and this one....
Monday October 30, 10:35 am Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Computer Network Technology
CNT Services Turn SAN 'Hype' Into Reality
Customer Success and Industry Analyst Report Show CNT's Services Deliver on the Promise of SANs Today
MINNEAPOLIS and ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- CNT (Nasdaq: CMNT - news), the global specialist in storage networking solutions, today announced the availability of its field-proven SAN Services, established to enable customers to design and implement storage area networks (SANs) quickly and cost-effectively using the industry's best SAN technologies. CNT's SAN Services are highlighted in a new report from industry analyst Steve Duplessie, founder of Enterprise Storage Group, and will be candidly discussed in a presentation at Storage Networking World in Orlando, by EchoStar, the fastest-growing direct satellite television service provider.
``While the SAN market is taking off, its growth is still hindered by confusion around the various networked storage strategies, the ongoing evolution of interoperability standards, and a lack of in-house IT resources with networked storage skills,'' said Barb Goldworm, independent consultant and Track Chair for Networked Storage at Networld+Interop 2000. ``Companies are looking for a partner who can provide the expertise, problem solving capabilities, and ability to deliver successful implementations to help them realize the real-world benefits of a SAN. Professional Services organizations like CNT's, with a proven track record, can meet the needs of the marketplace, and help users reap the benefits of networked storage more quickly and easily.''
``CNT's SAN services are the reality behind the hype,'' said Gary Johnson, vice president of storage networking services at CNT. ``CNT consultants provide the 'know-how' to make SANs work by leveraging our technology expertise, our multi-platform and multi-vendor approach, and years of real-world experience in designing and implementing storage networks.''
CNT SAN Services Provide Real-World SAN Solutions for EchoStar
EchoStar, a direct broadcast satellite television products and services company, is developing a new SAN infrastructure with CNT. CNT's SAN Services organization provided EchoStar with a detailed, comprehensive plan for storage network design, implementation and proof-of-concept testing that enabled improved data protection and operating efficiency without impacting production or sacrificing system reliability. The first phase implementation of this new SAN architecture provides EchoStar with a 24-hour ``no-impact backup'' environment, and improvements of 500% in storage backup throughput over alternative backup designs. (See separate CNT release on EchoStar, dated October 30, 2000.)
Enterprise Storage Group Report Highlights Strengths of CNT Services
In a report released today, Steve Duplessie, founder of Enterprise Storage Group, described the need for SAN services, and how CNT's SAN services address that need. The report says that there are few large SAN assessment and professional services companies that ESG has found, even though the market is screaming for it. Duplessie points out that the bulk of the professional services work is done by ``flagrantly-biased'' hardware vendors that can hinder flexibility of a customer's SAN design because of their desire to promote their own products.
Duplessie indicates that CNT's SAN services can potentially save customers a significant amount of money by getting the SAN deployment right the first time. CNT's SAN service consultants:
have multi-platform, multi-vendor, real-life expertise designing storage networks;
understand SAN infrastructure and the applications that run on them; and
offer a single point of contact for all the products in a SAN, whether or not they are CNT technologies.
``In our opinion, the lack of competent SAN implementation firms has been a huge hole for end-users. We are thrilled that a company like CNT, who is clearly capable of understanding all the complexities associated with SAN, has made a business out of it. Users have been begging for help, and now there is a place to call,'' said Steve Duplessie, Senior Analyst, The Enterprise Storage Group.
About CNT SAN Services
CNT has one of the highest numbers of professionally-trained and certified storage networking services personnel in the industry. The company's SAN services consultants are certified in dozens of technologies, and have field-proven experience in deploying multi-platform, multi-vendor storage networks. CNT's professional services revenue increased 133 percent in the second quarter of 2000 to $2.3 million as compared to the second quarter of 1999, and increased 88 percent for the first half of 2000 to $4.1 million when compared to the first half of last year.
CNT's SAN services begin with a SAN Assessment, a vendor-independent assessment of a company's environment, and then work from that point to deploy the best SAN solution for that organization. CNT provides an end-to-end solution, including design, verification, and integration. In addition, CNT offers its SAN Integration Lab, which offers technology from all the leading storage providers to be used in testing. CNT's SAN services include: SAN Assessment, a three part deliverable of audit, analysis, and proposed solution using proven methodologies, Infrastructure Design using tested, ``best-of-breed'' components from a variety of SAN vendors, ``Proof of Concept'' testing, ``Turn-Key'' SAN Integration services, including full service implementations and complete project management, and SAN Tuning and Troubleshooting.
About CNT
CNT is the global specialist in storage networking solutions. CNT's expertise is our ability to connect to different servers, systems, and platforms -- across any distance -- with high availability, scalability, and reliability. For more information, visit CNT's web site at cnt.com or call 763-268-6000.
SOURCE: Computer Network Technology |
