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NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup: Super Fast Physical To Virtual Server Migration

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Syncsort, a provider of data integration acceleration and data protection software solutions, today announced enhancements to the NetApp Syncsort Integrated Backup solution that deliver productivity gains and cost savings to customers through 10-minute physical to virtual (P2V) server migration.

NSB leverages snapshot technology to provide rapid return to production for applications during P2V migrations. It converts Windows or Linux-based physical server backups into VMware virtual machines through a simple, automated process that creates the virtual machine with ease.

The solution uses NetApp-based snapshots to start the virtual machines, a process that can take as little as 10 minutes with some variation based on system resources. The full data set from the physical server is then copied to a newly created virtual machine.

When backup copying is complete, VMware Storage vMotion is used to switch the application from the snapshot to the newly created virtual machine, typically with zero system downtime during the process. This results in a full P2V server migration that significantly reduces downtime when compared to traditional migration processes.

NSB also ensures proper data alignment for the disks of the new virtual machine automatically as part of the 10-minute P2V migration process. This eliminates a common concern for customers when migrating applications, and helps them avoid significant virtual machine performance degradation and the lengthy downtime often needed to correct data alignment issues.

Cloud.com Joins the NetApp Alliance Partner Program

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Cloud.com, a vendor of open source cloud computing software, has joined the NetApp Alliance Partner Program.

As part of this collaboration, Cloud.com CloudStack, an infrastructure as a service (IaaS) platform, seamlessly integrates with NetApp storage systems and simplifies how customers can build, deploy and manage public and private cloud environments, for improved IT flexibility and efficiency.

This integration with NetApp gives Cloud.com the ability to directly integrate with the NetApp OnCommand management software to help automate provisioning volumes on the storage system, create Logical Unit Numbers (LUNs) of administrator-specified sizes, and perform LUN masking.

Cloud.com has also integrated, tested, and validated CloudStack with NetApp unified storage systems, allowing customers to continue to use the NetApp Data ONTAP platform, which effectively creates and manages storage pools and devices requiring ever-increasing capacity and bandwidth.

Cloud.com currently enables over 50 large-scale production clouds in deployment that have been built on its market-leading open source cloud computing solution including KT, Tata Communications, Nokia Research Center, GreenQloud and Profitability.net.

Cloud.com technologies can be deployed on-premise or as hosted cloud services.

NetApp Completes Purchase Of Akorri Networks

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NetApp has announced that it has completed the acquisition of Akorri Networks. Under terms of the definitive agreement, NetApp acquired Akorri in an all-cash transaction for approximately $60 million.

Akorri extends the NetApp OnCommand management software suite with performance capacity analytics and optimization for greater visibility across the entire IT stack, including applications, servers, networks, and storage.

Akorri’s flagship software, BalancePoint, helps customers identify performance bottlenecks; improve storage capacity planning; and free up the time, people, and budget resources needed to run virtual environments.

BalancePoint is available immediately through existing Akorri channel partners. Customer pricing is available from those partners.

Breaking: NetApp To Acquire Akorri Networks In All-Cash Transaction

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NetApp today announced that it is to acquire Akorri Networks, which enables IT organizations to increase virtualization ROI through optimization and planning of their virtual and physical infrastructure resources.

Terms of the agreement were not disclosed, but it was all-cash, NetApp says. Akorri was founded in 2005 and has raised $48.7 million in funding to date.

Akorri’s BalancePoint software uses cross-domain analysis and analytics to help companies manage, optimize, and plan performance and utilization across their data center infrastructure. BalancePoint provides visibility into the root cause of performance issues through drill-down into server and storage resources and the ability to understand both server and storage virtualization.

The acquisition is expected to close early in NetApp’s fourth fiscal quarter, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

(TechCrunchIT)

Blade.org – Study On Storage Consolidation

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Blade.org, a collaborative organization and developer community focused on accelerating the development and adoption of open blade server platforms, announced a new member-driven study on Storage Consolidation, the third of its kind in a series focusing on data center efficiency.

This Blade.org White Paper is available for download for free here. Blade.org member companies NetApp, BLADE Network Technologies and Double-Take Software each made contributions that showcase the advancement of technologies allowing IT professionals to reduce the amount of equipment needed to run an efficient data center.

Key Highlights:

  • Benefits of Storage Consolidation: Efficiency across storage area networks (SAN) has been increased greatly by sharing data across multiple servers on private networks. Operational benefits from storage consolidation include: reduced power and cooling costs, increased capacity sharing, storage provisioning, network boot, software updates, performance, data protection, scalability, simplified backup and recovery, and improved lifecycle management.
  • Server and Storage Virtualization – Complimentary Technologies: Storage virtualization compliments server virtualization by increasing storage efficiency and by enabling rapid deployment of storage resources. The result is increased overall operational efficiency, improved asset utilization, and accelerated business processes.
  • Storage Virtualization: Storage virtualization is delivering dramatic increases in storage utilization. Deduplication, thin provisioning, and rapid cloning, as examples, are greatly reducing the physical storage required to store the exploding data collection and retention in today’s business environment.
  • Storage Consolidation – Before You Start: By utilizing a combination of virtualization and SAN-based or host-based replication technologies, IT personnel can minimize data and application down time during storage migration while allowing users to still access applications with little or no downtime.

“2009 Cloud Consensus Report” Shows Federal Government Cloud Computing Progress

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MeriTalk and the Merlin Federal Cloud Initiative (an alliance with Merlin International, NetApp, Riverbed, and VMware) today announced the results of its study, the “2009 Cloud Consensus Report – Bringing the Cloud Down to Earth.” The study reveals that though cloud computing is considered the hot technology topic today, neither the private nor the public sectors have a clear understanding of what cloud computing fully encompasses. Only 13 percent of private- and public-sector IT executives report that their organization or agency is using cloud computing, while 44 percent report using applications that rely on the cloud.

The “2009 Cloud Consensus Report” provides snapshots of industry and government cloud progress, details the issues stalling the Federal cloud transition, and provides recommendations to enable agency cloud-readiness. On track with industry, most Federal agencies claim to be in cloud learning mode, which presents an opportunity for the Federal government to lead by creating a unified cloud definition and standards that can be universally employed across all agencies and into industry. While government and industry are in early adoption, the future looks promising. Forecasting ahead, 76 percent of IT and government managers believe that the cloud is here to stay.

Federal Civilian and Department of Defense agency respondents cited savings as the top benefit to cloud computing – 63 percent of all Federal respondents believe this technology is the key to reducing IT expenses. Today’s economy, the increased emphasis on agency cost savings, and President Barack Obama’s technology initiatives of transparency, collaboration, and participation all make the promise of the cloud appealing to those looking for the panacea for Federal IT woes. The new administration is placing special emphasis on transitioning to the cloud to tap into the cloud’s potential to allow agencies to save without sacrifice. The National Institute of Standards and Technologies (NIST) has offered a working definition of cloud computing. But what is holding up the transition?

Seventy-eight percent of respondents claimed that concerns over security in the cloud are the biggest barrier to cloud adoption, while 41 percent also cited privacy concerns. To build cloud confidence, Federal IT executives need security assurance and examples of cloud implementation success stories to clear the way for widespread cloud adoption. In the interim, agencies can take advantage of the benefits of the private cloud to centralize and virtualize their IT infrastructures and comply with Federal mandates, such as continuity of operations (COOP).