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Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 Is Now Available

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 06:00 CDT

CHICAGO, Sept. 10 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Today at the Storage Decisions 2003 conference, Microsoft Corp. announced the general availability of Windows(R) Storage Server 2003. A dedicated file and print server solution, Microsoft(R) Windows Storage Server 2003 will be available through original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), including Dell, EMC Corp., Fujitsu Siemens Computers, HP, INLINE Corp., Iomega Corp., MaXXan Systems, Inc., and NEC Corp.

(Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000822/MSFTLOGO )

"IT professionals continue to tell us they need cost-effective storage solutions to help ensure data availability, realize the savings of file server consolidation and maintain business continuity," said Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Enterprise Storage Division at Microsoft. "With enterprise-ready features like Volume Shadow Copy Services (VSS), Virtual Disk Service (VDS) and failover clustering, Windows Storage Server 2003 meets those critical storage needs, all at a low total cost of ownership."

Windows Storage Server 2003 is available in two editions. Enterprise Edition is a highly scalable file storage server that meets the data availability and performance needs of enterprise datacenters. Standard Edition is a reliable, dedicated file and print server, ideal for enterprise departments, branch offices, and small and medium-sized businesses.

The United States Army Reserve 108th Division is an early Windows Storage Server 2003 customer. Its goal was to reduce IT costs for storage and file serving through consolidation, while increasing data availability and operational efficiency.

"We purchased the INLINE FileStorm NAS with Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 to realize cost savings through file server consolidation and to enable disaster recovery through replication," said Willie Bradham, information management officer of the 108th Division of the United States Army Reserve. "We were amazed at how easily we were able to integrate the solution into our existing WAN architecture for remote user file sharing."

To meet their specific needs and preferences, customers have a broad choice of OEM products powered by Windows Storage Server 2003. OEM storage products announced today are the Dell PowerVault 775N and 770N storage systems, HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s, the Iomega NAS P400m series, the INLINE FileStorm systems, and MaXXan Systems' SG110m NAS gateway appliance and the SG210m application card. The EMC NetWin 200, when generally available, also will be based on Windows Storage Server 2003.

Storage Software Vendor Support

In conjunction with the general availability of Windows Storage Server 2003, leading software vendors have announced product support for the new Microsoft offering. Supporting vendors include CommVault Systems Inc., Computer Associates International Inc. (CA), KVS Inc., LEGATO Systems Inc., NSI Software, NuView Inc., Quest Software Inc. and VERITAS Software Corp. As a result, Windows Storage Server 2003 customers will have a wide variety of software solutions for essential storage requirements, such as server consolidation, business continuity and backup.

The Microsoft Storage Community: Connecting With Customers

Also introduced today, the Microsoft Storage Community, http://www.microsoft.com/storagecommunity/, is an online destination where customers can interact with storage experts, peers, and developers and product managers, to share knowledge and news about Microsoft storage software and technologies. Through newsgroups, user groups and chats with Microsoft technical staff, as well as a wealth of documentation, tips and tricks, and links, the Storage Community provides customers with a variety of ways to find answers to questions and solutions to problems, and share expertise.

More About Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003

Windows Storage Server 2003 is the newest version of what was previously known as Windows Powered Network Attached Storage (NAS). Windows Powered NAS currently holds 41 percent of the NAS appliance unit share, more than any other operating system, according to IDC.*

Because it integrates seamlessly with existing information technology (IT) infrastructure, provides high data availability and is priced at a low cost per gigabyte, Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 provides a low total cost of ownership (TCO). Easy to install and manage, Windows Storage Server 2003 simplifies data storage, file serving and backup of mission-critical data.

Windows Storage Server 2003 offers a highly scalable solution ranging from 160 GB to 40-plus TB. The product incorporates advanced capabilities from Windows Server(TM) 2003 such as VSS, which provide an intelligent infrastructure for "shadow," or point-in-time, copies of a single volume or multiple volumes.

Other key availability features include Distributed File System (DFS), eight-node server clustering and multipath input/output (MPIO) technology. Windows Storage Server 2003 will also support the Windows Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) initiator, which provides an easy way to manage and incorporate an NAS device into an IP-based storage area network (SAN).

More information on Windows Storage Server is available online at http://www.microsoft.com/storage/.

About the Microsoft Enterprise Storage Division

Microsoft's Enterprise Storage Division was formed to bring greater focus to Microsoft's customers' increasingly complex storage requirements. The division is focused on three primary objectives: to make Windows a better platform for storage, to catalyze the industry to develop innovative storage solutions, and to bring to market Microsoft storage products. Additional information on Microsoft's storage offerings can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/storage/.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.

* IDC Worldwide Quarterly Appliance Server Tracker, June 2003

NOTE: Microsoft, Windows and Windows Server are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. in the United States and/or other countries.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

Supporting Customer Quotes

"Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 represents another important step in the evolution to meet enterprise requirements for dependability, cost-efficiency and business alignment. CA will continue to work closely with Microsoft to ensure that our mutual customers reap the full benefits of the synergies between our respective storage solutions."

-- Bob Davis

Vice President of BrightStor Solutions

Computer Associates International

"Microsoft's Windows Storage Server 2003 combined with CommVault's Windows Centric Data Management software offers our customers the ability to save significant time and effort for their backup, recovery, archiving and migration requirements. CommVault's software can also assist in migrating to Windows Storage Server 2003 and offer heterogeneous management of the complete enterprise from a powerful, low-cost solution."

-- Randy De Meno

Director of Advanced Applications and Microsoft Relationship

CommVault Systems

"As an ISV focused on adding value, DataCore uses Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003, as well as its comprehensive development environment, to address large-scale, high-performance storage consolidation. We find the operating environment is also cost-effective in building affordable storage management solutions for small to medium-sized businesses."

-- Ken Horner

Vice President of Marketing

DataCore Software Corp.

"As the leading provider of Windows Powered NAS systems, we have worked closely with Microsoft and our customers to identify networked storage needs and deliver products that offer the highest levels of performance and data protection. Microsoft's reliability and availability developments around Windows Storage Server 2003 are essential to meeting customers' IT requirements, and enable industry-standard solutions to meet business needs more effectively than proprietary alternatives."

-- Randy Groves

Chief Technology Officer

Dell

"EMC and Microsoft share a common goal of helping customers extend their use of Windows into networked storage environments for better information management and improved return on investment. Through our strategic alliance, we've tapped into the unmatched strength of two industry leaders to integrate EMC's market-leading networked storage systems with Windows Storage Server 2003. EMC NetWin 200, with its ease of deployment and attractive price/performance entry point, is one clear example of the value this relationship is delivering to customers today."

-- David Donatelli

Executive Vice President of Storage Platforms Operations

EMC

"HP customers will be the first to take advantage of Windows Storage Server 2003 with the HP StorageWorks NAS 2000s. HP was the first company to join forces with Microsoft when it entered the storage industry in 2000, and we have been instrumental in helping replace proprietary approaches with industry-standard storage technologies, like those from HP and Microsoft. HP will continue to standardize on Windows for Network Attached Storage for customers in branch offices to the datacenter, paving the way for NAS and SAN fusion through a common set of devices."

-- Harry Baeverstad

Director of the NAS Business Segment

HP

"We are very pleased to announce our third generation of Network Attached Storage products, built on Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003. Building our FileStorm f-Series products on the Microsoft Storage Server 2003 platform allows us to deliver to our customer's exceptional heterogeneous performance, enterprise-class features and outstanding ROI."

-- John Tibbitts

CEO

INLINE

"By working with its OEM customers, Microsoft has been able to incorporate important new features into Windows Storage Server 2003 that equate to real improvements in data management and data availability. This new operating system gives Iomega a great foundation from which to build robust network storage solutions that meet the needs of small and medium-sized businesses."

-- Wayne Arvidson

Director of Marketing for Network Storage Solutions

Iomega

"KVS is very pleased to be a partner with Microsoft for this important product launch. Enterprise Vault provides superior content-archiving solutions so necessary for corporate governance and compliance scenarios. The combination of Enterprise Vault with well-designed storage based on Windows Storage Server 2003 offers customers an intelligent approach to information searchability and retention. Additional benefits will also be realized in high levels of efficiencies in the datacenter. In these uncertain times, storage demands will increase, and this solution will allow an enterprise a cost-effective, and comprehensive archiving platform."

-- Mary Kay Roberto

Vice President and General Manager for North America

KVS

"There is great synergy and tremendous growth potential between LEGATO and Microsoft in the NAS arena. Between the increased scalability and management of Microsoft's Windows Storage Server 2003 and our information management solutions, we can jointly provide leading Windows solutions, delivering higher ROI and lower TCO, to our customers and partners. Working with Microsoft, we continue to partner and deliver Information Lifecycle Management offerings to our customers."

-- David B. Wright

Chairman and CEO

LEGATO

"We are delighted to work with Microsoft to deliver Windows-based NAS Storage Gateways that provide highly dependable file-server and storage solutions. End users can deploy MaXXan's SG110m stand-alone Storage Gateway into their existing SAN infrastructure or choose to upgrade to MaXXan's Intelligent Application Switch by migrating the SG210 application card with preintegrated Windows Storage Server into the powerful switch."

-- James Yu

Vice President of Business Development

MaXXan Systems

"Organizations of all sizes are challenged with finding innovative, reliable and cost-effective solutions to ensure their critical business information is continuously available and protected. NSI Software is addressing these needs by working with Microsoft to provide proven data replication and failover software so businesses gain the utmost value from their Windows Storage Server 2003 investments. Our customers recognize the business and technology advantages of combining our Double-Take replication software with the Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2003 platform."

-- Don Beeler

President and CEO

NSI Software

"NuView is pleased to support Windows Storage Server 2003 appliances through StorageX, the market-leading software solution for creating and managing global namespaces. By using DFS, a powerful feature of Windows Storage Server 2003, StorageX enables unprecedented scalability and availability of Windows-based storage infrastructures, and delivers powerful data life-cycle management solutions that will significantly expand the scope of Windows Storage Server 2003 in the enterprise."

-- Rahul Mehta

CEO

NuView

"Customers are looking for best-of-class solutions to help reduce storage management costs and maximize their return on investment. Together, Windows Storage Server 2003 and FastLane Consolidator provide an optimized solution for file serving and a fast, automated way to get data onto the servers. Quest Software is excited to be working with Microsoft and its OEM hardware partners to help our mutual customers consolidate to Windows Storage Server 2003."

-- David Waugh

Vice President of Product Marketing

Microsoft Solutions

Quest Software

"When software leaders such as VERITAS and Microsoft collaborate, the customer wins. Over the years, VERITAS' leading data-protection, high-availability and storage-management software has helped Windows customers lower the cost of managing and protecting their IT infrastructure -- from desktops to datacenters. VERITAS' support for Windows Storage Server 2003 exemplifies our commitment to providing IT administrators with the software and technology to manage their critical business information."

-- Bob Maness

Senior Director of Product Marketing

VERITAS