Fujitsu Adds NAS to Eternus

SUNNYVALE, Calif. -- Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation today announced network attached storage (NAS) connectivity powered by the Network Appliance, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) NetApp V-Series storage virtualization technology on ETERNUS®4000 and ETERNUS®8000, enabling customers to consolidate existing fragmented file servers onto a single platform. NAS connectivity lowers the overall total cost of ownership (TCO) and enables customers to achieve a higher return on investment (ROI) through scalability and consolidation on the high performance ETERNUS platform. ETERNUS customers can simplify storage management, reduce operating costs, and reduce under-utilized storage capacity by unifying their SAN and NAS storage networking infrastructures under a common architecture by virtualizing storage at the file level on block-based ETERNUS storage disk arrays.

“We’ve found that end users are embracing SAN and NAS support within the same system,” said Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. “It is becoming a best practice providing SAN for email and database applications and NAS for file data. With the proliferation of file data, NAS support is becoming increasingly valuable since it more easily manages unstructured content compared to block-based SAN storage. The Fujitsu SAN-based ETERNUS storage systems combined with NetApp’s leading NAS solution is a smart combination.”

The Fujitsu ETERNUS storage solution offers unparalleled price/performance value for enterprise and mid-range environments with advanced data security and high-availability features, including disk data encryption for the maximum protection of sensitive information and a fully redundant nodal mesh architecture for high availability. ETERNUS offers MAID (Massive Arrays of Inactive Disks) technology for reduced power consumption and extended life. In addition, ETERNUS8000 delivers the world’s largest storage capacity with 1.38 petabytes of storage space. With NAS connectivity, customers can now utilize Fujitsu ETERNUS storage systems for file-intensive storage access requirements with unparalleled performance and reliability.

“The NetApp V-Series product line combined with the high performance ETERNUS storage solution unifies storage networking paradigms under a common architecture,” said Brendon Howe, general manager, V-Series, at NetApp. “The NetApp V-Series simplifies storage provisioning and management; reduces backup time, space, and cost; and increases storage utilization.”

“The ability to manage both SAN and NAS storage systems in a single high-availability system makes ETERNUS attractive to the increasing number of organizations that must manage large volumes of both file-based and transaction-based storage,” said Richard McCormack, senior vice president of marketing at Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation. “This move is in line with the Fujitsu strategy to help customers consolidate their IT infrastructures using the most reliable and highest-performing solutions available in the industry.”

Fujitsu Ltd.