SUNW bought the Highground, but EMC is taking the highroad...
New EMC HighRoad Software Unites Worlds of NAS and SAN
Injects Speed and Efficiency of a SAN into NAS File Sharing Applications
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 5, 2000-- EMC Corporation today introduced EMC Celerra(TM) with HighRoad(TM) software. HighRoad fuses the industry-standard file sharing of network attached storage (NAS) with the high-performance information delivery of a storage area network (SAN), for the first time creating one unified storage network.
Available immediately, HighRoad incorporates important new software functionality into the EMC Celerra File Server operating environment and participating servers, significantly enhancing file-sharing capabilities and performance in high-bandwidth collaborative and publishing applications. HighRoad is especially beneficial in Web hosting, image processing, and simulation or modeling applications, or in any application requiring shared network-attached access by many clients to a single pool of information. HighRoad automatically and transparently selects the highest-performance method for file sharing - combined NAS and SAN, or traditional NAS.
Jim Rothnie, EMC's Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, said, ``The SAN/NAS debate is over. The new world of networked storage has arrived. Customers need all their information to work together. It's about creating one unified infrastructure that builds on the individual and combined strengths of their data and storage networks. EMC networked storage solutions make it possible for customers to use information to its fullest potential to become more productive, more competitive, more strategic.''
Rothnie added, ``HighRoad is a perfect example of how EMC partners with its customers to create next-generation solutions that take their business to the next level.''
America Online, Inc. (AOL) is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies, and e-commerce services. Terry Laber, AOL Vice President of Systems Operations, said, ``EMC allowed us to influence their development of the Celerra HighRoad software, another example of how technology innovators can come together and collaborate constructively to solve real-world, large-scale storage problems.''
Kurt Bertelsen, Chief Technology Officer of Interelate, Inc. said, ``EMC Celerra HighRoad is born from the world of enterprise everything -- availability, functionality, performance -- as opposed to other vendors' workgroup solutions trying to move up. For the first time, Interrelate has a NAS solution that has become an integral part of our SAN and provides our business-intelligence clients with a best-in-class infrastructure. HighRoad will let us drag and drop storage to any server at any time in a matter of minutes. It's completely in tune with our information, which is constantly morphing and growing. With other NAS implementations, our processing would take hours or even days when HighRoad allows us to complete some functions in a matter of minutes. The difference between minutes and days is the difference between life and death in the Internet age.''
Network request, channel delivery
NAS is the storage connectivity choice for shared access by large numbers of heterogeneous clients to a single file. Many file-sharing applications, however, demand greater performance than standard NAS file servers can deliver over local- or wide-area networks. HighRoad addresses this problem with a new level of functionality built on the EMC Celerra File Server platform, the enterprise NAS market leader.
HighRoad blends the best of NAS with the best of SAN. HighRoad increases data access performance by using separate mechanisms for control actions and data delivery. The application requests information from Celerra (e.g., ``Please send me the billing records from last month'') over the traditional IP network; the EMC Symmetrix® Enterprise Storage system replies by delivering information (all the billing records from last month) directly to the application over the high-performance Fibre Channel SAN. This topology optimizes both NAS and SAN, accelerating delivery of information to the user while placing the technical details behind the scenes. As a result, customers benefit from shared data access at channel speeds, reduced network traffic and improved performance for applications that require many host servers to share access to very large data files.
Traditional NAS environments provide for data sharing at the file level by channeling all access through a file server, which can limit both performance and scalability. Traditional SANs allow direct access to data in a common storage pool, but offer no provision for data sharing. HighRoad enables file sharing in a SAN and removes the scalability barriers of a NAS environment.
Since 1996, EMC has been the enterprise NAS market leader with the EMC Celerra File Server, which enables network access to EMC's market-leading Symmetrix Enterprise Storage system. Celerra is the industry's fastest-growing network-attached storage offering, with revenues nearly tripling last quarter on a year-over-year basis.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC - news) is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing the information infrastructure for a connected world. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.
EMC and Symmetrix are registered trademarks, and Celerra and HighRoad are trademarks of EMC Corporation. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
This release contains ``forward-looking statements'' as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) component quality and availability; (ii) delays in the development of new technology and the transition to new products; (iii) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures, in the computer storage and server markets; (iv) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines; (v) economic trends in various geographic markets and fluctuating currency exchange rates; (vi) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (vii) deterioration or termination of the agreements with certain of the Company's indirect channels; (viii) the uneven pattern of quarterly sales; (ix) risks associated with strategic investments and acquisitions; and (x) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
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Contact:
EMC Corporation
Dave Farmer
508-435-1000 (ext. 77206)
farmer_dave@emc.com
The blending of NAS and SAN is good for the storage story. |
