Legato Incorporates New Media Management
Capabilities in NetWorker and GEMS SmartMedia
Products
Legato's Advanced Media Management Solutions Enable Customers to Quickly Deploy a
Small-Scale SAN, with Easy Evolution to an Enterprise SAN
PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 13, 2000-- Legato© Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: LGTO - news), the
leader in enterprise storage management software, today announced new releases of its NetWorker© and GEMS
SmartMedia© products, providing the most extensive range of media management options in the market today.
Legato NetWorker 5.5.2 includes a new library sharing feature that allows tape libraries to be shared by the different storage
nodes connected to a NetWorker Server. With the advanced capabilities of GEMS SmartMedia, both libraries and individual
drives can now be shared in an enterprise across multiple NetWorker servers, a great advantage in flexibility and reduced
administrative costs. While these solutions are regularly implemented in traditional SCSI direct connect environments, they can
also provide a two-step roadmap for companies moving toward an enterprise storage area network (SAN).
With the new library sharing capability in NetWorker 5.5.2, customers can support a single central backup server and up to
256 NetWorker storage nodes, all with the ability to share single or multiple large tape libraries. This solution increases return
on investment by reducing media management costs as expensive tape libraries are shared and as the cost of managing them is
reduced through centralized control.
For those companies who are implementing a SAN, the same advantages offered by NetWorker 5.5.2 are ideal in deploying a
small-scale heterogeneous SAN. In fact, the first step in Legato's two step roadmap for companies moving to a SAN is to
deploy NetWorker 5.5.2. Its new library sharing feature is important for LAN-free backup over a SAN. The second step adds
the advanced media management capabilities of GEMS SmartMedia for an end-to-end, enterprise-strength SAN solution.
``IT staff are looking for an easy path to enterprise SAN deployments,' said Nora Denzel, senior vice president, Legato. ``We
are excited to deliver this capability, while also addressing the requirement to reduce overall media management costs. Both
Legato NetWorker and Legato GEMS SmartMedia deliver advanced media management capabilities for SAN and traditional
SCSI environments.'
By adding Legato GEMS SmartMedia to the NetWorker foundation, customers can move to an enterprise solution, where
multiple NetWorker backup servers and their storage nodes can share large tape libraries and drives. The newest version of
Legato GEMS SmartMedia (version 1.4) will deliver the industry's first fully integrated dynamic drive sharing capability for
multiple central backup servers. This tremendously increases the utilization of all of the drives in the shared library, leveraging
the customer's investment in their hardware. Again, those companies who are implementing a SAN will see a significant benefit
as their SAN grows in size and complexity.
``Being able to share libraries, and now actual tape drives themselves, across storage domains will be a huge economic and
management boon for large-scale enterprises,' said Steve Duplessie, senior analyst, of Enterprise Storage Group. ``Sharing
across disparate NetWorker domains is a technological leapfrog for Legato.'
Based on the emerging IEEE standard for media management, GEMS SmartMedia provides a single media management
solution for the entire network (LAN or SAN based) -- not just for the backup and recovery function. Legato is an active
member of IEEE, and is partnering with other application vendors to integrate with GEMS SmartMedia.
The Path to an Enterprise Media Management Solution
Library sharing between a NetWorker Server and its Storage Nodes is desirable in traditional storage environments and critical
in SAN environments for LAN-free backup. This requirement is typically found in de-centralized IT organizations that have a
number of groups responsible for data protection. For example, one group might be responsible for the research and
development applications on UNIX, while another group might be responsible for Web applications on Windows NT. Using
NetWorker 5.5.2 each group would deploy their own tape libraries, which would be shared between their backup server and
storage nodes.
As enterprises re-centralize their data protection operations, they typically consolidate resources across multiple groups, which
often contain multiple backup servers. Legato GEMS SmartMedia was specifically designed with this requirement in mind. In
the example above, tape library and drive resources would be consolidated across the UNIX and the Windows NT servers,
even though the backup servers may continue to be managed independently. GEMS SmartMedia arbitrates access to the
shared drive and library resources across the multiple backup servers and their storage nodes, and provides centralized media
management and hardware administration for both groups. GEMS SmartMedia also provides the flexibility to dedicate specific
libraries or drive resources to ensure business-critical backups are completed.
With NetWorker 5.5.2 and GEMS SmartMedia, the customer has the opportunity to select a configuration that best fits their
present needs, while being assured of a smooth and easy upgrade path from a decentralized department solution to a
centralized IT solution if and when the customer needs change.
Legato's media management products fully protect the investment of the customer. Not only are the same software products
used in a SAN or traditional SCSI environment, but they are also highly scalable and protect both UNIX and Windows NT
environments.
Pricing and Availability
Legato NetWorker 5.5.2 is available immediately for Solaris (including Solaris 8), Windows NT, Compaq Tru64 and HP-UX
environments. Pricing starts at $1,150 (U.S. list). Legato GEMS SmartMedia is currently available for Solaris, Windows NT,
Compaq Tru64 and HP-UX environments. GEMS SmartMedia 1.4 will be available in the second quarter of 2000.
About Legato
Legato Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: LGTO - news), is a worldwide leader in the enterprise storage management software
market. Helping companies leverage business-critical, corporate data assets, Legato's products and services enable information
continuance, a seamless approach to the movement, management and protection of data throughout an enterprise. Founded in
1988, Legato's storage management software products have become the recognized industry standard with the largest installed
base representing over 65,000 customers. Legato's products are available through a network of Legato-licensed resellers,
integrators and OEM partners and directly from Legato. More information is available at www.legato.com. Telephone:
650/812-6000.
Note to Editors: The Legato logo design, Legato, Legato NetWorker, SmartMedia, and ClientPak are registered trademarks,
and Celestra, Co-StandbyServer, GEMS, and SnapShotServer are trademarks of Legato Systems, Inc. All other brand names
are trademarks of their respective owners.
LEGATO ALLIANCES
Breece Hill Technologies Ray Heineman, vice president, technical services
``As data storage strategies become more sophisticated, software and automation solutions must too. We're excited to support
Legato's new application release and believe our library customers, particularly those interested in SANs, may benefit from the
enhanced functionality of such an investment.'
Datalink Corporation Scott Robinson, chief technology officer
``The SAN-enabling capabilities of these products are critical as we deploy LAN-free backup and SANs in today's
environments. The library sharing capabilities of NetWorker 5.5.2 and the enterprise media management provided by GEMS
SmartMedia enhance our capability to provide our customers with total solutions in heterogeneous SAN environments.'
Quantum/ATL Frank Berry, vice president of marketing
``New media management features like NetWorker's library sharing and GEMS SmartMedia's dynamic drive allocation
provide the perfect platform to maximize the business value of ATL's Prism Storage Architecture.'
Spectra Logic Nathan C. Thompson, chairman and CEO
``Spectra Logic continues to see increasing needs for mission-critical data protection solutions. As companies implement new
technologies in the data center, such as SAN and NAS, this puts pressure on the storage vendor community to create
products, which can leverage these technological advances. Legato NetWorker's new library sharing functionality and the
media management capabilities in GEMS SmartMedia further enhance a seamless interconnection between hardware and
software components in SAN and NAS environments.' |
