LeftHand Networks(R), the leading provider of highly available
open iSCSI SANs, today announced that it has expanded its open iSCSI
SAN portfolio with support for the Dell PowerEdge 2950. With this
addition, LeftHand Networks´ SAN/iQ(R) clustered storage software
supports each of the major server vendors: Dell, Hewlett-Packard and
IBM. The open iSCSI portfolio complements the recently announced
LeftHand-branded NSM storage products as well as the LeftHand Virtual
Storage Appliance (VSA), and provides the company´s channel partners
with maximum platform choice and flexibility for their customers´ SAN
deployments.
According to IDC, in the first quarter of 2007, Hewlett-Packard,
IBM and Dell accounted for more than 70 percent of global x86 server
sales. Combining LeftHand Networks´ SAN/iQ software with an x86 server
converts that server into an iSCSI storage node that delivers
enterprise-class SAN capabilities when clustered.
"We view LeftHand Networks´ SAN/iQ software support of the three
market-leading server vendors as a huge plus, providing additional
choice and flexibility for our customers," said Bill Stith, managing
director, global storage services at Incentra Solutions. "The addition
of the Dell PowerEdge 2950 expands our market opportunity into new
accounts, increases demand for integration services and provides an
ideal SAN solution for our customers who prefer Dell servers or who
have standardized on the Dell server platform. Incentra Solutions
looks forward to offering LeftHand´s full suite of products from its
HP, IBM and Dell open-platform SAN solutions to its refreshed NSM
product portfolio and virtual SAN solutions."
The combination of the Dell PowerEdge 2950 server and LeftHand
Networks´ award-winning storage management software provides customers
an easy-to-deploy, highly available SAN complete with SAN/iQ´s rich
feature set, advanced data protection and centralized management.
Customers purchase SAN/iQ exclusively through LeftHand channel
partners and acquire the PowerEdge 2950 from Dell. A LeftHand channel
partner then integrates SAN/iQ onto the PowerEdge 2950 at the customer
site, providing a robust, value-driven solution.
"As we standardize our data center virtualization architecture on
Dell server platforms, Enterasys is pleased that LeftHand Networks has
expanded its SAN/iQ software support to include the Dell PowerEdge
2950," said Dan Petlon, vice president system quality and IT at
Enterasys. "We recently deployed a highly available 90 Terabyte iSCSI
SAN using the combined SAN/iQ and Dell PowerEdge servers connected via
cost-effective Gigabit Ethernet. This allows us to leverage our
existing Dell investments and realize significant economies of scale
while reducing storage cost and complexity."
The combined Dell PowerEdge 2950 with SAN/iQ software comes in
three configurations; 1.8 TB 15K SAS, 3.0 TB SATA, and 4.5 TB SATA,
each with 6 hot swappable disk drives; centralized SAN/iQ management
and a full feature set that includes advanced thin provisioning 2.0;
snapshots; distributed clustering; synchronous multi-site SAN
replication; asynchronous remote copy replication; volume migration
and volume cloning.
"We are pleased to extend SAN/iQ support to the Dell PowerEdge
2950. Supporting the three market-leading server vendors as part of
our ´open-iSCSI´ initiative enables our channel partners to satisfy
any hardware brand preference that a customer may have," said Larry
Cormier, vice president of marketing, LeftHand Networks. "Combined
with our recently announced LeftHand-branded NSMs and the LeftHand
Virtual Storage Appliance (VSA), we now offer the most comprehensive
portfolio of IP-based shared storage solutions in the industry. And,
by allowing a customer´s business needs to properly drive their
storage hardware decisions, LeftHand Networks continues to make
storage networking easier than ever."
Availability
SAN/iQ software is currently available as a field integration
offering through LeftHand Networks´ resellers and VARs in the United
States and Canada, and value added distributors throughout Europe. The
suggested retail price of SAN/iQ for the PowerEdge 2950 is $9,995.
About LeftHand Networks
LeftHand Networks pioneered IP-based storage area networks (SAN)
in 2001. SANs built using LeftHand´s SAN/iQ(R) software are uniquely
able to distribute and protect data across a cluster of
industry-standard storage servers. The company´s patented architecture
increases data availability, allows users to start small and grow the
SAN seamlessly, and simplifies management. The LeftHand SAN is ideal
for storage and server consolidation, multi-site SANs, and disaster
recovery. For more information, contact LeftHand at
info@lefthandnetworks.com.