Storagetek Announces New Storage Management Capabilities for Multiplatform Disk Array

Business Wire, Sept 9, 1998

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1998--

U S WEST Dex To Leverage Real-Time Management of Capacity, RAID Levels and Performance; Fibre Channel Connectivity Facilitates Immediate SAN Deployment

At Comdex Enterprise today, StorageTek(R) (Storage Technology Corp., NYSE:STK), the preeminent provider of network storage, announced availability of its enhanced StorageTek Array Manager software for storage management, bundled with its OPENstorage(TM) 9153 RAID disk array.

Customers with growing application storage pools can now add disk capacity, change assigned RAID levels and tune performance in real-time without disrupting their network. The StorageTek Array Manager enhancements are available immediately at no additional cost with the OPENstorage 9153 RAID subsystem, which supports Fibre Channel host connectivity for immediate SAN deployment. It is targeted for availability for Windows NT, Sun and HP platforms in Q4, 1998.

These new features will enhance the flexibilityof current customers such as U S WEST Dex. U S WEST Dex Internet Yellow Pages Group uses the OPENstorage 9153 to provide address and phone information for residences and businesses across the United States. The company chose StorageTek's disk solution over other competitors in large part for its reliability, redundancy and ease of installation.

"StorageTek's OPENstorage 9153 has single-handedly allowed us to increase our system performance by 10 percent," said Bill Sampson, Internet Yellow Pages System Support Group Manager, U S WEST Dex Internet Yellow Pages Group. "The new software capabilities will give us greater control and flexibility over our stored information and help us to maintain competitive advantage."

StorageTek's OPENstorage 9153 disk system is a high-performance RAID disk subsystem that addresses storage requirements for Windows NT and UNIX users. It is ideal for data-intensive applications such as Internet services, enterprise resource planning and data warehousing. StorageTek's OPENstorage 9153 disk system is also ideal for customers looking for SANready products to incorporate into a storage area network (SAN).

"With the current data explosion, flexible and efficient storage networks are increasingly important to customers across all industries," said Mark Davis, vice president of marketing for StorageTek's Multiplatform Business Group. "These new, robust software management capabilities provide customers with continuous data availability and greater control over how data is stored. It is our goal to make information more powerful for our customers -- these enhancements do that by increasing the availability, performance, and online manageability of business-critical information assets."

Unlike most RAID offerings, StorageTek's Array Manager software bundled with the OPENstorage 9153 disk array includes key new features:

-- Dynamic Capacity Expansion allows customers to add more disks to the 9153 to increase its storage capacity without disabling the subsystem. Being able to increase storage capacity on the fly helps customers quickly respond to growing data storage requirements within their organizations.

-- Dynamic RAID Migration allows customers to alternate RAID levels (e.g., RAID 1 to RAID 5) without disabling the subsystem. This type of seamless flexibility is critical for customers who wish to immediately change how data sets are protected or modify RAID performance to efficiently match changing data requirements. The Dynamic RAID Migration capability in StorageTek's 9153 helps to secure growing data pools and increase customer access to that data by making more storage configurations available.

-- Dynamic Segment Sizing allows customers to optimize the 9153's performance by fine tuning performance parameters. Customers can adjust data segment size for optimal performance of their computing environment without taking down the subsystem.

Specifically designed for the OPENstorage 9153, StorageTek's Array Manager software incorporates standard software features, including centralized storage management, performance monitoring, configuration management, flexible error notification and SNMP capabilities.

About StorageTek's OPENstorage Family of Disk Systems

StorageTek's OPENstorage 9153 disk system is the first in a series of high-performance, high-availability modular 915X Series RAID disk systems.

The OPENstorage 9153 RAID disk array scales from 45 to 720 gigabytes, holds up to 40 drives in a stackable frame and is cluster ready. It supports Windows NT, Sun, HP, RS/6000 and SGI platforms. The unit also supports both Ultra-SCSI or Fibre Channel host attachments. StorageTek's 9153 also includes a stackable cabinet package option, called OPENstack, whereby users can add additional disk systems or tape libraries as needed without interrupting network functions. Each product in the OPENstorage family ensures continuous data availability while providing flexibility, scalability and reliability to meet ever changing online storage environments. The OPENstorage family also includes the 913x series of products (9131, 9133, 9135, 9137) and the 9140 and 9145 Fibre Channel disk arrays.