Press Release
Hitachi Data Systems Launches ''Just in Time Storage,'' a Suite of Storage-Management Simplification Services for Fast-Growing Enterprises and Storage Service Providers
SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 12, 2000--
Service Offering is First to Market with Instant Fingertip
Upgrades to Disk, Cache, and IO Capacity; Will Help Customers
Reduce Storage Management and Acquisition Costs While
Speeding Up Deployment of New Applications
Just In Time Storage Suite Also Offers Optional
Capacity Forecasting, Centralized Management, and a Range
of Storage Management Services
Hitachi Data Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT - news), today announced Just In Time Storage(TM), a suite of services designed to simplify the storage management tasks faced by large enterprises and storage service providers (SSPs) challenged by rapid growth, unpredictable demand, and spiraling management costs.
Just In Time Storage eases the burden of up-front storage acquisition costs, deployment, and day-to-day administration through a managed service-level agreement and a monthly ``pay-as-you-grow'' billing structure.
Because Just In Time Storage is built into the storage system and does not require any host-processor-based software, it can be used -- without any modification -- in all major computing environments, including OS/390®, Windows NT®/2000, Linux®, and a variety of UNIX®-based operating systems. This gives Just In Time Storage users unmatched flexibility in configuring their data centers to take advantage of the capacity-on-demand model.
``Our customers tell us that the ability to deploy a new business application to maintain their competitive edge may depend on their ability to turn on additional storage capacity and performance overnight,'' said Ron Gervenack, Hitachi Data Systems General Manager of Enterprise Products and Solutions. ``Just In Time Storage is aimed at satisfying their demand.''
Just In Time Storage provides instant capacity on demand, allowing enterprise customers and SSPs to activate small increments of additional storage capacity in their data centers with the click of a mouse, whenever they need it. Unlike similar offerings from other vendors, no disruption of system operations or intervention by Hitachi Data Systems service personnel is required, allowing customers to maintain complete control of storage purchase and allocation activities as they respond to rapidly changing business conditions.
In addition to providing fingertip control of disk-storage capacity, Just In Time Storage also allows users to tune the performance of their storage systems by increasing the capacity of semiconductor cache memory and the number of IO paths connecting the storage controller to the host processor. No other ``storage-on-demand'' offering permits users to take such complete and simple control over the deployment of storage options.
The platform for Just In Time Storage is Hitachi Data Systems' flagship storage system, the Hitachi Freedom Storage(TM) Lightning 9900(TM) Series, Model 9960 -- the most scalable, highest performing, highest availability storage system in the world. Key to the operation of Just In Time Storage is Hitachi Data Systems' exclusive capacity-monitoring system -- built into the 9960 -- which automatically determines how much storage capacity and cache memory and how many host connections are currently activated in the customer facility. This information is communicated via an existing automated ``call-home'' feature to Hitachi Data Systems' Global Utility Center in San Diego, California, which provides a metering service used for billing.
Storage units intended for use in Just In Time Storage environments are equipped with substantially more capacity than is immediately needed by the customer -- as much as 37 terabytes of raw capacity or 27 terabytes of usable RAID 5 capacity in a single system. Just In Time Storage customers pay only for the amount of storage capacity they have chosen to activate.
For many data center administrators, finding an extra 10 to 20 gigabytes of capacity to meet an unexpected demand can be a frequent time-consuming chore. A significant percentage of storage management costs corresponds directly to this situation, in which users need small amounts of storage that are not immediately accessible and must be opened up by moving files around or deleting unused data. Just In Time Storage is an ideal solution.
Just In Time Storage goes far beyond simply providing user-controlled capacity. The entire suite includes the following services:
Capacity on Demand, which maintains agreed-upon ``headroom'' that is immediately accessible as storage demands increase.
Capacity Forecasting, which provides capacity planning information to manage the actual growth of enterprise storage components and subsystems for production, development, and business continuity.
Centralized Control, which allows customers to enter commands at a remote keyboard to upgrade disk and cache capacity and the number of host connections for any appropriately configured system under their control.
Storage Management Services, ranging from co-management and onsite recommendations of strategic storage management to full day-to-day tactical and long range strategic management.
Business Continuity, which allows customers to activate Hitachi Data Systems' ``point in time'' copy and remote copy functions to implement business continuity and disaster recovery operations.
``We've designed Just In Time Storage to give customers a tremendous range of freedom in selecting both financial and technical options to manage their data,'' said Roger Marvinney, Hitachi Data Systems Managing Director of Storage Utility Programs. ``They can buy, lease, or subscribe; they can deploy it in a wide variety of computing environments; and they can choose among many different service options that will increase their ability to precisely control their storage assets. No one else comes close to offering this level of flexibility.''
Availability
Just In Time Storage services are available immediately in the United States and will be launched in other geographies beginning in the first quarter of 2001.
Analyst Comments
Mike Kahn, Chairman of The Clipper Group, Inc.
``Enterprises strive for storage transparency. They want and expect it to be there when it is needed and regardless of how it is being used. Hitachi's Just In Time offering moves the enterprise closer to that objective by removing most of the procurement tactics required to keep up with unpredictable storage growth. It allows the increments to be optimized to meet application requirements and provides an alternative pay-as-you-deploy financing plan, which will be attractive to many fast-growing companies.''
Jack Scott, Managing Partner, The Evaluator Group
``Hitachi Data Systems' Just In Time Storage program offers a range of services in the storage-on-demand arena that will be attractive for SSPs and other companies that need ''pay as you grow`` instant storage availability. It's considerably more than just a plan for financing storage acquisition. Hitachi is looking to make it easy for users to manage their storage capacity and performance. This plan should appeal to many users who are trying to cope with the problems of rapid storage expansion.''
Adam Couture, Senior Analyst -- IT Services, Gartner Dataquest
``Hitachi Data Systems' Just In Time Storage solution is primarily a service that just happens to have a product component. It illustrates how traditional storage hardware vendors are re-inventing their hardware, software, management tools and service offerings to align with the rapid IT mindset shift that increasingly looks at storage as a utility that users can tap as needed and pay for only what they use.''
Doug Chandler, Progam Manager, Storage and Data Management Services Program, International Data Corporation
``Just In Time Storage makes sense for SSPs as well as Hitachi Data Systems' traditional large-company customer base. Hitachi's end user customers can use it to smooth out their acquisition costs as well as to simplify the storage management process. For SSPs, the ability to pay for the storage in time with the payments they are receiving from their own clients is a clear benefit.''
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