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Nimbus Unveils IP SAN Solution for the Small & Medium Enterprise; Ships iSCSI Storage Appliance and Software For Under $5,000

Posted on: Wednesday, 4 August 2004, 06:00 CDT

Nimbus Data Systems, Inc. (www.nimbusdata.com) today announced the general availability of a family of ultra-easy, reliable, and high-performance iSCSI storage solutions purpose-built for small and medium-sized IT organizations. With the Nimbus IPS series of storage appliances and accompanying management software, businesses can streamline their infrastructure for rapid data growth, cut costs, remove complexity, and better protect priceless data assets. While the Nimbus solution sets new standards for affordability and ease-of-use, it also delivers enterprise-grade features, such as on-demand scalability to 8TB, industry-leading 100MB/sec performance, and sophisticated data protection and security tools.

Focus on the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SME)

Understaffed IT organizations and limited budgets have kept SAN solutions out of reach for most companies, although virtually all businesses share the same data storage objectives: (1) increase data availability, (2) simplify storage management, (3) streamline storage expansion, and (4) ensure maximum data protection and security. With today's announcement, Nimbus brings to market the first line of truly affordable, plug-and-play IP SAN solutions for the SME market. With Nimbus IP SANs, companies can connect their servers to a fast, reliable, and easily expandable pool of storage capacity using Gigabit Ethernet. Nimbus IP SANs are the ideal foundation for email, file, and web server consolidation, clustering, disaster recovery, disk-to-disk backup, and database/CRM applications. Nimbus backs its products with world-class support, including technical support, software updates, and premium warranty services, free of charge.

"iSCSI solutions have started to generate significant demand from the SME market as users look for affordable and simple solutions to network and protect their data assets," stated Alex Gorbansky, senior analyst with the Taneja Group. "From day one, Nimbus has focused exclusively on the unique needs of the SME market. The company has combined performance, reliability, and affordability into an easy-to-use package that will fit the bill for many SME organizations."

Nimbus iSCSI Storage Appliances

The Nimbus IPS series is a family of storage appliances based on the native iSCSI standard, utilizing Gigabit Ethernet to provide reliable, high-performance SAN storage at an attractive entry cost. Available in 500GB and 1TB configurations, stackable to 8TB per storage pool, all Nimbus IPS appliances feature redundant hot-swappable components, the security of RAID, CHAP, and IPSec, and category-leading performance of over 100MB/sec. The Nimbus IP SAN is designed to work in conjunction with best-of-breed networking hardware and backup solutions to provide a cohesive, fully interoperable solution. The Nimbus IPS series has been certified by Microsoft for Windows 2000/2003 Server and is also compatible with Linux-based systems.

Nimbus SAN Manager Software

Using the Nimbus SAN Manager software, administrators can configure, partition, provision, and monitor Nimbus systems and the IP SAN through one intuitive web-based interface. Designed with ease-of-use as the priority, Nimbus SAN Manager enables customers with no specialized training to install an IP SAN in less than 15 minutes. Within the web-based interface, administrators can create and resize volumes, monitor performance, setup email and SNMP alerts, manage security settings, check system health, and much more. Optional modules, such as Remote Control and Secure Store, add powerful remote management and synchronous data replication features.

Customer Deployments of Nimbus IP SANs

The performance, versatility, and reliability of the Nimbus solution make it an ideal storage platform for Windows clusters, particularly Microsoft Exchange and SQL Server environments. Organizations using tape backup to protect business-critical information can add Nimbus appliances to dramatically reduce the backup window and accelerate restore times, preventing costly downtime. File and web server consolidation projects also fit well, enabling businesses to replace unreliable local storage with shared SAN storage to increase efficiency. Customers building Linux clusters can take advantage of Nimbus' boot from IP SAN capability to enable disk-less servers, increasing reliability and reducing costs.

Availability

The Nimbus IPS-500 and IPS-1000 iSCSI storage appliances and SAN Manager software are shipping in volume and available for purchase online at www.goiscsi.com and through Nimbus authorized resellers. Nimbus solutions, including a standard support program, start at just US$4,995. Value-added resellers of storage and networking equipment are encouraged to visit www.nimbusdata.com to learn more about our lucrative partner programs.

About Nimbus

Nimbus Data Systems, Inc. develops powerful iSCSI storage systems and software that enable mid-size organizations to increase data availability, simplify storage management, and reduce IT costs. Nimbus solutions lead the industry in ease-of-use, reliability, and affordability, lowering the barriers of SAN adoption and enabling Storage Networking for All(TM). Nimbus, based in San Francisco, CA, markets its products through a worldwide channel of reseller and OEM partners. For more information, please visit www.nimbusdata.com or contact us at (877) 6-NIMBUS.

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