Conley Corporation And Hitachi Data Systems Broaden SafePath OEM Agreement For Open-Systems Storage

Business Wire, Sept 25, 1997

CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 25, 1997--Conley Corporation and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) today announced that Conley will develop a version of its SafePath data protection software for use with the HDS 6700 Scalable Array, the recently announced storage system that brings mainframe-class availability, performance and capacity to the open-systems world. This broadens the existing OEM agreement between Conley and HDS to cover storage requirements for both the centralized and distributed computing environments.

SafePath is designed to deliver significant reliability and performance improvements in multi-ported RAID storage systems such as the 6700. SafePath's alternate-path fail-over capability enables data to be accessed through different active, redundant channels. Within seconds of a channel failure, data can be accessed through an alternate path without any disruption to the users or the application. This eliminates any individual data path as a single point of failure.

"Continuous access to data is becoming a business standard," said John Diedenhofen, HDS vice president for storage systems. "SafePath provides a key component for our open-system customers who want the highest level of protection. Its ability to maintain access to data in the event of a data-path failure becomes even more important as open-systems platforms assume the mission-critical workload traditionally processed by mainframe systems."

Under the new agreement, SafePath will be implemented to operate with the 6700 Scalable Array when it is attached to servers running the Sun Solaris and Windows NT operating systems. General availability is planned for the fourth quarter of 1997.

The agreement extends the range of SafePath support for HDS open-systems storage products. It is currently available for use with the HDS 5700E Intelligent Storage System, an integrated solution for centralized, distributed and mixed computing environments.

"We designed SafePath to support multiple platforms. But it was also important to support a range of products offered by individual OEM customers," said Ric Cavillo, President of Conley Corp. "Hitachi is a great OEM partner for us because their demanding quality requirements and broad product line quickly test the SafePath architecture."

SafePath supports standard adapters, clustered servers, and multiple active data paths. It adds adaptive data routing to a subsystem in order to monitor the condition of all data path components.

The software enables all channels to be active, allowing maximum performance without sacrificing fault tolerance. Also, its configuration and management facilities simplify system administration tasks and give system managers an unmatched level of on-line path and device control.

Conley Corporation, established in 1992, develops data storage management software for UNIX, Windows NT and MacOS environments. Conley provides safe data software that is sold by OEMs worldwide. With Conley software installed, clients can maintain outstanding levels of availability, reliability and data uptime.

Hitachi Data Systems markets, worldwide, a broad range of information processing solutions, including enterprise servers, storage subsytems, peripheral products and professional services. For online information about HDS products and services, access http://www.hdshq.com on the World Wide Web.

CONTACTS: Conley Corporation

Heather Huntington, 617/441-5600 x120

heather@conley.com

or

Hitachi Data Systems

Bob Neudecker, 408/970-7971

neudecker@hdshq.com