Going Green on your IT Environment

For the past few years, Virtualization (and to an extent, Cloud Computing) practices have been implemented by organizations, both big and small, to build a more efficient data center. Deploying virtualization to your IT environment does have its advantages, one being energy efficiency. In this eWeek.com article “How to Implement Green Data Centers with IT Virtualization“, it mentions how virtualization is probably the first and most important step to developing an energy-efficient data center.

And how can we argue with that? Not only does it consolidate your storage and server resources (saving you money on operation and maintenance costs) but it also utilizes your existing resources proactively and efficiently.

For more information about how you can create a “Green Datacenter” watch our StoneFly webinar with the Green Data Center Alliance on our YouTube page at: http://youtu.be/UHYEpw01eYE

How to Plan for Network Virtualization

Implementing a new IT infrastructure is a serious undertaking for any organization, especially if the technology is as involved as virtualization.

Check out this interesting article from SearchDataCenter.com called “Preparing for Network Virtualization“. They point out useful tips on what Network Administrators and non-technical personnel can do to make the transition smoother, including:

1. Understanding your Organization Goals. Can your organization goals be achieve by Network Virtualization? If so, then Virtualization might be the best transition.
2. What are your IT Requirements? Implementing a new network is a huge undertaking, so it is important that the technical team understand what is needed for the virtualization adoption.
3. Knowing the Future or your Network. A Network Administrator’s work is never done. Implementing a new network is just the beginning, administrators must understand what are the requirements down the road and plan them accordingly.

Learn more about StoneFly’s patented Virtualization Technology on this video.

Get Started With StoneFly Server Virtualization Platforms

It’s a known fact virtualization makes better use of computing  resources  than physical servers do, since many different servers can be run on a single physical host. Another major benefit is to switch running virtual servers from one physical host to the other to balance load and allow maintenance windows. Snapshots on virtual servers allow you to keep a moment-in-time copy .If something goes wrong one can simply return to the snapshot and operate as if nothing happened.

Since its founding in 2000, StoneFly has been applying the principles of virtualization for the development of easy-to-use, redundant, high-performance iSCSI and IP SAN technology. By centralizing storage into an intelligent storage area network with advanced storage services increases storage utilization and removes islands of underutilized disk resources, making your storage fit your environment today and tomorrow. StoneFly supports following server virtualization platforms-

 (1)    VMware Platform

StoneFly offers VMware certified IP SANs. To learn more about using your StoneFly IP SAN with virtual servers, review the technical brief on virtual servers or just watch this video

 (2)    Citrix XenServer Platform 

StoneFly IP SANs are CitrixReady and certified with Citrix’s XenServer. To learn more about using your StoneFly IP SAN with virtual servers, review the  technical brief on virtual servers.

Registered StoneFly customers also have access to our user’s guide for virtual server environments in our knowledgebase and support portal.

(3)    Xen Platform (Open Source)

StoneFly IP SAN’s are compatible with leading open-source hypervisor, XenSource versions 3.5 and above. The hardware compatibility list is available here. To learn more about using your StoneFly IP SAN with virtual servers, review the technical brief on virtual servers. 

P.S – If you are brand new to the virtualization concept , this article by Paul Venezia at PC world will get you started!

What you need to know about IaaS Cloud Computing

In cloud computing we all know that there are three layers of Cloud Stack: Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), and of course Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS). But when it comes to IaaS, it is more considered as the base of the other cloud services.

I came across this interesting article on techno-pulse.com about IaaS and found some interesting facts about this interesting infrastructure.

Here are some of the highlights you need to know about IaaS:

• It saves on operation costs by allowing you to pay for the resources you utilize
• Flexible resource manageability for easy scalability
• Elastic load balancing

To learn more about IaaS or just cloud computing in general, check out StoneFly’s cloud appliance the Cloud USS at www.StoneFly.com for more information.

StoneFly creates strategic alliance with leading hosting provider Simpaticorp

With the new launch of StoneFly’s SCVM™ Certified Hosting Partner Program, we are proud to announce that we have certified leading hosting company Simpaticorp to our list of hosting partners. As a certified hosting partner, we aim to provide businesses with a fully functional and cost effective business continuity (BC) solution that is safely secured to the cloud. By integrating  the SCVM™ Virtual IP SAN with Simpaticorp’s reliable hosting services, users will be able to seamlessly expand their physical storage solution to the cloud.

To learn more about this collaboration, please read this recent press release. Also for more information about the SCVM™ Certified Hosting Partner Program visit the StoneFly website at www.iSCSI.com.

Server Virtualization: Game Changer for Mid-market Businesses

Last week I came across this interesting whitepaper on CIO.com about the rapid growth of server virtualization practices within mid-market businesses. Just over the past few years, the jump to server virtualization among midsized enterprises have increased dramatically and is expected to grow up until 2012. Here are some key findings:

• 30% of midsized companies (worldwide) started server virtualization before 2009, but that number doubled by the end of 2009
• 75% of companies expect to implement server virtualization by 2012
• From 2009 to 2012, the use of server virtualization jumped nearly 46% (from 29.1% to 75.1%)
• Transition to server virtualization compelled to upgrade and deploy storage area network (SAN) appliances
• Within the next 2 years, implementing disaster recovery to virtualization efforts becomes a big priority

Want to learn more about server virtualization? Here are some helpful links.

• What is server virtualization?
• See how StoneFly applies the principles of virtualization on all of our products
• Get the full experience of server virtualization by upgrading your storage to an IP SAN

StoneFly: 15 Storage Virtualization Vendors To Watch

Last month, CRN Magazine dubbed StoneFly one of the top 100 vendors in the virtualization space with their Virtualization 100 list. Now we are honored that CRN has chosen StoneFly (yet again!) as one of the “15 Storage Virtualization Vendors to Watch” .

This list highlights the top 15 emerging storage vendors in the virtualization industry. With our core engineering values rooted in the best virtualization technology, StoneFly is glad to be a part of such a great list.

StoneFly Makes CRN Magazine’s Virtualization 100 List

StoneFly is proud to announce that CRN Magazine has chosen us to be on their Virtualization 100 list. Featuring the top 100 vendors in the virtualization space, this list 100 is specifically hand-picked by the editorial staff of CRN. The list serves as the de facto resource by which VARs can begin to evaluate the best virtualization products for their business.

We are honored to be a part of this list as we continue to push the boundaries of virtualization in the IT space. To learn more about the CRN Virtualization 100, read our latest press release.

StoneFly Releases Scale-Out Clustered SCVM™

Today StoneFly releases the Clustered SCVM, a powerful virtual IP SAN software appliance designed for VMware environments. This fully redundant and fault tolerant IP SAN software can be created from two existing virtual servers, and is ideal for your virtualized and cloud environments.

With this latest release, the new clustering feature eliminates the risk of hardware failover by recognizing failures within a virtual storage server and instantaneously switching its resources to the other virtual active storage nodes.

To learn more about Clustered SCVM visit www.iSCSI.com or call us at (510) 265-1616. Also read more about this release on our latest press release.

StoneFlex USS is a Finalist for “Storage Virtualisation Product of the Year”!

StoneFly’s StoneFlex USS is a finalist for UK’s Storage Magazine annual Storage Awards. We are excited and honored that the product has been nominated for the “Storage Virtualisation Product of the Year” category.

Released in late 2010, the StoneFlex USS (which stands for: Unified Server and Storage) was engineered to fully consolidate your datacenter in one fault-tolerant appliance. With the ability to drive several virtualized operating system in one storage system, this dynamic solution can meet more demanding applications, while allowing for complete hardware utilization and reducing overall operating costs.

To learn more about the Storage Awards and how to vote for us, visit http://www.storage-awards.com/.