Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and new Hitachi Command Suite Enable Enterprises to Transform Data Centers into Reliable, Open, and Dynamic Information Centers
Hong Kong — October 8, 2010 — Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE: HIT), has introduced the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform, the industry’s first 3-dimensional scaling platform, enabling organizations to scale up, out and deep for unprecedented levels of agility and cost savings in their virtualized data centers. The Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), in combination with the new Hitachi Command Suite management software, offers best-in-class performance, capacity and open, multivendor storage virtualization for large businesses and enterprise organizations. (See the Hitachi Command Suite Information from Appendix I)
Together, these solutions represent a major milestone in Hitachi Data Systems’ continued commitment to transform data centers into dynamic information centers where access to blocks, files and content is seamless and resides in a fluid and virtualized environment.
“Hitachi has a long history of innovation and industry-leading technologies since first introducing heterogeneous storage virtualization within the storage system,” said Hu Yoshida, chief technology officer and vice president, Hitachi Data Systems. “Today, only the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and Hitachi Command Suite provide the scalability and integration that will transform the data center with new levels of agility, flexibility, performance and sustainability. With unique 3D scaling and management, customers can deliver capacity and computing resources as quickly as virtual servers are created. This platform was actually built for virtualized server environments.”
"Under conditions of shrinking budgets, organizational change and increased competition, enterprises are being challenged to make information both available and secure while their IT organizations are asked to do more with less,” said Andrew Sampson, general manager, Hitachi Data Systems for Hong Kong and Macau. “We are solving the industry’s most pressing challenges with our approach of one platform for all data, coupled with our leadership in virtualization technology. Our new Virtual Storage Platform represents another major step toward transforming the way companies implement IT and turn their raw data into valuable information that offers scalability and adaptability for the future.”
Exploding Data Growth: Adding Capacity Not Enough
According to recent research, data is growing at a rate of approximately 50 percent year-over-year, with unstructured data such as emails, images, and audio and video files growing at 10 times the rate of structured data. In the healthcare industry alone, the amount of data being generated quadruples every two years. The rapidly rising operational costs to manage this increasing volume of data, which now amount to more than 65 percent of the total cost of storage, have caused IT departments to realize that yesterday’s strategies of simply adding more storage or increasing computing capacity are no longer viable.
“Organizations face the daunting tasks of dealing with rapid data growth and the efficient transformation of their data center environments,” said Richard Villars, vice president, Storage and IT Executive Strategies, IDC. “The expansion of the Hitachi Data Systems business vision beyond
storage products to delivering efficient, scalable and information-enabling IT solutions will better arm customers with a platform that enables IT transformation.”
Hitachi VSP: 3D Scaling for Performance, Capacity, External Storage Asset Utilization
The concept of data center transformation – turning the data center into a flexible and efficient “information center” that can quickly adapt to changing business needs – has been a driving force in the IT industry for several years. By delivering on its vision that IT must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable, Hitachi Data Systems is enabling customers to transform their aging data centers into information centers that closely align business objectives with infrastructure performance to optimize return on assets.
The Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform is the only storage architecture that scales 3 dimensionally to help customers adapt flexibly for performance, capacity and multivendor storage asset utilization. Its data migration capabilities greatly reduce outage windows. Page-level dynamic tiering automates the page-based movement of data to the most appropriate storage media to simplify and optimize tier costs and performance. With new 2.5-inch SAS hard disk drives, it is the highest density storage available today. And, with more than 30 percent less power consumption for capacity stored than the competition, it is the most efficient enterprise storage platform. 3D scaling delivers extreme performance and capacity for robust disaster recovery and high availability systems:
“Today’s data centers are reaching an inflection point, evolving into something that is more agile, scalable and efficient,” said Roger W. Cox, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. “Storage vendors that deliver on the critical requirements, such as 3D scaling, are what enterprises are looking for to transform their data center into an infrastructure that meets the demanding requirements of today’s virtualized environment.”
Use Cases: Enabling Server Virtual Environments and Cloud Deployments
Companies that will benefit from the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform are those with massive scalability requirements, such as virtualized server environments or those looking to facilitate and optimize their cloud deployments:
Leading organizations worldwide such as HDFC Bank and Lloyds Banking Group are already benefitting from Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and Hitachi Command Suite software.
Web Resources
About Hitachi Data Systems
Hitachi Data Systems provides best-in-class information technologies, services and solutions that deliver compelling customer ROI, unmatched return on assets (ROA) and demonstrable business impact. With a vision that IT must be virtualized, automated, cloud-ready and sustainable, Hitachi Data Systems offers solutions that improve IT costs and agility. With more than 4,200 employees worldwide, Hitachi Data Systems does business in more than 100 countries and regions. Hitachi Data Systems products, services and solutions are trusted by the world’s leading enterprises, including more than 70 percent of the Fortune 100 and more than 80 percent of the Fortune Global 100. Hitachi Data Systems believes that data drives our world – and information is the new currency. To learn more, visit: http://www.hds.com.
About Hitachi, Ltd.
Hitachi, Ltd., (NYSE: HIT / TSE: 6501), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is a leading global electronics company with approximately 360,000 employees worldwide. Fiscal 2009 (ended March 31, 2010) consolidated revenues totaled 8,968 billion yen ($96.4 billion). Hitachi will focus more than ever on the Social Innovation Business, which includes information and telecommunication systems, power systems, environmental, industrial and transportation systems, and social and urban systems, as well as the sophisticated materials and key devices that support them. For more information on Hitachi, please visit the company's website at http://www.hitachi.com.
© Hitachi Data Systems Corporation 2010. Hitachi is a registered trademark of Hitachi, Ltd. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries. Hitachi Data Systems is a registered trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. in the United States and other countries.
Appendix I – About Hitachi Command Suite
Hitachi Command Suite: Maximizing IT Asset Utilization in Complex Infrastructures
The Hitachi Command Suite, tightly integrated with reliable hardware, enables “worry-free scaling” of large numbers of virtual machines and manages even the largest infrastructures and application deployments. It provides effective reporting and management to maximize IT asset utilization within complex infrastructures, unified management for virtual tiered storage and server environments, and improved business application availability, performance and access to critical data. Organizations powered by the Hitachi Command Suite simply and effectively develop and manage their next generation virtualized data centers to reduce risks and operational costs, operate efficiently, and realize return on their storage asset investments. Through unique management in three dimensions, the Hitachi Command Suite helps customers lower costs and properly manages all data types:
Key Metrics
Built on a heritage of market-leading innovation, the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform and Hitachi Command Suite provide organizations with a reliable, dynamic and open architecture that helps lower the total cost of ownership (TCO) in the first year and will future proof their data centers. It includes a proven services organization and network of partners to help reduce operational and capital costs, lower implementation risks, transition to a new environment, and extend the life of current assets. Savings include:
