StoneFly's Storage Concentrator: Storage virtualization appliances for IP storage networks - Top Technology Showcase

Computer Technology Review, August, 2002 by Nick Schultz

StoneFly Networks' i1000 and i1500 Storage Concentrators combine the functionality of iSCSI-based storage routers, bridges, and extensible logical volume managers to provide all-in-one storage virtualization appliances. By using the emerging iSCSI standard, TCP/IP, and Gigabit Ethernet, they add intelligent, block-level, logical volume management to existing IP networks to pool existing and new storage assets, providing efficient utilization, streamlined management, rapid deployment and reconfiguration of storage, and reduced SAN-based backup and restore times.

Storage Concentrators enable users to quickly and easily turn an P network into a storage network, supporting heterogeneous host and storage devices. Enterprise customers can add "storage intelligence" to their enterprise networks to maximize the utilization of storage resources and eliminate waste by freeing stranded storage. Storage Concentrators provide in-band iSCSI block-level virtualization (storage pooling) to enable users to access storage without the need to know where the devices are located on the network, or how they're configured. Through storage pooling, Storage Concentrators deliver virtual volumes to hosts connected over industry-standard Ethernet networks, without the need for host-based agents or a separate metadata out-of-band storage management device.

Both Storage Concentrators feature an HTML-based GUI to allow administrators to manage storage operations, including controlling distributed Storage Concentrators centrally and securely from anywhere on the Internet. The i1500 adds high-availability features including dual hot-swappable power supplies and RAID mirroring of the OS and metadata. The i1000 and i1500 include iSCSI host support to create a full-function block-storage IP SAN; logical volume management to create a common pool of storage, increasing overall disk utilization rates; advanced storage packet routing and 128-bit SSL security; and iSCSI to SCSI and Fibre Channel bridging, supporting the most common interface standards for storage systems today.

StoneFly's i1000 and i1500 Storage Concentrators are now available through its channel distribution partners and select resellers.

www.stonefly.com