ORLANDO, Fla., Oct. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- STORAGE NETWORKING WORLD -- CNT(R) , the global expert in storage networking solutions, today announced the availability of the UltraNet Replication Appliance (URA). Enabling new levels of data protection for customers, the URA provides a complete suite of SAN-based local and remote heterogeneous data replication services over unlimited distances. In addition, CNT announced that the CNT URA has completed interoperability testing under the IBM TotalStorage Proven Program, and customers will now have the option to purchase the URA for use in asynchronous replication solutions employing the IBM TotalStorage(R) SAN Volume Controller (SVC).
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020415/CNTLOGO )
The URA elevates data protection to a whole new level, enabling disk-based backup that eliminates backup windows, dramatically improves data recoverability and provides protection against both physical and logical errors. This breakthrough offering works with any type of storage, including heterogeneous and tiered storage environments, and delivers fully-managed SAN- based local and remote storage services for cost-effective data migration, business continuity and disaster recovery. By using tiered storage in combination with the URA, customers are able to match application requirements to the most appropriate storage, dramatically reducing capital and operational costs.
Longtime CNT customer Lockheed Martin chose the URA because it provided a cost-effective way to reduce backup times. They can use their existing enterprise disk for their production databases and use the URA's snapshot replication capabilities to back up data changes on a nightly basis to lower cost disk. The URA also simplifies management of their backup process, saving valuable administrator time. Its ability to support data replication among heterogeneous storage environments provides Lockheed Martin a great deal of flexibility in building their infrastructure, and as their needs evolve, the URA will support new applications such as remote disk mirroring and data migrations.
"As enterprises deploy tiers of storage to meet changing data availability and storage utilization requirements, they need solutions that allow them to effectively and consistently manage the migration and replication of data between different storage systems and between multiple data centers," said Richard Villars, Vice President of Storage Systems Research at IDC. "Solutions like CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance will play a critical role in helping IT managers deploy and manage tiered storage within their enterprise."
The combination of CNT's URA and the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller can provide a technology solution for customers who need asynchronous replication capabilities for business continuity.
"Helping customers simplify their infrastructure and supporting business continuity is a key strategic priority for IBM. CNT's URA can remotely extend environments managed by IBM's SAN Volume Controller by providing asynchronous mirroring or replication across any distance between these environments," said Jeffrey Barnett, Manager of IBM TotalStorage Open Software. "The URA complements the IBM TotalStorage Virtualization Family offerings by supporting the long distance, remote disaster recovery solutions clients require."
The URA's full replication portfolio includes local and remote mirroring, snapshot replication with delta and the ability to roll-back to previous snapshots to recover from logical errors. By leveraging CNT's award-winning and patented extension technology, end users can maximize the utilization of their network bandwidth and be assured of the highest performance over any distance. CNT's end-to-end storage network management software allows customers to view the complete remote environment, proactively preventing network problems and maximizing network uptime.
"By using CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance, businesses now have the flexibility to migrate data for storage consolidation, leverage existing heterogeneous assets for disk mirroring, dramatically improve data protection and significantly reduce acquisition and management costs," said Mark Knittel, Group Vice President of Product Operations at CNT. "Combine these benefits with CNT's twenty years of experience in remote storage networking solutions and our end-to-end management capabilities, and you've got a solution no one else can deliver."
Availability The CNT UltraNet Replication Appliance is immediately available. About UltraNet Replication Appliance
The CNT UltraNet Replication Appliance (URA) provides a full suite of SAN- based storage services across any storage infrastructure, enabling data replication across heterogeneous storage platforms over any distance for data migration, consolidation, and cost-effective business continuity/disaster recovery. The URA can map to a company's business objectives through local and remote mirroring for improved business continuity; replication with delta for scheduled backups of only changed data to reduce the bandwidth required for remote solutions; and multiple snapshot tracking to allow a roll-back to a previous copy of data to recover from viruses or other soft errors, or for IT test environments.
About CNT
CNT is the expert in today's most cost-effective and reliable storage networking solutions. For over 20 years, businesses around the world have depended on us to improve business efficiency, increase data availability and manage their business-critical information. CNT applies its technology, products and expertise in open storage networking architecture and business continuity to help companies build end-to-end solutions consisting of analysis, planning and design, multi-vendor integration, implementation and ongoing remote management of the SAN or storage infrastructure. For more information, visit CNT's web site at http://www.cnt.com/ or call 763-268-6000.
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Additional Analyst Comments on URA:
"The data replication market is forecasted to grow to $1.8 billion by 2008 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4 percent," according to Carolyn DiCenzo, Gartner Research Vice President, Storage Software. "Heterogeneous data replications, and specifically SAN-based appliances, are expected to be an increasingly larger percent of that market."
"Backup continues to be the number one storage headache for IT today. Using disk-based technologies as a cache, such as the URA, changes the whole paradigm. By snapping to less expensive disk and off-loading the backup processing from the production network, the URA reduces costs and eliminates the backup window dilemma. And with a backup copy available on disk rather than tape, restores are instant, dramatically improving recoverability. CNT has been protecting business critical data for a long, long time and that experience gives them a leg up in designing and deploying these new data protection solutions." -- Steve Duplessie, Founder and Senior Analyst, Enterprise Storage Group.
"Today, an essential part of disaster recovery plans is to remotely replicate data across great distances. However, to do remote replication successfully takes a lot of work, thought, and best practices," said Dianne McAdam, Senior Analyst and Partner with Data Mobility Group. "With the URA, CNT has taken their years of experience and designed a product that protects data and ensures restartable, consistent copies at the remote DR site. IBM has taken notice of this appliance, and so should end users."
"In surveying 362 IT Executives, Yankee Group found that 1 out of every 5 restores fails, and that end users have no idea which component failed in the backup process," said Stephanie Balaouras, Senior Analyst with Yankee Group. "CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance changes the way backups are done, helping them achieve 100% restore success. In addition, the URA gives end users the flexibility to use a tiered storage strategy to cost-effectively meet recovery time and recovery point objectives for Business Continuity."
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020415/CNTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com CNT
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020415/CNTLOGO )
The URA elevates data protection to a whole new level, enabling disk-based backup that eliminates backup windows, dramatically improves data recoverability and provides protection against both physical and logical errors. This breakthrough offering works with any type of storage, including heterogeneous and tiered storage environments, and delivers fully-managed SAN- based local and remote storage services for cost-effective data migration, business continuity and disaster recovery. By using tiered storage in combination with the URA, customers are able to match application requirements to the most appropriate storage, dramatically reducing capital and operational costs.
Longtime CNT customer Lockheed Martin chose the URA because it provided a cost-effective way to reduce backup times. They can use their existing enterprise disk for their production databases and use the URA's snapshot replication capabilities to back up data changes on a nightly basis to lower cost disk. The URA also simplifies management of their backup process, saving valuable administrator time. Its ability to support data replication among heterogeneous storage environments provides Lockheed Martin a great deal of flexibility in building their infrastructure, and as their needs evolve, the URA will support new applications such as remote disk mirroring and data migrations.
"As enterprises deploy tiers of storage to meet changing data availability and storage utilization requirements, they need solutions that allow them to effectively and consistently manage the migration and replication of data between different storage systems and between multiple data centers," said Richard Villars, Vice President of Storage Systems Research at IDC. "Solutions like CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance will play a critical role in helping IT managers deploy and manage tiered storage within their enterprise."
The combination of CNT's URA and the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller can provide a technology solution for customers who need asynchronous replication capabilities for business continuity.
"Helping customers simplify their infrastructure and supporting business continuity is a key strategic priority for IBM. CNT's URA can remotely extend environments managed by IBM's SAN Volume Controller by providing asynchronous mirroring or replication across any distance between these environments," said Jeffrey Barnett, Manager of IBM TotalStorage Open Software. "The URA complements the IBM TotalStorage Virtualization Family offerings by supporting the long distance, remote disaster recovery solutions clients require."
The URA's full replication portfolio includes local and remote mirroring, snapshot replication with delta and the ability to roll-back to previous snapshots to recover from logical errors. By leveraging CNT's award-winning and patented extension technology, end users can maximize the utilization of their network bandwidth and be assured of the highest performance over any distance. CNT's end-to-end storage network management software allows customers to view the complete remote environment, proactively preventing network problems and maximizing network uptime.
"By using CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance, businesses now have the flexibility to migrate data for storage consolidation, leverage existing heterogeneous assets for disk mirroring, dramatically improve data protection and significantly reduce acquisition and management costs," said Mark Knittel, Group Vice President of Product Operations at CNT. "Combine these benefits with CNT's twenty years of experience in remote storage networking solutions and our end-to-end management capabilities, and you've got a solution no one else can deliver."
Availability The CNT UltraNet Replication Appliance is immediately available. About UltraNet Replication Appliance
The CNT UltraNet Replication Appliance (URA) provides a full suite of SAN- based storage services across any storage infrastructure, enabling data replication across heterogeneous storage platforms over any distance for data migration, consolidation, and cost-effective business continuity/disaster recovery. The URA can map to a company's business objectives through local and remote mirroring for improved business continuity; replication with delta for scheduled backups of only changed data to reduce the bandwidth required for remote solutions; and multiple snapshot tracking to allow a roll-back to a previous copy of data to recover from viruses or other soft errors, or for IT test environments.
About CNT
CNT is the expert in today's most cost-effective and reliable storage networking solutions. For over 20 years, businesses around the world have depended on us to improve business efficiency, increase data availability and manage their business-critical information. CNT applies its technology, products and expertise in open storage networking architecture and business continuity to help companies build end-to-end solutions consisting of analysis, planning and design, multi-vendor integration, implementation and ongoing remote management of the SAN or storage infrastructure. For more information, visit CNT's web site at http://www.cnt.com/ or call 763-268-6000.
All brand and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
Additional Analyst Comments on URA:
"The data replication market is forecasted to grow to $1.8 billion by 2008 with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9.4 percent," according to Carolyn DiCenzo, Gartner Research Vice President, Storage Software. "Heterogeneous data replications, and specifically SAN-based appliances, are expected to be an increasingly larger percent of that market."
"Backup continues to be the number one storage headache for IT today. Using disk-based technologies as a cache, such as the URA, changes the whole paradigm. By snapping to less expensive disk and off-loading the backup processing from the production network, the URA reduces costs and eliminates the backup window dilemma. And with a backup copy available on disk rather than tape, restores are instant, dramatically improving recoverability. CNT has been protecting business critical data for a long, long time and that experience gives them a leg up in designing and deploying these new data protection solutions." -- Steve Duplessie, Founder and Senior Analyst, Enterprise Storage Group.
"Today, an essential part of disaster recovery plans is to remotely replicate data across great distances. However, to do remote replication successfully takes a lot of work, thought, and best practices," said Dianne McAdam, Senior Analyst and Partner with Data Mobility Group. "With the URA, CNT has taken their years of experience and designed a product that protects data and ensures restartable, consistent copies at the remote DR site. IBM has taken notice of this appliance, and so should end users."
"In surveying 362 IT Executives, Yankee Group found that 1 out of every 5 restores fails, and that end users have no idea which component failed in the backup process," said Stephanie Balaouras, Senior Analyst with Yankee Group. "CNT's UltraNet Replication Appliance changes the way backups are done, helping them achieve 100% restore success. In addition, the URA gives end users the flexibility to use a tiered storage strategy to cost-effectively meet recovery time and recovery point objectives for Business Continuity."
Photo: NewsCom: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20020415/CNTLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.org/PRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.com CNT
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