New HiCommand Management Framework Module Featured in SNIA
CIM-SAN Interoperability Demo
SANTA CLARA, California — Oct 25, 2002 — Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), and Hitachi Data Systems Corporation have demonstrated compliance with the Common Information Model (CIM) industry standard in the next generation of their storage systems manager, HiCommand™ Device Manager. With support for open standards, HiCommand Device Manager simplifies management of storage resources and drives down cost for enterprise customers.
Now CIM 2.7 enabled, HiCommand Device Manager has demonstrated interoperability with multiple third-party storage management clients to successfully discover and visualize management information for Hitachi Freedom Storage™ systems using a CIM/Web Based Enterprise Management (WBEM) interface. The successful testing is the result of Hitachi's commitment to its Hitachi TrueNorth™ vision for open standards in storage networking and is a concrete example of the company's full support of the SNIA's Storage Management Initiative (SMI).
HiCommand Device Manager is a module of the HiCommand Management Framework, an open information framework that delivers always-on, policy-based, set-and-forget storage management. HiCommand Device Manager software allows enterprise storage customers to configure, monitor, and tune storage systems via a single graphical user interface (GUI) over any IP-connected PC. The module supports management of Hitachi Freedom Storage™ Lightning 9900™ V Series, and Thunder 9200™ storage systems, as well as Sun StorEdge™ 9900 Series and T3 systems, all from a single focal point.
"Our True North vision for open information management is manifested in our commitment to CIM and to fostering standards adoption throughout the industry," said Steve East, vice president, Storage Integration, Hitachi Data Systems. "With CIM support integrated into HiCommand Device Manager, we have demonstrated our support of SNIA and open standards, based on the belief that open storage management standards play a critical role in providing enterprises with the best solutions available."
"Customers today are looking for solutions to manage their heterogeneous environments," said David Hill, vice president of storage research, The Aberdeen Group. "This announcement of CIM-based HiCommand Device Manager by Hitachi Data Systems is the most recent demonstration of the company's dedication to addressing this challenge through open standards. With the advanced technology of their storage systems and by working with best of breed vendors, Hitachi Data Systems again shows a leadership role in enterprise storage."
Through Hitachi's collaboration with the SNIA, HiCommand Device Manager will be featured in a demonstration of the first interoperable and open environment for storage area management based on the CIM/WBEM standards. The SNW Interoperability and Solutions demonstration, called "CIM-SAN," will take place at the Storage Networking World Conference in Orlando, Florida, from October 27-30 and showcases a multi-vendor storage area network (SAN) that includes Hitachi Freedom Storage Lightning 9970V and Thunder 9200 systems. The SAN will be managed entirely through a single open interface and will demonstrate functionality such as zone management, volume management, LUN masking/mapping, asset management, and status/event monitoring using clients and servers from 20 leading manufacturers.
"The seamless interoperability of multiple vendor solutions is essential in guaranteeing storage networks that are easy for users to manage within their IT environments," said Roger Reich, chairman of the SNIA's SMI Committee, which oversees demonstrations such as CIM-SAN and other storage management work within the SNIA. "It is through the relentless hard work and unfaltering support of our participating member companies in the CIM-SAN demonstration, that the SNIA Storage Management Initiative has now moved ever closer to its goal of ensuring that all storage networks are managed using an enhanced version of CIM/WBEM by 2005."
HiCommand Device Manager, previously tested and previewing a pre-release version of CIM/WBEM support, will be used in the CIM-SAN demonstration to enable software management applications to use a common, interoperable interface for managing Hitachi Freedom Storage systems. The following clients within CIM-SAN were successfully tested with the HiCommand Device Manager CIM provider to discover and visualize management information for Hitachi Freedom Storage systems: VERITAS SANPoint Control™, IBM Tivoli™ Storage Resource Manager, Sun StorEdge™ Configuration Service, the AppIQ™ Solution Suite, InterSAN® PATHLINE®, CA BrightStor™ SAN Manager™, CA BrightStor Portal, BMC PATROL® Storage Manager, EMC Visual SAN, and the SNIA Generic GUI. Hitachi is committed to working with third-party vendors to ensure interoperability and open access to Hitachi Freedom Storage systems. In addition to CIM support, HiCommand APIs will remain open and available to all independent software vendors enrolled in Hitachi's TrueNorth Developers Program.
Hitachi has committed to deliver CIM-compliant storage management software and to support joint interoperability guidelines and testing. The HiCommand Management Framework, first announced in May 2002, is expected to ship with HiCommand Device Manager and its first CIM compliant features and modules by the end of this quarter, and will continue to ship with expanded features through 2003.
"Storage management solutions today are primarily a mix of vendor-specific and point management products," said Doug Cahill, vice president of business development and strategy, AppIQ. "We are working with Hitachi Data Systems to ensure interoperability with their storage systems through an open, standards-based approach for storage management. CIM-compliant products such as HiCommand Device Manager and the AppIQ Solution Suite effectively address the storage management challenges faced by both vendors and customers by reducing time to market for new solutions and eliminating infrastructure complexity."
"As a standards leader and contributor to CIM and Bluefin, we are pleased to form the intelligent SAN foundation for this interoperable and open environment for storage area management based on CIM/WBEM. Working with partners like Hitachi Data Systems, we are demonstrating our continued commitment to the SNIA and advancing SAN standards," said Jeffrey Brooks, Brocade Chief Marketing Officer.
"With TrueNorth, Hitachi Data Systems is providing the industry with a roadmap for the future and is leading the storage industry towards a truly open management approach that benefits its customers and partners", said Larry Cormier, VP of marketing and business development, CommVault Systems. "We agree with HDS that an open-standards, policy-based approach to storage management is the best way to help customers meet the demands of today and tomorrow."
"Through our collaboration with Hitachi Data Systems, we can provide customers with higher performance and greater business value from their investments in storage infrastructure," said Gary McGuire, senior vice president of BrightStor solutions at Computer Associates. "We commend Hitachi Data Systems for incorporating CIM-enabled management into their HiCommand products, and we share their commitment to open standards. These standards are essential for customers who seek to cope with their growing volumes of critical data by building highly efficient storage networks from best-in-class components."
"CreekPath Systems supports the evolution and growth of storage infrastructure and networking solutions especially through standards. The introduction of Hitachi's HiCommand Device Manager extends CreekPath's ability to deliver the industry's leading integrated storage resource management platform built in industry standard CIM interfaces," said Scott Hansbury, vice president of Marketing and Business Development, CreekPath Systems.
"The interoperability of Storage Area Network (SAN) components with existing hardware platforms and applications has become a major concern for enterprise customers," said Dale A. Lafferty, vice president, marketing and alliances, INRANGE. "Through the SNIA Supported Solutions Forum (SSF), Hitachi Data Systems and INRANGE have worked closely to develop registered solutions and promote multi-vendor interoperability in open storage networks. Hitachi Data Systems' continued support of SNIA, including full CIM-support in their HiCommand Device Manager contributes to our common goal--the seamless operation of storage networks to provide IT organizations with reliable connectivity, and higher ROI."
"As a leading provider of storage area management solutions that encourage and support highly interoperable storage networks, InterSAN applauds Hitachi Data Systems' dedication to developing CIM-compliant products," said Karen Dutch, vice president of marketing, InterSAN. "The CIM standard will further encourage interoperability and ultimately deliver customers greater value by enabling best-in-class products to be easily integrated into storage area networks."
"McDATA recognizes that heterogeneous storage area networks are becoming more and more common within the enterprise," said Robert Wright, McDATA Vice President and SANavigator, Inc., General Manager. "Simplifying the management of these heterogeneous SANs is critical to lowering total cost of ownership and delivering ROI. The market and industry acceptance of standards-based storage management products from McDATA and fellow industry leaders such as Hitachi Data Systems further validates that solutions that simplify management based on the CIM standard are fast becoming reality."
"Precise Software Solutions joins Hitachi Data Systems in their commitment to providing customers the highest performance, reliability, and most highly available solutions that optimize and simplify their storage environments and protect their valuable data from corruption or downtime," said Andrew D. Bird, executive vice president of marketing, Precise Software Solutions. "We have worked with Hitachi Data Systems to integrate Precise's Application Performance Management solutions with HiCommand Device Manager. Expanded CIM support within HiCommand simplifies the development process and allows Precise/Lightpoint™ to more easily visualize Hitachi Freedom Storage."
"Customers are asking for a simpler way to manage their ever-growing storage needs," said Brenda Zawatski, vice president of product and solutions marketing, VERITAS Software. "Industry standards such as CIM and WBEM are aimed at meeting these needs for the long haul. The demonstration of interoperability between VERITAS SANPoint Control and HiCommand Device Manager shows our commitment to customers to deliver CIM-based storage resource management. We are working with Hitachi Data Systems, who shares our support for open standards, to provide deep levels of integration and robust management capabilities between our products."
Hitachi Data Systems is committed to enabling organizations worldwide to exploit the full potential of information. By following and deploying our TrueNorth™ strategy, we provide customers with a broad range of storage solutions to simplify, protect and optimize their information infrastructures. Our offerings include enterprise and modular storage systems and software, professional services, fully complemented by best-of-breed products through industry alliances.
With 2,700 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct sales and resellers in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions on six continents. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company, with approximately 320,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2001 (ended March 31, 2002) consolidated sales totaled 7,994 billion yen ($60.1 billion*). The company offers a wide range of systems, products and services in market sectors, including information systems, electronic devices, power and industrial systems, consumer products, materials and financial services. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com.
*At an exchange rate of 133 yen to the dollar.
Contacts: PR
Jodi Reinman, Hitachi Data Systems, (408) 970-1050, jodi.reinman@hds.com
Hitachi Freedom Storage, Thunder 9200, HiCommand, and TrueNorth are registered trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
© Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd.
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