LAS VEGAS – EMC Corp. (Nasdaq: EMC) shifted away from data analytics and toward the cloud with an update to its VPlex virtual storage system.
One year after announcing the VPlex Metro platform – which allowed companies to sync and relocate I/O data between data centres less than 100 kilometres apart – EMC unveiled VPlex Geo to target IT shops looking for longer distance storage federation. The new offering, available as server software or in a physical appliance, was showcased during the second day of EMC World 2011 in Las Vegas.
The VPlex system, which is geared toward allowing data mobility and availability, supports EMC and non-EMC storage systems and federates the data into a single virtual storage pool.
Brian Gallagher, president of EMC’s enterprise storage division, the new VPlex hardware and software can now reliably move thousands of terabytes of stored data over thousands of miles.
“Last year we demonstrated moving 26 VMs over 26 miles,” he said, adding that the new VPlex system is ideal for private and hybrid cloud adoption. “Now we can move 2,600 VMs over 2,600 miles of distance. And we can do this with high intensive workloads without disruption of services.”
In addition to helping customers balance workloads, EMC said VPlex can help IT departments shore up their disaster recovery plans through automatic failover policies.
Eric Sato, manager of server administration at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, said implementing VPlex has let his organization easily “afford a SAN failure and still stay up and running.”
EMC also hinted at a global version of the VPlex system, which Gallagher said could be available within the next 18 to 24 months. The yet-to-be-announced system would enable movement of data between data centres spread across the world.
Rounding out the storage-focused day two of EMC World, the company hyped a trio of addition to its EMC VNX unified storage system. The updates include an integration with Microsoft SharePoint, a cloud “tiering” appliance and new Google search functionality.
“At the end of the day, people care less and less about the infrastructure,” said Rich Napolitano, president of EMC’s unified storage division. “It’s all about the apps.”
With the SharePoint integration, users will be able to seamless manage their storage needs from the app level, he said.
To manage unstructured file-based data, EMC said its new Cloud Tiering Appliance – which will be available in Q3 of this year – will let storage administrators set specific polices for specific types of files, such as JPEGs, DOCs and MP3s. The policies can be set to automatically tier these files to the cloud after they become inactive for a certain period of time, Napolitano said.
Closing out the VNX announcements, EMC said its Google Search Appliance will dramatically boost the searching and indexing capabilities of the unified storage platform.
Napolitano said the integration will accelerate the performance of search by a factor of “10 to 100 times.”
