Sun Introduces Scaleable Family of Reliable Storage Solutions for Enterprise Network Computing Environments; Enterprise Storage Solutions Are First Undertaking of Aggressive Strategy For Storage Products Business Unit.MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--January 22, 1997--As part of its aggressive focus on storage as a strategic core competency, Sun Microsystems, Inc. today announced a series of storage solutions with unmatched management capabilities, industry leading reliability, availability, and serviceability (RAS (1) See network access server. (2) (Remote Access Service) A Windows NT/2000 Server feature that allows remote users access to the network from their Windows laptops or desktops via modem. See RRAS and network access server. ), and superior price and performance. The products span the three most critical areas for today's enterprise storage customers - high-end RAID, multi-terabyte(TB) tape libraries, and data center class storage management software. In addition, for the first time, Sun will support its storage systems on heterogeneous platforms, including Hewlett Packard HP-UX HP's version of Unix that runs on its 9000 family. It is based on SVID and incorporates features from BSD Unix along with several HP innovations. (operating system) HP-UX - The version of Unix running on Hewlett-Packard workstations. and Windows NT. "Sun's storage strategy is a key component in our `the network is the computer' vision, playing a critical role in the thin client, fat server and intelligent storage dynamic," stated Ed Zander zan·der n. pl. zander or zan·ders A common European pikeperch (Stizostedion lucioperca) valued as a food fish. [German, from Low German Sander , president of Sun Microsystems Computer Company. "Sun views its strategic storage focus as a significant business opportunity and an area of great importance to our customers." Sun's Storage Leadership Currently one of the largest storage vendors in the world - with over 1.5 petabytes of RAID installed in the UNIX UNIX Operating system for digital computers, developed by Ken Thompson of Bell Laboratories in 1969. It was initially designed for a single user (the name was a pun on the earlier operating system Multics). marketplace - Sun has developed a strategy to market its storage business unit as a core product and technology portfolio. With the multi-user storage market expected by analysts to reach $35 billion by the year 2000, Sun has made substantial, long-term investments to build a broad, integrated family of open enterprise storage systems. Offering customers complete storage solutions, Sun delivers a wide range of services, including mission critical support and consulting, world class systems integrator and independent software vendor (ISV (Independent Software Vendor) A person or company that develops software. It implies an organization that specializes in software only and is not part of a computer systems or hardware manufacturer. ) relationships, and a broad range of RAID, tape, management software, disk and memory products from the desktop to the data center. Today, Sun is unveiling storage as a strategic business focus, as well as a broad range of enterprise products which deliver on that strategy. "Sun's non-captive storage strategy is a critical step in increasing its visibility as a full-service enterprise IT supplier. Storage is a fundamental component of the server, and is therefore important to the future of Sun. Sun will improve its acceptance in the corporate enterprise segment by highlighting these storage offerings," stated Thomas Lahive, senior storage analyst with IDC. "Sun installs more than 3 TB of RAID every day, so we know that storage is a vitally important piece of a network running mission critical applications," stated Kathleen Holmgren, vice president and general manager of Sun Microsystems Computer Company's storage business unit. "Information must be managed and protected as a strategic asset. Data center managers must ensure enterprise-wide data availability without interruption to system operation. Our scalable, manageable, intelligent storage solutions allow customers to professionally manage data, while providing industry-leading performance at low cost. We have set a standard with which the likes of EMC (1) (EMC Corporation, Hopkinton, MA, www.emc.com) The leading supplier of storage products for midrange computers and mainframes. Founded in 1979 by Richard J. Egan and Roger Marino, EMC has developed advanced storage and retrieval technologies for the world's largest companies. will have a hard time competing." Sun(TM) RSM RSM (in Britain) regimental sergeant major Array(TM) 2000 Sun's first storage array to be supported on heterogeneous servers, the Sun(TM) RSM Array(TM) 2000 offers the highest RAS capabilities and is designed for mission critical data center applications. The RSM Array 2000 will support up to 20 TB on Sun's breakthrough Ultra(TM) Enterprise(TM) 10000 server. The system offers dual hot swappable RAID controllers supporting RAID levels 0, 0+1, 1, 3, and 5. The outstanding RAID performance is ideal for I/O-intensive database applications such as SAP, Baan, and PeopleSoft. The RSM Array 2000 incorporates dual Ultra(TM) 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. differential (40MB/sec) channels to the host that permit automatic failover to the second active controller if one fails. Unlike competitive products, the system is fully redundant all the way through the I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output path with dual hot-plug controllers, power and cooling. The system's dual active host interfaces have been demonstrated at nearly 400MB/sec throughput in a one TB configuration, delivering outstanding performance for the most demanding data warehouses. An open SCSI host interface protects storage subsystem investment and increases flexibility by providing future interoperability in a heterogeneous host environment. A graphical user interface graphical user interface (GUI) Computer display format that allows the user to select commands, call up files, start programs, and do other routine tasks by using a mouse to point to pictorial symbols (icons) or lists of menu choices on the screen as opposed to having to (GUI (Graphical User Interface) A graphics-based user interface that incorporates movable windows, icons and a mouse. The ability to resize application windows and change style and size of fonts are the significant advantages of a GUI vs. a character-based interface. ) management console allows customers to easily configure, monitor and maintain the disk system. "Sun's always delivered great-performing storage. The combination of Oracle Universal Server Oracle's object-relational version of the Oracle7 DBMS. Object-relational databases store multimedia data as well as the traditional row and column tables of relational data. and Sun's new storage systems deliver the price/performance that high volume, high end enterprise customers demand," said Gary Bloom, senior vice president, Products and Platforms Technologies, Oracle Corporation, "These new high end storage system solutions, combined with the added RAS features and management capabilities, are a great value to Oracle customers." "We are extremely impressed by the performance of the Sun RSM Array 2000," said Don McKenzie, first vice president of information services See Information Systems. at Comerica. "We evaluated systems from other storage vendors, but Sun clearly provided the best solution for our network running mission critical applications. Sun offered the highest price/performance, availability and reliability, which is key for a system handling eight to ten million transactions per day." Sun(TM) Enterprise Tape Library(TM) 4/1000 The first in a family of multi-TB tape libraries from Sun, the SunTM ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) The functions performed when pulling data out of one database and placing it into another of a different type. ETL is used to migrate data, often from relational databases into decision support systems. (TM) 4/1000 is Sun's most reliable, highest performance and capacity solution for backup of applications such as: active-use databases greater than 200GB in size; archival of important historical, financial, or legal data; and Hierarchical Storage Management See HSM. (HSM (1) (Hierarchical Storage Management) The automatic movement of files from hard disk to slower, less-expensive storage media. The typical hierarchy is from magnetic disk to optical disc to tape. ). The ETL 4/1000 offers up to two TB of capacity (with 2:1 compression), accessible via four parallel 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. (TM)4000 tape drives. Capacity increases are part of the standard migration path, as the library will be expandable to support future DLT technology. The ETL 4/1000 reduces the time necessary to restore and obtain archived files and can handle unattended backups of a 350GB database in eight hours. The library reduces the ongoing cost of storage media by providing two million mean cycles between failure (MCBF MCBF Mean Cycles Between Failure MCBF Multnomah County Bike Fair (Portland, Oregon) MCBF Mean Countdown Between Failures MCBF Most Critical Buffer First MCBF Mean Cycle Between Failure ) and a two year warranty on all library components to ensure reliable operation. The reliability, capacity, and performance of the ETL 4/1000 makes it an excellent choice for the largest Ultra Enterprise servers. It utilizes a SCSI interface, allowing connection to heterogeneous systems. Monitoring software is provided which allows for the full remote administration from an intranet terminal via a Java(TM)-enabled web browser The program that serves as your front end to the Web on the Internet. In order to view a site, you type its address (URL) into the browser's Location field; for example, www.computerlanguage.com, and the home page of that site is downloaded to you. and provides event notification via e-mail, pager and SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol) A widely used network monitoring and control protocol. Data are passed from SNMP agents, which are hardware and/or software processes reporting activity in each network device (hub, router, bridge, etc. alerts. Additionally, library integration into environments using scripted back-up procedures is easy via a command line interface. Java-Based Enterprise Storage Management Software Sun is leading the industry with the announcement of storage management solutions designed to address the challenges of protecting information assets in an enterprise-sized storage installation. Sun's management technology will lead the open systems industry in delivering solutions that are powerful, scalable, network-centric, robust, and integrated, all of which are required in a heterogeneous data center. The Sun(TM) Enterprise Storage Manager(TM) provides a solution that sets the standard for open systems storage management, established on a Java-based storage management framework, which leverages Java Management APIs. Offering a single console for all storage management functions, the Sun Enterprise Storage Manager solves many of the past problems of managing storage in an open environment. RAID and logical disk management, backup/restore, archive, HSM, and media and library management are executed through a fully integrated storage management console. The console provides a common administrative interface to all the applications, the solution works together in a network-centric way making it easier to learn and use. Sun(TM) Enterprise NetBackup(TM) and Sun(TM) Enterprise HSM(TM) are designed for the large, heterogeneous enterprise. From a single console, managed backup can be accomplished across thousands of client nodes, ensuring mainframe-class media management and hot database backup with industry-leading performance. These new software solutions complement the Solstice(TM) Backup(TM) products for network storage management. Sun also will be offering Sun(TM) Enterprise Volume Manager(TM) and Veritas File System See VxFS. , which provide the best on-line disk management solution in the industry. Enterprise Volume Manager enhances system availability and performance with its on-line management capabilities; RAID, mirroring, and striping Interleaving or multiplexing data to increase speed. See disk striping. striping - data striping ; and performance tuning features. Veritas File System is a data-center class file system including an extent-based, logging file system, on-line snapshot for data protection, and scalable, tunable performance. Additional Storage Products Sun also announced new versions of the highly popular SPARCstorage(TM) Array(TM) family. Using larger drives, the new models double available capacity and lower price/GB by up to 40%. The SPARCstorage Array Model 114 offers a combination of capacity, performance, availability, and low cost. Model 114 houses up to thirty 4.2GB, 7200-rpm disk drives, providing up to 126GB in a compact enclosure that is under two cubic feet. The SPARCstorage Array model 219 RSM offers 9.1GB, 7200-rpm drives to provide larger capacity and a higher storage density within the existing footprint. Pricing and Availability The Sun RSM Array 2000 lists at under US $0.50 per MB for a fully configured system. It will begin shipping in February for Solaris(TM) servers. Full support for non-Solaris hosts will be announced at a later date. To protect customer investments, Sun is offering upgrades to the RSM Array 2000. The ETL 4/1000 has an entry price of $85,000 and includes both management and monitoring software. The ETL 4/1000 is available now. Pricing and availability for the Sun Enterprise Storage Manager, Enterprise NetBackup, Enterprise HSM, Enterprise Volume Manager and the Veritas File System will be announced at a later date. About Sun Microsystems, Inc. Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision, "The Network is the Computer(TM)," has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on "SUNW SUNW Sun Microsystems, Inc (former stock symbol; now JAVA) SUNW Stanford University Network Workstation (Sun Microsystems, Inc) "), to its position as a leading provider of hardware, software and services for establishing enterprise-wide intranets and expanding the power of the Internet. With more than $7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in more than 150 countries and on the WorldWide Web at http://www.sun.com. -0- Note to Editors: Sun, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems, The Network Is The Computer, Ultra, Ultra Enterprise, Sun RSM Array, Sun Enterprise Tape Library, Sun ETL, Java, Sun Enterprise Storage Manager, Sun Enterprise NetBackup, Sun Enterprise HSM, Solstice and Solstice Backup are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All SPARC (Scalable Performance ARChitecture) A family of RISC CPUs from Sun that runs mostly under Sun's Solaris, but also under Linux and BSD operating systems. After development began in the mid-1980s by David Patterson of the University of California at Berkeley and Bill trademarks are used under license and are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. UNIX is a registered trademark in the United States and other countries, exclusively licensed through X/Open Company, Ltd. DLT is claimed as a trademark of Quantum Corporation in the United States and other countries. Press announcements and other information about Sun Microsystems are available on the Internet via the World Wide Web using a tool such as Netscape or NCSA (1) (National Center for Supercomputing Applications, Urbana-Champaign, IL, www.ncsa.uiuc.edu) A high-performance computing facility located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Mosaic. Type http://www.sun.com at the URL URL in full Uniform Resource Locator Address of a resource on the Internet. The resource can be any type of file stored on a server, such as a Web page, a text file, a graphics file, or an application program. prompt. CONTACT: Sun Microsystems Computer Company Maria Villarino 415/786-3205 maria.villarino@corp.sun.com or Burson-Marsteller Angela Hesse 415/463-4018 angela_hesse@bm.com |
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