Successors to Thunder 9500 V Series deliver iSCSI, NAS, 4Gb/s Fibre Channel Connectivity, Logical Cache Partitioning, and RAID-6 for Application Optimization
The Industry's Greatest Density for SATA Storage: New Modular "Bricks" Offer Highest Capacity in the Most Compact Form Factor at Best $/GB Combo
SANTA CLARA, Calif.—July 11, 2005—Hitachi Data Systems, provider of Services Oriented Storage Solutions™ solutions and wholly-owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), today introduced an entirely new lineup of next generation, channel-optimized midrange storage systems. The launch is part of the company's initiative to offer enterprise-class functionality in midrange packaging and price, aimed at small and medium-sized businesses (SMB). The new Hitachi TagmaStore™ Adaptable Modular Storage and Workgroup Modular Storage lineup are successors to the popular Hitachi Thunder 9500™ V Series modular storage systems and provide advanced enterprise features such as Logical Cache Partitioning that can be tailored to support high-performance computing environments, rich media applications, and online transaction processing (OLTP)—enabling a concurrent mix of up to 16 partitioned workloads—optimizing cache performance for each individual application.
The TagmaStore Adaptable Modular Storage and Workgroup Modular Storage systems provide the most powerful, scalable and flexible modular storage solution for stand-alone workloads, or, for tiered storage environments, by leveraging the embedded virtualization layer in the Hitachi TagmaStore Network Storage Controller (see separate press release) or the Universal Storage Platform, offering excellent stores for data with multiple performance and archive requirements.
"IT professionals are looking for common storage and data management functionality without being locked into a single disk solution," said John McArthur, group vice president and general manager of Information Infrastructure Research at IDC. "Solutions like Hitachi's USP models 100-1100 and the NSC55 can be paired with two or more tiers of heterogeneous disk media. This enables users to mix and match Fibre Channel and SATA configurations, including the new AMS/WMS models 100-500, providing storage managers with the flexibility to optimize their applications, matching application requirements for performance, availability, scalability and capacity. In addition, with AMS and WMS products, current Hitachi customers will be able to utilize the same software features to which they have become accustomed to in Hitachi's higher-end offerings, making the progression to virtualization and advanced functionality simpler for the customer."
Both AMS and WMS product lines feature high-end functionality—Logical Cache Partitioning and Virtual Storage Ports with secure Host Storage Domains, an integrated set of capabilities that are not available on any other midrange systems, to help IT organizations optimize the performance of and provide secure data access to vital business applications, such as Microsoft Exchange, ERP, CRM, or databases. With most applications only transferring data at 5 or 10 MB/s, Virtual Storage Ports can virtualize each new 4 Gb/s Fibre Channel port to create up to 512 Virtual Ports, enabling full use of this increased bandwidth, unlike comparatively-equipped modular offerings.
AMS systems can be configured with Fibre Channel drives only or intermixed with high capacity SATA drives, enabling customers to support both high-performance and archival applications in the same system. WMS systems support only high capacity SATA drives for low-cost nearline storage applications, such as data archival for regulatory compliance. For improved data protection, RAID-6, in addition to RAID-5, 1+0 and 1, is available on both lines, offering significantly increased availability by sustaining up to a two disk failure within a single RAID group, and concurrently reducing RAID group rebuild times in the event of a disk drive failure. The combination of RAID-6 and Logical Cache Partitioning in a midrange SATA-based array significantly lowers overall cost of storage while expanding the applicability of this low cost midrange technology.
"We have listened carefully to the business requirements of our valued Channel partners around the globe, and have responded with an entirely new, integrated fleet of midrange storage products that feature enterprise features at a mid-tier price, " said Rachel Young, vice president, Global Marketing, Hitachi Data Systems "We have significantly increased the functionality of our midrange products, reduced their prices, and at the same time made them even easier to install, configure, manage, and even easier to buy and finance. Whether functioning as stand-alone modular storage or as a part of a tiered storage environment, the AMS and WMS systems clearly offer the best value for the fast growing small and medium businesses of today."
"The Hitachi AMS and WMS midrange storage systems provide cost-effective scalable capacity, RAID 6 for greater data protection, Fibre Channel and SATA support for tiered storage, cache partitioning to improve application performance, and a roadmap for both iSCSI and NAS," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Hitachi has made its midrange systems more intelligent and valuable to customers focusing on their business needs and not just increasing IOPS performance. The AMS and WMS are excellent additions to an increasingly impressive portfolio of storage products from Hitachi."
Mike Kahn, managing director of the Clipper Group, said "Hitachi has a well-conceived storage virtualization vision and, with today's announcements, is extending its virtualization capabilities across a broadened product line. In doing so, Hitachi is significantly expanding its addressable market to include most medium as well as larger data centers."
Key business-enabling features announced with the AMS and WMS product lines today include:
AMS and WMS models introduced today include:
Please reference other Hitachi Data Systems press releases issued today, including: "Hitachi Introduces Revolutionary Midrange Storage Virtualization Engine" and "Hitachi Launches Full Scale Assault on Midrange Storage Market."
Hitachi Data Systems leverages global R&D resources to develop storage solutions built on industry-leading technology with the performance, availability and scalability to maximize customers' ROI and minimize their risk. By focusing on the customer's perspective as we apply the best hardware, software, and services from Hitachi and our partners, we uniquely satisfy our customers' business needs. With 2,900 employees, Hitachi Data Systems conducts business through direct and indirect channels in the public, government and private sectors in over 170 countries and regions. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.hds.com.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 347,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2004 (ended March 31, 2005) consolidated sales totaled 9,027.0 billion yen ($84.4 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 Website at http://www.hitachi.com.
Blanc & Otus Public Relations
Quinn Daly
(415) 856-5152
qdaly@blancandotus.com
Blanc & Otus Public Relations
Wadooah Wali
(415) 856-5150
wwali@blancandotus.com
© 2005, Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. HiCommand is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. TagmaStore, Universal Star Network and Services Oriented Storage Solutions are trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems Corporation. All other trade names, trademarks, and service marks used herein are the rightful property of their respective owners.
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