NetApp preaches unification
NetApp preaches unification
Network Appliance has moved from the network attached storage area into what it calls a "unified storage approach" based on standardised networking technologies.
The company announced a new "flagship" product called the FAS900 series, which combines network attached storage (NAS) and storage area network (SAN) capabilities into one hardware and software platform, supporting Fibre Channel networking for the first time in NetApp's range.
Michael Burnie, managing director of Network Appliance for Australia and New Zealand, said the release was part of a push by the company on the concept of a unified storage approach, where most of the complexity on the network was managed through standardised software, not proprietary hardware.
"Our technology on our NAS products was so robust, so well put together, that it was easy to put together a SAN solution, because it was all using the same protocols," he said.
As well as the FAS900 series, NetApp also released a new application called SyncMirror, as well as an updated enterprise filer device called the F825, and a cut-price addition to the NearStore device line of which can handle seven terabytes of data.
Other product releases on the day included updates of NetApp's DataFabric and SnapDrive applications for managing NetApp devices in Windows environments, and the addition of a failover application called Virtual File Manager.
Mr Burnie said that the storage industry would move into "investigation of information" across standardised infrastructure, rather than the more rigid proprietary methods used currently such as direct attached storage (DAS) - which he said was still used for two-thirds of all storage.
"We're starting to think in terms of storage networking, as opposed to just SAN or NAS," he said. "The next wave is what happens when Gigabit Ethernet performs better than Fibre Channel. Does that mean we have to have storage networks over IP?"
To support its unified storage strategy, the company also inked deals with Brocade, Oracle and Veritas Software to provide a complete solution for large enterprise customers. NetApp's FAS900-FCP and F800-FCP devices have also been added to Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility List, and the company has also signed up Fujitsu as a distributor.
"It is not getting down to a single supplier, it is about the company that can provide a single solution across all platforms," said Mr Burnie.
The final announcement was a new API-swapping offer by NetApp called the DataFabric Management Services program. AppIQ, BMC Software, CA, NuView and Precise Software's storage solutions division all said they would support the FAS900 series products through the program.
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