Leading Test Lab Validates Superiority of EMC/Softek Data Migration Software

Market Wire, December, 2005

Softek Storage Solutions, the leading provider of non-disruptive data migration software for multi-vendor environments, today announced that leading industry analyst research firm Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) tested the EMC/Softek Logical Data Migration Facility (LDMF) data migration software and found it to be a "no-brainer" solution for mainframe environments that need to perform data migrations.

The ESG Labs report, published this week, followed two days of rigorous, hands-on testing of LDMF versus one of the industry's most popular traditional data migration software solutions, the DFDSS utility from IBM. Testing focused on traditional versus LDMF migrations; heterogeneous migrations and consolidation; as well as quality of service and tiered storage migration.

Results from the ESG testing concluded:

--  LDMF enables online and near-transparent migration of data so that
    this process can be done during regular business hours.
--  LDMF is extremely useful in performing data migrations and ultimately
    solving the unit control block (UCB) constraint issues.
--  Application unavailability for migrating 2GB of data was 45 minutes
    with DFDSS, versus four minutes with LDMF.  For a 100 GB data migration,
    DFDSS would require more than 37 hours of downtime, while still only
    yielding four minutes of downtime with LDMF.  Also, depending on the
    application, downtime with LDMF could be less than four minutes or
    eliminated.
--  DB2 table updates ran without interruption during an LDMF migration
    and were verified successfully after the migration had completed.
--  LDMF can be used not only to migrate between storage systems, but also
    between tiers of storage within a single system
    

"Traditional migrations can take hours or even days depending on the amount of data being moved," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "ESG Research has found that this is unacceptable, with downtime creating a negative impact on revenue. It is also unreasonable to demand of the IT staff to take time during off-hours -- if such a thing exists anymore -- and weekends to perform these tasks."

"ESG Lab was impressed with LDMF and found it to be extremely useful in performing data migrations and ultimately solving the UCB constraint issues. It was obvious to us that this product is very well thought out and that EMC and Softek paid attention to the details that surround data migrations within a mainframe environment. From our perspective, LDMF seems to be a no-brainer solution for mainframe environments that need to perform data migrations.

Free downloads of the ESG Labs validation report for LDMF are now available at: www.enterprisestrategygroup.com; www.emc.com, and at www.softek.com

About LDMF

As the only on-line alternative to performing manual copies or using other utilities which require lengthy application downtime, the LDMF software enables mainframe administrators to more efficiently relocate information onto new storage systems, tier their storage environment, non-disruptively optimize volume utilization and performance, and consolidate datasets onto fewer disk volumes. In addition to migrating data to larger volumes and arrays, the LDMF software is useful for other complex processes such as reclaiming unit control blocks (UCBs) and dataset-level workload balancing.

Typical LDMF installations are priced based on capacity and size of servers with average deployments ranging in the low $100,000. The software is available from Softek and EMC through the EMC Select Program.

About Softek

Softek provides non-disruptive data availability solutions that enable companies to see, move and recover data, regardless of server platform or storage vendor. The company offers a family of host-based enterprise data migration software, utilizing synchronous, asynchronous and point-in-time copy replication technologies, and covering UNIX, Windows and z/OS platforms.

Since 1996, Softek data migration, data replication and storage resource management solutions have helped more than 700 enterprise customers improve data availability while reducing the risk, cost and complexity associated with optimizing multi-vendor storage infrastructures.

Softek Storage Solutions Corporation is an independent software company based in Vienna, Virginia. Technology partners include EMC, Fujitsu, HP and IBM and StorageTek, in addition to VARs and distributors worldwide. For further information, visit www.softek.com.

Softek is a trademark of Softek Storage Solutions Corp. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact: Emory Epperson Softek (408) 735-6611 Email Contact