad array of competitive, customer-valued products and solutions in large and growing markets. Its well-established presence in the storage, networking and consumer electronics markets should enable the company to drive sustainable long-term growth and shareholder value through the strengthening of its platforms and the expansion of its existing customer and partner relationships.

Cisco completes acquisition of NeoPath Networks

Cisco has announced it has completed the acquisition of privately-held NeoPath Networks, the leading provider of high performance and highly scalable file storage management solutions. NeoPath’s patented SMART virtualization technology and its File Director family of products simplify the management of network attached storage (NAS) and other file servers. With the close of the transaction, the NeoPath team and product portfolio are now integrated into the Datacenter Switching and Security Technology Group (DSSTG), reporting up into Jayshree Ullal, Senior Vice President.

NASSCOM appoints new chairman

NASSCOM has announced the appointment Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, Vice Chairman, Board of Directors, Cognizant Technology Solutions, as the Chairman of NASSCOM for the year 2007-08. Dr. Ganesh Natarajan, Deputy Chairman and MD, Zensar Technologies Limited has been appointed Vice Chairman, NASSCOM for the current year.

Announcing the Chairman and Vice Chairman for 2007-08, Mr. Kiran Karnik, President, NASSCOM said, “We are delighted to have Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan taking on the Chairmanship of NASSCOM. He has played an important role, both as a member and as NASSCOM’s Vice Chairman last year. Mr. Lakshmi Narayanan, apart from leading one of the global IT companies, is also greatly respected in the industry for his entrepreneurial drive, guidance and leadership. With his direction, we are certain that NASSCOM will attain even greater levels of maturity. We are also extremely pleased to have Dr. Ganesh Natarajan take the position of Vice Chairman, NASSCOM for 2007-08.”

Imation to pay 300 million for TDK tape, disc division

Imation and TDK announced that they have reached a definitive agreement under which Imation will acquire TDK brand worldwide recording media business and use of the TDK brand name for recording media products, for $300 million in a combination of Imation common stock and cash with potential for payment of up to an additional $70 million based on future financial performance of the acquired business. TDK will retain its R&D, manufacturing and OEM business.

Frank Russomanno, Imation President and CEO said, “With this transaction Imation expands our portfolio of brands and builds on our four pillars of storage. Imation is bringing the well known TDK brand into our growing portfolio of strong consumer brands as well as adding the highly respected TDK brand recording media products to our commercial and consumer product portfolio.”

CommVault expands presence in APAC

CommVault announced the appointment
of Brad Colwell as country manager for CommVault’s Singapore office. Reporting to Gerry Sillars, managing director, CommVault Oceania/ASEAN, Colwell’s responsibilities include the forging of critical alliances with major system integration and value-added reseller partners to provide better coverage for CommVault’s enterprise suite of Unified Data Management solutions. CommVault’s Singapore office will serve as an important link to CommVault’s growing base of customers in the telecommunications, media, finance and public sector markets, providing localized support and service. The Singapore office also extends the company’s Asia-Pacific presence which already includes offices in China and Australia.

IBM is now in Goa

IBM India has announced its operations in Goa, as part of its expansion plans to enter 14 new cities in the country. This would enable IBM to cater specially to the unique requirements of the various SMB clients spread in the state of Goa and neighboring markets.

“Until recently small-to-medium size businesses have been relatively ignored in smaller cities throughout India. There is an untapped market here to help these businesses gain a competitive edge and catch up to their larger counterparts,” said Ramesh Narasimhan, Director—GSMB, IBM India. “Opening operations in Goa is an example of IBM’s continued commitment to working closely with SMBs throughout India to provide them with products, solutions and value added offerings that will give them the boost to get ahead and succeed.” IBM’s operations in Goa will target various clients in Government, Healthcare, Retail, Pharmaceuticals, Construction and Process Industries.

Per Kristian Jacobsen new CEO at Tandberg Data

The Board of Directors in Tandberg Data has appointed Per Kristian Jacobsen (49) as the new CEO of the company. He has joined the company April 1, 2007. Mr. Jacobsen replaces Gudmundur Einarsson who has been leading TAD for the last seven years. Following the takeover and successful integration of Exabyte Einarsson has informed the board that he wants to resign. Einarsson will continue to serve the company throughout 2007, to secure continuity. Einarsson has also accepted a nomination to join the Board of Tandberg Data, which will allow the company to continue to benefit from his extensive experience and insight.

NTP Software partners with Decru

NTP Software announced that the company has partnered with Decru to offer joint customers an integrated data management and security solution. Organizations will have the ability to control and manage their data storage at the enterprise level while simultaneously enjoying the advanced protection of Decru encryption and key management. The companies are working together to enable product interoperability and seamless product integration in customer environments.

HP expands leadership team

IHP has named two executives to its small and medium-size business (SMB) team and introduced an all-in-one storage system for that same market to help customers lower the cost and complexity of their data storage environments.

As director of worldwide SMB activities within HP’s Technology Solutions Group, Urs Renggli, 42, will coordinate storage, server, software and services business units to deliver customers simple, affordable and reliable offerings. Harry Baeverstad, 54, as director of SMB within the StorageWorks business unit, will be in charge of leading SMB product strategy and go-to-market programs for StorageWorks.

IBM’s next five in five

IUnveiled to shape the future, the “IBM Next Five in Five” may sound a distance future yet they are real-life innovations—a list of innovations that have the potential to change the way people work, live and play over the next five years. The list is based on market and societal trends expected to transform our lives, as well as emerging technologies from IBM’s Labs around the world that could make these innovations possible.

“Our researchers are focused on the application of technologies in ways that matter to people, business and society,” said Dr. Daniel Dias, director of IBM’s India Research Laboratory. “Open collaborative research and real-world innovations are going to shape the future.” he said. In the next five years, our lives will change through technology innovations in the following ways, says Dr. Dias: 1) We will be able to access healthcare remotely; 2) Mobile phones will start to read our minds; 3) Real-time speech translation will become the norm; 4) There will be a 3-D Internet; 4) New technologies will address areas of environmental importance.