Today’s IT Reality and Challenges

Managed Server HSM Solves Business Problems

·      Simply adding new storage (disks, servers, NAS devices, volumes, etc.) creates more “islands” of distributed data storage

·      Storage “islands” create a fragmented view (more mapped drives) of storage making it more difficult and time-consuming for users to store and find their files

·      Consolidates available storage across multiple network servers into a “virtual” Central Storage Pool to provide a host for infrequently accessed files; leaving space available for the applications and users who need it most

·      Provides a consistent, single view of storage to applications and users, regardless of their files’ physical locations

·      Newly deployed storage cannot be dynamically utilized by users and applications. Files must be manually transferred to newly deployed storage, creating new network shares/volumes requiring further administrative time to employ security

·      Additional storage is difficult and expensive to manage. According to recent industry estimates, management of storage costs 8 times the hardware cost

·      Makes any storage capacity added to the Central Storage Pool automatically available to all production servers running Managed Server HSM.  Users/applications store and retrieve their files from the same network shares/volumes as they always have

·      Manages data storage in an automated, intelligent manner based on administrator-defined policies – reducing manual management overhead and providing lower total cost of ownership

·      Increased time and space necessary to make routine backups increases the likelihood of backup failure (it is estimated that 40% of all backups are aborted), potentially leaving critical production files unprotected

·      Full server (disaster) recovery takes longer by restoring all files regardless of their current relevance, creating unnecessary, extended periods of downtime

·      Enables backup solutions to focus on active, production files by protecting only the reference information for the files that were migrated to the Central Storage Pool (as much as 80% or more of the total volume of data) 

·      Shortens time required to perform full server (disaster) recovery - minimizing downtime - by restoring only relevant, production files in full while restoring just the reference information for the infrequently accessed files

·      Lack of a persistent storage “watchdog” exposes organizations to unnecessary and costly downtime when servers run out of storage space.  Manual monitoring of space availability by administrators requires valuable time better spent on productive tasks

·      Automatically monitors storage status and migrates files to Central Storage Pool devices – both routinely and on an emergency basis – freeing up space on overloaded servers before critical levels are reached, reducing management costs, downtime and other associated costs; with no administrator intervention

·      Companies are generating more and more data, with no end to growth in sight.  It is estimated that the average annual storage growth rate now exceeds 75%.  Reacting to this growth by simply adding/upgrading storage resources creates more downtime and the costly administrative overhead to install, configure and manage the additional storage

·      There is no mechanism in place to avoid “reactive” early retirement of server/storage assets simply because of the lack of available space

·      Provides scalability by allowing administrators to simply add servers/devices to the Central Storage Pool as storage requirements increase.  Servers running Managed Server HSM gain access to the additional storage without the need for costly downtime 

·      Enables policies to be adjusted to further extend the life of existing storage resources by migrating additional files to the Central Storage Pool when true production file usage approaches current capacity

·      End users demand timely access to stored data without having to search or burden IT resources to find their files

·      Provides end users immediate and transparent access to all their stored files in their existing directory structures; without administrator intervention

·      SANs provide centralized administration and storage pooling, but at a significant cost

·      SANs are subject to the same out-of-control growth that plagues conventional, direct-attached storage environments and must accommodate infrequently accessed files along with active production files

·      Enables IT to purchase a smaller amount of expensive, SAN disk storage by pooling and utilizing inexpensive disk resources (e.g. IDE RAID, NAS, etc.) to store infrequently accessed files

·      Minimizes SAN storage growth by constantly differentiating infrequently accessed files from active production files, and migrating them to less expensive storage