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IBM Updates SAN File System

Posted on: Sunday, 6 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

STORAGE

New version will work with storage devices from rivals such as EMC, HP

IBM PLANS TO RELEASE a new version of its Total-Storage SAN File System Software next month, now redesigned to work with a wider variety of server and storage environments.

Unlike previous versions of the SAN File System, which supported only IBM products, Version 2.1 will work with storage devices from IBM rivals including EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and Hitachi Data Systems. It will also now support the Red Hat Linux Enterprise Server 3.0 and Sun Microsystems' Solaris 9 OS.

The software will allow customers to move data from one device to another without disrupting their server OSes, said Jeff Barnett, manager of storage software strategy at IBM. "The environment itself is designed so that it isolates your server environment from your storage environment," he said.

IBM's SAN File System is based on SANergy technology the company acquired from Mercury Computer Systems in 1999. "IBM's SAN File System is actually fairly mature in that regard, because they didn't start from scratch," said Arun Taneja, founder of research company Taneja Group.

The Ohio Supercomputer Center is using the SAN File System exclusively on IBM FAStT900 and FAStT600 storage servers right now, but Version 2.1 might change that. "We have a heterogeneous environment as far as computing goes," said Leslie Southern, director of high-performance computing at the center. "It gives us more flexibility in choosing the appropriate equipment."

Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

Copyright Infoworld Media Group May 31, 2004

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