StoneFly™ INC supports fight against cancer with SCVM promo

California based data Storage vendor StoneFly™ INC, which is a business subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory has announced its fight against breast cancer through its SCVM Promo. StoneFly™ INC will be donating 100 percent of their earnings from their prestigious SCVM software appliance, to the support, treatment, awareness and research-STAR of breast cancer.

According to the facts revealed by StoneFly™ INC, almost 40,000 lives are claimed by breast cancer each year in United States. The company also divulges the fact that most of the cases of death were/are preventable, if the cancer gets detected in the right time and on proper medication.

So, in order to educate, treat and support the victims of breast cancer, StoneFly™ INC is partnering with STAR and is creating breast cancer awareness, through its SCVM Promo. The total cost of purchase of Storage Concentrator Virtual Machine (SCVM) made in between the month of August – September 30^th, 2012 will be donated to the cause for fighting against cancer.

SCVM is a virtual IP SAN software appliance which facilitates creation of virtual IP SAN within the existing resources of the virtual server. It is an innovation applicable for VMware environments as it presents advanced and fully features virtual iSCSI SAN + NAS Scale out Storage for Virtual machines. With the creation of iSCSI Virtual SAN appliance with available hardware resources, increase in productivity and easing the management abilities of the IT Manager can be achieved along with reduction in power consumption and rack space.

For more details about StoneFly™ INC SCVM support to fight breast cancer please call (510) 265-1616 or log onto the official website of ISCSI

Stonefly SCVM IP SAN Software Application

IP SAN is being considered as a definitive answer for the storage networking needs, by the IT sector. Traditional Fibre Channel SAN has a new additional qualification to it, as it also works on the TCP/IP rather than the typical FC. With this availability, the beauty of IP SAN gets increased, as it turns omnipresent via internet for gaining the benefits of IP SAN, without the need for a physical SAN infrastructure.

Factually speaking, there will be a common platform, for the hardware terms in the SAN structure. The difference lies in the vendors providing the most advanced software management tools, which have greater value with regards to their management skills. One such IP SAN software is Stonefly IP SAN SCVM application

Stonefly’s SCVM software is one of the best and an on-demand application running down in the VMware environment. In order to justify its presence let us go through its features in parallel to its benefits.

• With an SCVM, a regular server can be turned into a primary IP SAN storage or a secondary IP san storage. So the need for an additional storage gets abolished as the software helps to create additional storage space within one’s VMware environment.

• Moreover, it supports both local and remote mirroring and replication, which is helpful for data recovery, at the time, when data continuity need arises.

• Adding more, the Stonefly SCVM software application is apt to be used as backend storage for a cloud appliance and a security appliance.

• It offers backend storage operations to the archive appliances and serves as de-duplication backend storage as well.

• A high end clustered SAN can be transformed into a high availability storage system with a centralized SAN management. This helps in providing storage needs to multiple servers and that too without the apprehension for down time.

• Consolidation of storage and servers into one appliance is possible through Stonefly SCVM

*The Dr. Site feature of this high performing SCVM offers remote Asynchronous replication of high volumes of data in between the VMware servers, which are equipped with the same vendor software.

So, why go for other IP SAN software, when Stonefly is offering you the best through its SCVM application software. Think about it and install it in your storage environments, to make your data center management skills simple and pragmatic.

Download SCVM

The 2nd Generation of Falcon Extreme, a 5000fps H.264 Video Surveillance System, was Unleashed at ISC West 2012

The second generation of Falcon Extreme high performance servers can integrate video processing, storage, viewing, and Advanced Analytics for 125 high definition cameras, all in one server.

Normally, separate servers are needed for video processing, video storage, video viewing and video analytics. DNF’s breakthrough in video acceleration technology, the Falcon Extreme G200 video platform, has enough processing power to provide all four video operations for as many as 125 high definition cameras in only a single server, providing customers with an affordable solution for their surveillance needs.

Like its predecessor the Falcon Extreme G100, the Falcon Extreme G200 video platform has achieved another major performance milestone for the surveillance market. Its breakthrough technology allows many surveillance functions that are normally extremely taxing on servers to be integrated into a single server. The performance of one Falcon Extreme G200 is equivalent to and can replace up to 7 (seven) surveillance servers currently available in the market. This not only reduces up front product costs, infrastructure complexity, footprint, power and installation requirements, but it also provides tremendous reduction in the overall operation cost and cost of ownership.

DNF Security’s second generation high performance IP video processing and storage system has been tested and certified with many market-leading Video Management Software (VMS) and video surveillance camera system vendors allowing for easy implementations.

Falcon Extreme G200 video processing performance is complemented with high performance, high capacity, secure and reliable storage systems, exceeding even the most demanding storage requirements of Video Management Software (VMS). It is available in several different form factors to support a range of customer applications and environments. The G200 series is available in rack mountable as well as tower systems with new features such as an ultra quiet chassis for noise sensitive environments.

Unified Storage Systems – What are they and which one I need?

You probably have heard the term “Unified” a lot in storage industry. It started when NAS companies started adding iSCSI to their storage. And that is still the most common use of the term and the most popular Unified product in the market. But different companies started creating other type unified products. If you search the web, you can find companies who added Fibre Channel, Infiniband, or even Servers into Unified products.

 So all Unified products are not equal, and there is no right or wrong. But you do need to know what you need and understand the options available to you from different vendors.

 So which one makes sense to get? Like any other question, it depends. If you already have an environment that needs all these interfaces, then you need to find a product that has all these options. But if you are just setting up a new environment, your most logical choice is a “NAS + iSCSI SAN” Unified Storage. That is because of these two main facts:

1. It will give you both block level storage (SAN), and file level storage (NAS)
2. iSCSI SAN and NAS both use the same cabling, switches, and infrastructure

If you want to consolidate your storage and servers into the same chassis or same rack, then Unified Storage and Server products are for you.

Break the 3000FPS Barrier with DNF Security’s Falcon Extreme™

DNF Security’s new release – Falcon Extreme™ builds on the powerful Falcon Video Storage Platform to provide unrivaled levels of performance and reliability. The newest addition to its Falcon Video Storage Platform Series with the Falcon Extreme™. Falcon Extreme™ is the first ever appliance-specific recording platform to surpass 3000 frames per second (FPS). Falcon Extreme™ leverages the customized architecture and massive processing power of the multi-core Falcon Video Storage Platform for unrivaled reliability and performance. Featuring custom-tuned, multi-threaded, high performance processors, Falcon Extreme™ sets a new standard for IP video processing and storage.

Tested and certified by the Arecont Vision MegaLab™, the Falcon Extreme™ is available in several popular form factors and configurations, ranging from six bay units to thirty-six bay systems. Additionally, Falcon Extreme™ is also available in the new, ultra-quiet, TBQ configuration. Falcon Extreme™ has set a new industry standard for performance of application specific recording platforms – this is a feature that our customers have been asking for, and that is what DNF Security is delivering with Falcon Extreme.

Find out more about Falcon Video Storage Platform here.

StoneFly Introduces 365Vault™ Private and Cloud Enterprise Backup Solution

StoneFly, Inc is proud to introduce 365Vault™, the smart solution for robust data protection and seamless disaster recovery.With 365Vault™, users can backup distributed data from desktops, notebooks and servers to on-site and/or off-site resources, including cloud storage, providing organizations with the flexibility to protect their critical data effectively and affordably. Immediately-deployable Vault™ Appliances provide affordable secondary storage and a powerful cloud gateway. Vault™ Appliances deliver quality turnkey storage solutions which is the core of StoneFly products.

365Vault™ from StoneFly raises the bar on backup, with:

• Support for ReST protocol—compatible with Amazon S3, Windows® Azure and AT&T Storage-as-a-Service, EMC Atmos platform and many others;
• One-Click Backup Selection for Common Backups,
• Open File Backup,
• 448-bit Blowfish Encryption,
• Powerful Data Compression,
• Continuous Data Protection.

For more information about 365Vault™ and/or Vault™ appliances, please contact StoneFly at marketing@stonefly.com.

USO™ Appliance raises the bar again by delivering another best-in-class storage product

StoneFly, Inc., is proud to deliver feature that our customers have been asking for –  the Unified Scale Out (USO™), and USO-HA™ Storage Appliances. USO™ and USO-HA™ add NAS & clustered NAS functionality to Stonefly IP Storage appliances. This new generation of storage appliances bring in unprecedented scalability that can add capacity and increase performance at the same time. Fully redundant active/active nodes of USO-HA deliver robust functionality in a fully redundant package to eliminate loss of access to storage in case of Hardware failures.

Catered to Cloud Computing Providers and Small and Midsized Enterprises (SMEs), this appliance is ideal for virtualized environments and mission critical applications.

“USO’s unique architecture of having no meta-data enables one volume to be distributed across multiple nodes and provide a Single Namespace. This is a feature that our customers have been asking for, and that is what StoneFly is delivering with USO™” says, Mo Tahmasebi (President/CEO) of Stonefly Inc.

Additional key features include:

• Fully Redundant Components (Nodes, Power Supplies, Fan, etc..)
• Hard Disk RAID Protection
• Active/Active nodes
• Synchronous, Campus, and Asynchronous Mirroring
• Thin Provisioning with Space Reclamation
• Snapshot with schedules & roll back
• Encryption (AES256)

For all other information about StoneFusion and StoneFly’s IP SAN products and features please visit www.Stonefly.com or www.iscsi.com

iSCSI vs Fibre Channel.. Battle Continues..

There was a time that some claimed that iSCSI is not mature and is not suitable to serve the storage needs of high demanding data centers.

Those days have passed, and even those companies who promoted Fibre Channel, are starting to offer iSCSI products. There is no argument anymore that iSCSI has taken hold as the interface of the choice for new storage installations. All recent market studies have shown that Fibre Channel storage market has been either steady or has had a slight year to year improvement, while iSCSI storage market has been on the double digit rise year after year.

All features that have been once only available on high end fibre channel SANs are now available in iSCSI storage products. All the arguments about performance advantages of Fibre Channel are disappearing since 10G iSCSI has started shipping in numbers. And most important of all, there is no argument anymore that iSCSI storage costs are a lot less thanaFibre Channel SAN with equivalent performance and features.Only those companies who do not have iSCSI storage are still trying to promote Fibre Channel. But users are smart and do not see any compelling argument anymore to buy Fibre Channel SAN.

Having said all that, we do not think Fibre Channel is going to die anytime soon. As like any other technology, it takes a long time for an established technology to wind down and get replaced by another one. SCSI storage is still available when some predicted it will die 10 years ago. But from all market indications it is obvious that storage trends are moving toward IP Storage rather than Fibre Channel.

In summary, iSCSI, when properly implemented, provides high performance, hence making it a suitable to deploy in core applications. iSCSI is easy to understand and lower cost makes it a strong choice for medium to large enterprises. Having an end-to-end Ethernet IP environment is an added benefit to iSCSI. A properly designed iSCSI infrastructure and storage platform is good enough to handle any storage application currently handled by a Fibre Channel SAN.

Storage Tiering- What is it and what does it give me?

What is it?

Since there are many disk drives types, it is very important to optimize use of different drive types to achieve best price/performance ratio for your storage. Storage Tiering allows usage of different type of drives for different applications.

Common disk drives used in storage subsystems such as Stonefly’s IP Storage products are: SATA HDD, SAS HDD, and SSD. SATA and SAS HDDs are both mechanical disk drives with spinning platters. SSD stands for Solid State Drive and is made from non-volatile flash memory. HDDs come in different rotation speeds ranging from 5400 RPM (Rotation Per Minute) up to 15000 RPM.

 

In storage Tiering, the most reliable high- performance equipment is used to support the most critical data. Whereas, the most cost-effective resources to support older, less critical information

 

All three drive types are available with:

–      3 or 6Giga-Bit-Per-Second per port

–      Single port which is commonly called SATA interface, or SAS interface which is commonly called SAS interface.

All three drive types come in different capacities of up to 3Tera-Bytes, and these capacities keep increasing each year.

 

This many variations in drive type, capacity, interface, and speed results in large differences in price for each drive.

 

Storage companies offer wide variety of drive types to accommodate needs of different customers with different applications. Storage Tiering allows customer to have multiple drive types in their storage units, and gives them the ability to allocate certain type drives to certain applications depending on what that application needs.

What does it give me?

Answer is simple: Freedom to choose drive types depending on application, and overall reduction in data storage costs.

Title: Thin provisioning. What is it and is it worth paying money for it?

What is it?

 

Thin Provisioning is a technique used to optimize and efficiently utilize the available space in SAN. Stonefly’s IPSANs currently feature this technology.

Thin provisioning is mainly to eliminate over allocation of storage and increase storage utilization.

 

Conventionally, storage provisioning, also known as fat provisioning (FP), was done, where storage space was allocated beyond how much was needed. This resulted in low utilization rates and led to a lot of wastage of storage space. Users did not know how much storage they need, so they tend to ask for a very large # just to make sure they never run out of space. That resulted in over allocation of capacity.

 

Thin provisioning dynamically allocates storage to the clients from one unused storage pool. Users can ask for any capacity they want, but they only will use the capacity that they need. And as their need grows, so does their storage allocation.

 

In advanced thin provisioning implementations such as stonefly’s thin provisioning, there is also a feature called “Space Reclamation”. This is used if a large thin storage get allocated to a client, and client then deletes some of that data users can reclaim that deleted space to bring that back to the free storage pool.

 

In summary, Thin Provisioning provides the following advantages:

–      Allows you to add storage when necessary without downtime

–      Eliminates problems of over-allocation, hence providing optimal storage space utilization.

–      Reclaim your capacity after data is deleted

–      Reduced consumption of electricity, and hence reduced heat generation.

 

Is it worth paying money for it?

 

The costs involved in implementing and managing Thin provisioning are well worth it. It reduces storage costs and accelerates the returns on investment.

Studies have shown in large data centers with traditional storage, there is always about 30 to 50% unused capacity allocated to the clients. That space is paid for, but never used. Using thin provisioning you can reduce your storage need by about 30 to 50%. So using thin provisioning, you can reduce your storage costs by about 30 to 50%. Considering this saving, answer to this question is very obvious.