LeftHand Networks, the leading provider of highly available iSCSI SANs that optimize virtual environments, today announced four new SAN solutions – Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SANs, and the SAN/iQ® Remote Office Solution Pack. Powered by the company´s SAN/iQ® 8 storage software announced today in a separate release, the new SAN solutions provide enhanced scalability, performance and efficiency, as well as increased volume, snapshot and capacity utilization. The SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Pack, which is included with the new Virtualization and Multi–Site SAN solutions at no additional cost, provides disaster recovery for up to ten remote sites. LeftHand Networks´ next–generation SANs go beyond traditional offerings and provide customers with dynamic physical and virtual storage capabilities.
"Flexible and fast–changing virtualized environments require equally flexible storage that can adapt and change in real time," said Jorge Mata, chief information officer (provisional), Los Angeles Community College District. "LeftHand Networks´ agile SAN solutions make it easier than ever to deploy the high performance storage systems we need today and to scale them to meet our evolving business needs. With the latest features, LeftHand Networks´ solutions provide our colleges with key advantages such as non–disruptive configuration changes and greater availability that are essential in our virtualized, multi–site environment."
Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SAN Solutions
LeftHand Networks´ expanded product portfolio provides customers with dynamic and comprehensive SAN solutions tailored to their specific needs, and delivers advanced features that maximize efficiency and optimize virtual environments.
- The Virtualization SAN provides flexible storage capabilities that deliver non–disruptive scaling and configuration changes, high availability and easy management. The Virtualization SAN is massively scalable, supporting more than 480 disk drives and 2,000 volumes and snapshots. A 10.8 TB 15K SAS SAN based on twenty–four 450 GB 15K SAS drives, the Virtualization SAN starts with four ports and scales to 80 ports, includes dual controllers, and provides significant advantages in performance, capacity and scalability. It also includes LeftHand Networks´ new Remote Office Solution Pack, a Windows Solution Pack, training, support and a fully integrated, enterprise–class feature set.
- The Multi–Site SAN delivers a cost–effective, highly available multi–site storage solution that provides reliable, always–on storage, even in the event of a site failure. The Multi–Site SAN is a 21.6 TB 15K SAS SAN based on forty–eight 450 GB 15K SAS disk drives, and provides extreme scalability, supporting more than 960 disk drives and 4,000 volumes and snapshots. It starts with eight ports and scales to 160 and includes dual controllers, providing customers with significant performance, capacity and scalability benefits. It also includes LeftHand Networks´ Windows, Multi–Site and Remote Office Solution Packs, training, support, and a fully integrated, enterprise–class feature set.
- The Starter SAN provides a competitive, entry–level SAN that enables customers to easily grow their SAN systems to more than 240 disk drives, 1,000 volumes and snapshots, and 40 Gb per second of bandwidth. The Starter SAN includes 9.0 TB SATA drives, dual controllers, a Windows Solution Pack, training, support and a fully integrated, enterprise–class feature set.
"For many of our customers, virtualization has become the primary weapon in their IT arsenal to reduce costs, increase efficiency and drive capacity utilization. The new SAN products from LeftHand Networks provide an ideal platform for customers with multi–site and virtualized desktop and server environments, or for those seeking the efficiencies and scalability of virtualized storage in a starter SAN deployment," said Chris Minnis, lead architect for virtual client solutions at Mainline, a LeftHand Networks reseller. "As a leader in delivering turn–key virtualization solutions, Mainline turns to LeftHand and these new SAN products to simplify the sales process and to offer additional value–added products and services to our customers."
SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Pack
Implementing disaster recovery at remote and branch offices has historically been a challenge for IT administrators, but LeftHand Networks´ new, cost–effective SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Pack provides unrivaled ease of implementation of disaster recovery for these locations. The Remote Office Solution Pack extends LeftHand Networks´ storage management capabilities to remote sites, enabling IT administrators to manage SAN replication in remote offices through a single pane of glass, no additional hardware required. Administrators can also easily consolidate remote office backup at the data center. The Remote Office Solution Pack is included as part of the Virtualization and Multi–Site SANs at no additional cost, and is available as an upgrade to all existing customers.
"LeftHand Networks´ new Remote Office Solution Pack included with the Virtualization SAN helps companies extend the benefits of VMware Infrastructure to their remote offices," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances, VMware. "With solutions from VMware and LeftHand Networks, remote offices have a high–availability and disaster–recovery solution that is both simple and affordable."
With the new SAN/iQ 8 storage software, the Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SANs offer the latest capabilities including SAN/iQ SmartClone TM Volumes, Integrated Performance Manager, Virtual Connection Manager, and advanced programmatic and scripting interfaces. The new SAN platforms also provide the SAN/iQ features customers have come to expect, including storage clustering, network RAID, thin provisioning, snapshots and remote copy.
Availability
LeftHand Networks´ Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SANs and SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Packs will be available October 2008 through LeftHand Networks´ resellers and VARs throughout the United States and Canada, and value added distributors throughout Europe. Suggested list prices start at $30,000 for the Starter SAN, $90,000 for the Virtualization SAN and $170,000 for the Multi–Site SAN. The SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Pack is included in the Virtualization and Multi–Site SAN solutions, and when sold separately its suggested list price is $15,000 for up to 10 sites. For further information, please contact LeftHand Networks at 1.866.4.IPSANS (866.447.7267) or go to www.lefthandnetworks.com.
LeftHand Networks will showcase and provide informative demonstrations of its solutions at VMworld 2008, booth #939. The conference runs from September 15 – 18, 2008 at The Venetian Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
About LeftHand Networks
Founded in 1999, LeftHand Networks pioneered IP–based storage area networks (SANs). SANs built using LeftHand´s SAN/iQ® 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. LeftHand SANs are available in the U.S., Canada and throughout Europe. For more information, contact LeftHand at info@lefthandnetworks.com.
Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SANs Industry Support
Aberdeen Group
"Businesses today need flexible solutions that can be tailored for their specific application," said Jeffrey Hill, senior research analyst, Aberdeen Group. "LeftHand Networks´ dynamic iSCSI SAN solutions are affordable and provide simplified management capabilities, while delivering an enterprise–class feature set needed in today´s quickly evolving data center environments."
Burton Group
"Storage area network (SAN) solutions providing simplicity and value for customers and the channel are essential," said Gene Ruth, an analyst at the Burton Group. "SAN products do well to incorporate the latest advances in SAS disk drives with 450 GB 15K SAS drives, and provide non–disruptive upgrades. Providing cost effective, simplified multi–site high availability and manageability, and delivering an affordable, scalable entry–level storage solution is an important step to complement virtual and physical storage solutions."
Datacenter Infrastructure Group Inc.
"Matching the right technology for the right environment is critical. By delivering the Virtualization and Multi–Site SAN on the fastest and highest capacity SAS disk drives on the market, LeftHand provides the value and performance critical for virtualized environments," said Jerome Wendt, President and Lead Analyst for the Datacenter Infrastructure Group Inc. (DCIG Inc).
Dragon Slayer Consulting
"LeftHand Networks´ latest offerings can be summed up as storage simplification and cost reduction," said Marc Staimer, president of Dragon Slayer Consulting. "SmartClone simplifies utilization of live data for testing and reduces storage costs by taking up zero space; Integrated Performance Manager simplifies troubleshooting of performance bottlenecks; Virtual Connection Manager streamlines storage provisioning that matches the easiness of virtual guest creation while reducing admin time and cost; and the new package bundles make it incredibly easy to select the most cost–effective solution."
Enterprise Strategy Group
"Our research shows that iSCSI SANs are emerging as the preferred storage system for virtual environments," said Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "LeftHand Networks solutions combine the benefits of iSCSI with strong storage functionalities that are becoming essential to optimize virtualized environments - functions such as high availability, non–disruptive configuration changes, scalability, and simplified management."
Gartner, Inc.
"Customers are looking for ways to maximize the value of their SAN infrastructures," said Roger Cox, research vice president, Gartner, Inc. "Clustered storage architectures provide a number of key advantages in virtualized environments in the areas of cost savings, management, performance and availability."
IDC
"Storage offerings that reduce start–up costs, simplify the selling process, and allow for value–add services opportunities are very attractive to channel partners," said Janet Waxman, vice president hardware channels and alliances, IDC. "LeftHand Networks´ new Virtualization, Multi–Site and Starter SANs with the latest SAN/iQ storage software offer partners all of these benefits as well as protection for their customers´ SAN infrastructure investments."
OVUM
"With the growing adoption of virtual servers, customers are requiring more from their storage, including non–disruptive scaling and configuration changes," said Tim Stammers, an analyst at OVUM. "Dynamic SAN solutions extend storage options and simplify the acquisition, integration, and operation of advanced physical and virtual storage solutions for demanding IT environments."
Storage Strategies NOW
"Customers seek tools and technologies that let them optimize their SAN infrastructure and protect data at remote and branch offices," said Deni Connor, principal analyst at Storage Strategies NOW. "LeftHand´s SAN/iQ Remote Office Solution Pack provides cost–effective disaster recovery for up to 10 sites, without requiring additional hardware at the remote sites. With this solution, customers are able to protect their remote office data and centrally manage their SAN infrastructure from a single pane of glass."
