Sun Shines on Open Source Storage

April 13, 2007: In a boost to the storage side of the open source and the Solaris operating system, Sun Microsystems says it will donate its storage technologies to assist the work developers within the OpenSolaris community.

Sun says it is taking the lead in assisting a community-driven software development platform that will make storage application development more accessible and better able to evolve to assist customer needs. The evolution of storage software technology looks set to showcase a repeat of the open source revolution that has occurred in server and operating systems.

It’s a move that will enable the community to combine OpenSolaris with hardware from any source to develop storage solutions cheaper then what could otherwise be obtained by proprietary storage vendors.

“Sun is taking the lead in changing the market by enabling the creation of compelling low-cost storage solutions via the free and open availability of open source software, including Solaris, on commodity hardware from a wide-range of vendors including HP, Dell, IBM and Sun.”

Sun also announced its previously Sun-only features of Solaris ZFS will also be donated to OpenSolaris. The ZFS is a file system which works to simplify management and increase functionality.

The Sun announcement comes just as the OpenSolaris community launches its first Open Source Storage Development Community. The group will work to add data management functionality and customisation to storage stacks and assist system administrators in implementing Solaris technology in data centres.

The community will also provide a space for teachers and students researching data management as well as the means to explore OpenSolaris opportunities.

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