LeftHand Adds 10-GigE SANs

BOULDER, Colo. -- LeftHand Networks(R), the company that pioneered IP SANs, today unveils 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) SANs with support from industry leading switch, NIC and driver companies. This announcement validates iSCSI as an enterprise solution by delivering high performing SANs that can address demanding storage requirements such as disaster-recovery support for critical data while augmenting capacity to alleviate congestion and I/O bottlenecks. LeftHand is helping to lead a convergence among key suppliers of 10GbE equipment, services, and technology to deliver solutions that are easy to implement and affordable.

Support for 10GbE is part of a series of announcements that demonstrate LeftHand Networks' commitment to shifting the economic structure of the SAN marketplace through the availability of multiple SAN configurations to meet customer requirements and a growing list of supported hardware platforms.

"iSCSI solutions using conventional 1-gigabit-per-second Ethernet networking technology are proven and capable of supporting the performance, reliability and availability needs for today's critical applications for mid-tier enterprises. However, the push for the benefits inherent to 10 gigabit technology is upon us," said Dr. Claude Lorenson, group product manager, storage technologies at Microsoft Corporation. "LeftHand's clustered open iSCSI SAN approach and support for 10GbE enables the company to move to the forefront of iSCSI adoption in the enterprise particularly where storage decisions must align with data center infrastructure needs and high transactional environments."

Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) has found that adopters of iSCSI solutions are very satisfied with the performance offered however, 26 percent of iSCSI planned adopters say they wouldn't purchase an iSCSI storage system without support for 10GbE. "This is a major milestone in the evolution of iSCSI,"said Tony Asaro, senior analyst for Enterprise Strategy Group. "We've found that iSCSI performs as well as FC in head-to-head testing when comparing one gigabit Ethernet and two gigabit Fibre Channel. However, no matter how loud the industry beats the drum that iSCSI performs just as well as Fibre Channel, people are still confused. 10 gigabit Ethernet support for iSCSI takes any performance concerns off the table."

In a separate release:BOULDER, Colo. -- LeftHand Networks(R) changed the rules in SAN storage today by introducing customer-driven storage feature-rich solutions offering a variety of platform, performance and capacity choices for customers of all sizes. The SAN provider has expanded its open iSCSI SAN portfolio by adding support for the HP ProLiant DL320s server. With the combination of the ProLiant DL320s and LeftHand Networks'SAN/iQ(R) storage platform, LeftHand Networks is shifting the economic structure of the SAN marketplace and delivering unprecedented customer value through breakthrough performance and industry-leading SAN capabilities at affordable prices across multiple storage tiers. In addition to ProLiant DL320s support, LeftHand is announcing reference SAN configurations ranging from enterprise-class 100 TB SAS SANs to entry-level 6 TB SATA SANs that will forever change the way that vendors deliver SANs to the market.

"As the information needs of small and medium enterprises grow, they need storage solutions that deliver enterprise-level functions such as thin provisioning and synchronous/asynchronous replication while leveraging industry standard systems to reduce the cost of acquisition," said Natalya Yezhkova, research manager with IDC's Storage Systems Program. "Solutions like LeftHand's SAN/iQ that deliver enterprise storage management and data protection capabilities on an open and distributed architecture provide a wider range of companies with the opportunity to deploy high performing and scalable networked storage solutions."

The introduction of SAN/iQ support for the ProLiant DL320s builds upon the value that LeftHand has been delivering to customers to for the past year with greater than 1 Petabyte of storage deployed on the SAN/iQ and ProLiant DL380 server. The addition of the HP ProLiant DL320s to the open iSCSI SAN portfolio provides mid tier and enterprise companies with high performing storage solutions with high density drives, large capacity options without charging premium prices.

"Today, LeftHand Networks is changing the rules of the storage game. SAN customers are looking for products that provide enterprise-class features without breaking the bank and easily upgrading without having to bring a forklift," said Bill Chambers, president and CEO, LeftHand Networks. "As the innovator of the open iSCSI SAN marketplace, LeftHand Networks is uniquely capable of delivering on customer expectations with the combination of the SAN/iQ storage platform and enterprise-class x86 servers such as the ProLiant DL320s."

LeftHand Networks Inc.0