Overland Provides SAN-Ready Capabilities On Full Product Line of Automated Storage Solutions.SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 27, 1999-- Overland Data Inc. (Nasdaq/NMS:OVRL), a technology leader in data storage and backup products, Tuesday announced that it has certified its full product line of tape automation solutions for Storage Area Network (SAN) compatibility. Overland said it has completed testing on its LibraryXpress(TM), MinilibraryXpress(TM), LoaderXpress(TM) and soon-to-be-announced enterprise storage solution to verify that all products are Fibre-Channel capable to operate in SAN environments with selected third-party hardware and software solutions. These solutions will be demonstrated for the first time at Networld+Interop, Booth No. 6707. The announcement of full product line support for SAN operations completes the first phase in Overland's Fibre Channel Connectivity Initiative announced late last year, committing the company to an open connectivity model that would allow customers to use their current Overland library investment with their choice of approved third-party Fibre Channel product to create SAN-capable libraries. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Steve Richardson, vice president of Marketing at Overland, the company's decision to provide SAN support across the full product line, instead of limiting Fibre Channel connectivity to a few new models as other library vendors have, is consistent with Overland's ground-breaking efforts in delivering scalable library solutions based on the award-winning SmartScale Storage(TM) architecture. Extending the scalable solutions paradigm to library connectivity is a logical step in maximizing the customer's value of their investment in Overland solutions, he said. Supporting an open SAN platform provides additional customer value by providing access to a variety of third-party SAN hardware and software options, instead of locking customers into the limitations of proprietary SAN solutions that are now being marketed. Richardson acknowledged the SAN market is still in an evolutionary phase, but said that with the efforts of organizations such as the Storage Networking Industry Association An association of producers and consumers of storage networking products, whose goal is to further storage networking technology and applications. The Storage Networking Industry Association, or SNIA , the industry has coalesced co·a·lesce intr.v. co·a·lesced, co·a·lesc·ing, co·a·lesc·es 1. To grow together; fuse. 2. To come together so as to form one whole; unite: around a core group of vendors and a maturation maturation /mat·u·ra·tion/ (mach-u-ra´shun) 1. the process of becoming mature. 2. attainment of emotional and intellectual maturity. 3. of standards -- such as the SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. copy command, the Network Data Management Protocol software support -- the timing is right for Overland to move forward with open-standard SAN solutions. "At this early stage of development, the flux and volatility that characterize the SAN market can only be mitigated by a strict adherence to standardization standardization In industry, the development and application of standards that make it possible to manufacture a large volume of interchangeable parts. Standardization may focus on engineering standards, such as properties of materials, fits and tolerances, and drafting ," said Richardson. "Overland's support for an open SAN architecture allows our customers to keep pace with the evolution of standardized products A product that conforms to specifications resulting from the same or equivalent technical requirements. NATO standardized products are identified by a NATO code number. from multiple vendors to ensure they have access to the latest technology in competitive pricing environments." "The SAN market has reached critical mass with wide acceptance of de-facto standards proposed by the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association, San Francisco, CA, www.snia.org) An organization devoted to the advancement of mission critical storage systems. Founded in 1997, its goal is to determine the standards that must be developed to allow hosts and storage systems to interact via ," said Michael Peterson, president of market research firm Strategic Research and founder of the Storage Networking Industry Association. "This is a crucial period for companies to develop strategic partnerships that will strengthen the support for standardization and speed the development of interoperable multivendor SAN solutions." A Storage Area Network is a separate computer network, typically based on high-speed Fibre Channel connections that link storage devices, including RAID storage and automated tape libraries, to a heterogeneous set of servers on a nondedicated basis, meaning that any server can access any storage device on the SAN. A SAN can also enable direct storage-to-storage connectivity. In addition to the performance and availability advantages of SANs, the architecture also streamlines the administration of storage resources, addressing perhaps the most critical issue facing IT managers -- how to control storage management costs. A study by market research firm International Data Corp. estimates that a single storage administrator can manage 7.5 times more data on a SAN than on a decentralized de·cen·tral·ize v. de·cen·tral·ized, de·cen·tral·iz·ing, de·cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To distribute the administrative functions or powers of (a central authority) among several local authorities. storage system. Overland is working with the top tier of vendors to ensure that all the critical pieces are in place to operate with a total open solution. For example, Overland is participating as part of Veritas' Intelligent Network Attached Storage Device program, allowing Overland libraries to be deployed on a SAN and leveraging Veritas' software to enable breakthrough SAN applications such as serverless backup A type of LAN free backup that does not use any of the resources of an application server or a backup server. See LAN free backup. by performing direct disk-to-tape backup. About Overland Overland is a global supplier of storage automation solutions and related technologies designed to meet and surpass the critical requirements of high-availability network computing Storing and/or running applications in servers in a network. See cloud computing and network computer. environments, from entry level to the enterprise. The company is a recognized leader in technology innovation for such achievements as the award-winning DLT (Digital Linear Tape) A magnetic tape technology originally developed by Digital for its VAX line. The technology was later sold to Quantum, which makes it available to other manufacturers. DLT uses half-inch, single-hub cartridges similar to IBM's 3480/3490/3590 line. (a) LibraryXpress SmartScale Storage(TM) architecture that establishes new standards for intelligent automated storage and scalability, and the patented (No. 5,815,514) Variable Rate Randomizer In telecommunication, the term randomizer has the following meanings: 1. A device used to invert the sense of pseudorandomly selected bits of a bit stream to avoid long sequences of bits of the same sense (also referred to as scrambler). (VR2(TM)) data encoding See encode. technology that can significantly increase the capacity and throughput of linear tape formats. Overland has also earned a worldwide reputation for unmatched product quality and innovative warranty programs such as the Guaranteed Up Time Service (GUTS(TM)) Program that dramatically reduce the total cost of ownership. The company's award-winning products meet the critical needs of end users, distributors and OEMs in industries worldwide. (a) DLT is a claimed trademark of Quantum Corp. worldwide |
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