« But, We Don't Even See the Electric Bill | Main | Mac Power Management »
Fujitsu: Greener SANs for SMEs
Copan isn't the only company offering MAID (massive array of idle disks) storage. Now Fujitsu Computer Systems is getting into the game with its ETERNUS2000 SAN gear for small to midsized businesses, or rather, enterprises!
First, a quick refresher.
MAID helps IT shops save a considerable amount on electricity. How? Well, by offloading data that is infrequently accessed to these arrays, where it resides on disks that remain generally unpowered. When called for by a user or an application, the disks spin up though there is a penalty of several seconds until the data is found by the hard drive and eventually delivered to the end user.
Fuji Fujitsu is planning to woo small business by addressing two concerns: cost and energy efficiency. You can't tell by the picture on the right, but it's green on the inside. Onto the press release!
"Fujitsu found that upfront costs, power consumption, high availability and flexibility are the top IT concerns of SMEs that are struggling with tight budgets," said Dave Egan, senior vice president of storage at Fujitsu Computer Systems. "The ETERNUS2000 SAN was designed to meet each of these challenges. The system has a sub-$12K entry price for 2TB of storage, and offers the greenest power design in the industry, a fully redundant design, three-tiered storage options for maximum flexibility, and a standards-based approach to hardware and software that ensures the ETERNUS2000 SAN will continue to function as part of an expanding infrastructure."
Lucky you, if your infrastructure keeps expanding, that is. Guess your budget's not-so-tight then!
The full press release follows...
Update: Fixed the headline to read *Fujitsu* after the education I got in the comments. Though technically, Fuji isn't the blimp company either since they quit operating it as I was so tragically informed during a press event with Fuji Film.
- - - - START PRESS RELEASE - - - -
Fujitsu Debuts Highly Available "Green" Storage System for Price-Sensitive Data Centers
ETERNUS2000 SAN Meets Growing Demand From Small to Mid-Sized Enterprises With Reduced Power Consumption, Simplified Management, and Redundancy
DALLAS, TX -- (MARKET WIRE) -- 10/16/07 -- Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation today announced its entry into the small to mid-sized enterprise (SME) storage market with the ETERNUS(R)2000 storage area network (SAN), the industry's most eco-friendly storage solution. Targeted at SME data centers that are struggling with cost and power-consumption issues, the ETERNUS2000 SAN offers the same high availability and ease of management of the most advanced Fujitsu storage systems.
The ETERNUS2000 combines an efficient power design with MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) technology for reduced power consumption and costs, as well as extended system life. With a fully redundant hardware design, the ETERNUS2000 eliminates any single point of failure and enables high-speed back-up even during business operations. Storage management is simplified by using ETERNUS SF management software across the entire ETERNUS storage product line. Installing the ETERNUS2000 SAN requires no special skill set and is easy to configure using a web browser.
"The market is clearly very receptive to eco-friendly IT solutions that drive down the total cost of ownership through reduced power consumption," said Mark Peters, analyst with ESG. "Enterprise-class storage solutions that are both affordably priced and highly flexible satisfy the specific demands of the SME segment which typically has the same storage requirements and challenges as a large enterprise but can't always afford a high-end solution."
"Fujitsu found that upfront costs, power consumption, high availability and flexibility are the top IT concerns of SMEs that are struggling with tight budgets," said Dave Egan, senior vice president of storage at Fujitsu Computer Systems. "The ETERNUS2000 SAN was designed to meet each of these challenges. The system has a sub-$12K entry price for 2TB of storage, and offers the greenest power design in the industry, a fully redundant design, three-tiered storage options for maximum flexibility, and a standards-based approach to hardware and software that ensures the ETERNUS2000 SAN will continue to function as part of an expanding infrastructure."
The ETERNUS2000 SAN supports Microsoft(R) Windows(R) environments, including Windows Server(R) 2003, with access to Windows Storage Server (WSS) and Windows Unified Data Storage Server (WUDSS), and support for Virtual Disk Service (VDS) and Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) for improved integration and ease of storage management.
ETERNUS2000 Core Features
A Green Machine with MAID
The ETERNUS2000 SAN has a compact, quiet design that offers efficient power and cooling and is RoHS (Reduction of Hazardous Substances) compliant. In addition, using MAID technology, which spins down disk drives that are less frequently accessed, the ETERNUS2000 SAN can reduce power consumption significantly and extend the life of the disk drives.
High Availability
A fully redundant hardware design ensures high availability. The components are hot swappable, and the system includes hot bays for hard disk expansion. Even the firmware can be upgraded without stopping operation.
Three-Tiered Storage for Flexibility
Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) can be realized with the 3-Tiered storage and Virtual LUN features of the ETERNUS2000. The three tiers in a single storage system let customers choose the right price and performance options for their needs: high-performance SAS drives, Nearline SATA drives, or MAID groups.
Simplified Management with SAN Boot
The ability to boot servers from the SAN enables infrastructure consolidation, improves reliability, and facilitates management of server images for multiple data centers.
Replication for Data Mobility
The ETERNUS2000 SAN features One Point Copy that provides both full volume copies and point-in-time images.
ETERNUS SF Software
The ETERNUS SF suite of storage management software with ETERNUS2000 enables consistent storage management across the entire ETERNUS family of storage products for simplification of management and increased efficiency.
Pricing and Availability
The ETERNUS2000 SAN is available immediately starting at $11,100 when configured for uncompromised availability with dual controllers, dual power and four Fibre Channel server connections with 5 x 500GB 7.2Krpm drives plus ETERNUS Storage Manager.
About Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation
Headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif., Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) committed to the design, development and delivery of advanced computer systems, application infrastructure software products, and managed services for the business enterprise. Through its TRIOLE strategy, the company offers a complete line of scalable and reliable servers, storage and middleware solutions, high-performance mobile and client computers, as well as professional services. Fujitsu Computer Systems has established itself as a strategic solutions provider to the world's leading organizations by offering technology innovation, customer choice, exceptional product quality and reliability, as well as outstanding customer service. See http://us.fujitsu.com/computers for further information.
About Fujitsu
Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting device technologies, highly reliable computing and communications products, and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up infinite possibilities for its customers' success. Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE: 6702) reported consolidated revenues of about 4.8 trillion yen (US$40.6 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2006. See http://www.fujitsu.com for further information.
Fujitsu, the Fujitsu logo, ETERNUS and TRIOLE are trademarks or registered trademarks of Fujitsu Limited in the United States and other countries. Microsoft, Windows, and Windows Server are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks and product names are the property of their respective owners.
The statements provided herein are for informational purposes only and may be amended or altered by Fujitsu Computer Systems Corporation without notice or liability. Product description data represents Fujitsu design objectives and is provided for comparative purposes; actual results may vary based on a variety of factors. Specifications are subject to change without notice.
- - - - END PRESS RELEASE - - - -
Thanks for covering our recent announcement. We appreciate your interest in our ETERNUS storage products. One correction, though, our company is not "Fuji" it is "Fujitsu." Could I ask that you correct the headline and fourth paragraph, where you wrote "Fuji" by mistake? Thanks in advance.
Fujitsu is not related to Fuji- either the mountain or the camera & copier company with the green blimp. In Japan, there are over 10,000 companies with "fuji" in their name, but Fujitsu is not related to any of them.
Thanks for your understanding and prompt attention to correct this error.
Mike Beirne
Manager, Network PR
Fujitsu Limited
You learn something new every day.