Storage Virtualization Proposals from StoreAge, Veritas Software, IBM, and FalconStor Software Under Review

Strategic Insights -

The four companies all recommended that an entire storage infrastructure go on a Fibre Channel (FC) SAN for reliability and ease of virtualization. However, each company's approach, suitability, and cost vary. StoreAge and Veritas excelled for completeness and suitability, while Veritas and IBM excelled for capability. FalconStor took top honors for cost, with each company offering unique features and benefits. StoreAge's SVM appliance manages the network from outside the direct data path, while Veritas' incremental approach is described as providing flexibility.

Key Takeaways:

  • StoreAge's comprehensive response to a request for information (RFI) was realistic and logical, with helpful advice on the overall strategy for the long and short terms.
  • StoreAge's SVM appliance manages the network from outside the direct data path, providing virtualized storage with a thin client loaded onto each server.
  • Veritas' incremental approach is described as providing flexibility, with benefits and drawbacks of its offerings cited.
  • IBM's well-conceived response included PowerWare UPS systems, a rackmount keyboard, and mouse in a 1U drawer with a flat-panel LCD display, and suitable Fibre Channel (FC) cabling to protect the storage infrastructure.
  • FalconStor's system includes two pairs of servers with installed IPStor software and configuration in an active-active failover mode.
  • Return on investment (ROI) analysis can differ among users, with some wanting increased uptime, others seeking better capacity utilization, and still others looking for snapshots, mirroring, or easier storage pool management.
  • StoreAge suggested translative devices to put the tape drives directly on the Fibre Channel (FC) SAN for better throughput.
  • IBM includes the cost of Fibre Channel (FC) cabling in its offerings.

Statistics:

  • None

However, here are some missing statistics for completeness:

  • No statistics

Sources:

  • Veritas Software
  • IBM
  • FalconStor Software
  • StoreAge