Storage Show Vendors Converge Around SANs, Backup

Vendors exhibiting at the Storage Networking World conference in Phoenix introduced a number of new products in the past few days. And their offerings fell broadly into a couple different camps: improving SAN management or reducing their complexity; and easing backup processes, regardless of the media in question.

Crossroads Systems Inc. unveiled its 6240 storage router for improving use and management of high-performance tape libraries. The router includes dual network ports and four device ports for port aggregation and to reduce SAN complexity. The 6240 has an end-to-end throughput of up to 300 megabytes per second and provides fast tape reads and writes while handling backup and restore tasks.

The storage router also supports next generation high-performance SCSI tape drives including Linear Tape-Open (LTO) 2 and Super Digital Linear Tape (SDLT) drives. The 6240 is available immediately.

Atempo Inc. introduced its Storage Assessor, which gauges the performance, status and utilization of network hardware, software and connectivity. The results then permit companies to address storage allocation issues, plan migrations or consolidation and reduce risks, the vendor said. The quantitative results are delivered in easily read graphics.

Storage Assessor also delivers inventory and capacity usage summaries; detailed inventory of fabric, application servers and storage; and file type analysis. The product is available immediately; the vendor released no pricing information.Cisco is demonstrating a new software feature under development for its MDS 9000 line. The Data Tap Service provides a protocol-based interface between the Cisco's MDS 9000 SAN switches and third-party storage appliances, letting them access servers and storage devices on a storage network without needing to be in the direct data path.

Data Tap will be rolled into one of the line cards for the Cisco MDS 9000 switch, and will also be available on any of Cisco's modular switch chassis. Cisco, however, has not yet pinpointed a release for the new tool.

McData is touting its upcoming Sphereon Intelligent Switch, which will feature embedded storage applications that typically reside on host computers, storage appliances, or disk arrays. McData's switch will rely on storage processor technology from Aarohi, and use management software provided by StoreAge Networking Technologies for mirroring and copying data, for instance. McData says the shift to a more robust switch will reduce enterprise costs and boost the performance of storage networks.

Solid Data Systems debuted version 2.0 of its R2 Revolutionary Recovery software, which works with Microsoft Exchange to restore databases in the event of corruption or failure. R2 can recover e-mail for 5,000 users and more than 1 million messages in less than 10 minutes, according to the vendor.

R2 2.0 also has a new merged inbox for Outlook that displays the virtualized e-mail store, and sports an updated administrative interface using the Microsoft Management Console. The new release also includes support for both Microsoft Exchange Server 2003 Enterprise Edition and Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition. R2 2.0 is available immediately; pricing begins at $49,000.ATTO Technology Inc. is entering the Fibre Channel SAN market with two new adapters equipped with 4-gigabit connectivity. The vendor said 4G Fibre Channel will be available sometime in the next year on its Celerity Fibre Channel storage adapter line and its FibreBridge Fibre Channel-to-SCSI bridge products. ATTO also said it has its eye on 10-gigabit Fibre Channel technology as well, but released no other details.

-- Gregg Keizer of TechWeb News contributed to this story.