This week’s News Bits we look at a number of small announcements, small in terms of the content not the impact they have. INFINIDAT raises additional $95 million in funding. RAIDIX releases version 4.5. Data Dynamics unveils StorageX 8.0. Continuum unveils new security solutions. Nutanix updates Acropolis. Nexsan introduces new E-Series systems. SoftNAS unveils Cloud Data Platform. QNAP introduces more Thunderbolt3 NAS devices. Aruba announces self-sustaining data center.
This week’s News Bits we look at a number of small announcements, small in terms of the content not the impact they have. INFINIDAT raises additional $95 million in funding. RAIDIX releases version 4.5. Data Dynamics unveils StorageX 8.0. Continuum unveils new security solutions. Nutanix updates Acropolis. Nexsan introduces new E-Series systems. SoftNAS unveils Cloud Data Platform. QNAP introduces more Thunderbolt3 NAS devices. Aruba announces self-sustaining data center.
INFINIDAT Raises Additional $95 Million In Funding
INFINIDAT announced that it has raised an additional $95 million in series C funding, bringing its total funding up to $325 million. Goldman Sachs Private Capital Investing (PCI) led the series C funding with strong participation from Series B leader, TPG Growth. INFINIDAT is also happy to report that it has deployed over 2 Exabytes in production and has seen 13 quarters of revenue growth.
RAIDIX Releases Version 4.5
RAIDIX has released the latest edition of its software-defined storage technology, RAIDIX 4.5. New features include:
- SSD Cache. Random read requests are cached in the first-level storage. RAIDIX stores request statistics for all cache pages. As a result, seldom-requested cache pages are made free of records, frequently read pages are copied on the second-level cache, whereas the most demanded pages remain in the first-level cache (HDD).
- RAIDIX employs a proprietary algorithm for cache eviction. Second-level caching is performed sequentially to minimize the Write Amplification effect. Write requests classified as ‘random’ are cached onto SSD or Flash.
- Automatic Write-Through. A host receives confirmation only after the data has been written on the drives. At that, ‘dirty’ cache segments are not sent to the second controller so the sync channel remains unloaded.
- Volume scalability. In the course of configuration, a virtual volume can be placed on top of multiple arrays. RAIDIX allows the user to extend volume capacity by adding new arrays to the infrastructure.
- Advanced multi-threading. The in-built Sequence Detector used for sequential input–output operations can identify up to 100 parallel threads and adaptively define the right cache size for each thread to avoid redundant caching.
- SAN storage virtualization. RAIDIX 4.5 allows for virtualization of third-party block storage systems. Storage resources can be forwarded directly via RAIDIX or used in a unified resource pool for creating RAIDIX volumes. Thus, the administrator has the opportunity to centralize all storage resources in a single access point, ensuring greater flexibility of IT infrastructure management.
Data Dynamics Unveils StorageX 8.0
Data Dynamics announced that it has release the file management system, StorageX version 8.0. New features include:
- Analyze Data Across the Enterprise – StorageX delivers a single view of data across proprietary, storage silos. Now enterprises have a centralized view of all of their files providing valuable insight to turn data into actionable business intelligence. StorageX 8.0 now includes a new analysis portal, custom tags, metadata support and analysis to drive your business processes for new IBM Cloud Object Storage, NetApp StorageGRID and S3-compliant object storage.
- Move Data Across Storage Resources – StorageX minimizes file movement complexity, cost and risk with a single file management platform for the simplified movement, transformation, and management of all data assets. StorageX operates across all storage technology types (NAS, File, DFS and Object) using industry standards (NFS, SMB/CIFS, S3) for automated data and file migration. StorageX 8.0 also now includes a new retrieval portal to simplify end users' ability to retrieve S3 archived data back into SMB file format. This allows for the fluid movement of data from file-to-object, or file-to-file for business agility.
- Manage File Data to Quickly Power New Business Requirements – Simplifying the ability to effectively manage competing business requirements, StorageX provides a central command center to view, analyze and take action across data assets from migration to file tiering to archival for business optimization and agility. Removing the barriers of proprietary storage types, StorageX allows for faster data movement and easier storage rationalization. Now, StorageX 8.0 also includes comprehensive management, with automated, policy-driven workflows, for S3-compliant object storage as well as an expanded list of object storage resources.
- Modernize to Support a Changing Cloud Landscape – Unlocking data with open standards, StorageX gives users the freedom to choose their future storage and cloud direction, eliminating technology lock-in while supporting business transformation so organizations can respond to changing business demands more quickly. This data modernization is furthered in StorageX 8.0 with support for S3-compliant object storage, transforming files into native a S3 storage format, while providing for native S3 access to their files, as well as the ability to support DevOps projects with efficiency providing APIs for storage management automation and orchestration.
Continuum Unveils New Security Solutions
Continuum announced two new solutions in its security portfolio, Profile & Protect and Detect & Respond. According to the company, its new solutions function both as security and analysis to prevent potential security risks. The new solutions will also allows IT service providers to define their own security service offerings.
Continuum new solutions are expected to be available in the first quarter of 2018.
Nutanix Updates Acropolis
Nutanix announced new capabilities for its Acropolis File Services (AFS) software. New benefits include:
- Secure sensitive company data with simple in-line antivirus scans using popular AV solutions from Symantec
- Efficiently backup AFS data by leveraging partners Rubrik and Comtrade
- Enable active-Active AFS deployments using Peer Software so geographically-distributed teams can collaborate on projects
- Perform detailed audits of file system access with partners Varonis and STEALTHbits
Nutanix AFS with inline anti-virus scans is available now to all Nutanix customers and the Active-Active and Auditing capabilities will be available in a future release.
Nexsan Introduces New E-Series
Nexsan expanded its E-Series P line of storage systems with new models. The latest additions offer the following:
- 12 high-speed host interface ports of 16GB FC and 10Gbe per system: Enables high performance data replication while simultaneously maintaining full host performance. Allows customers to reduce reliance on expensive network switches while sustaining the required flexibility and performance.
- Support for 12TB drives, for a total capacity of 720TB in a single 4U unit, and up to a total of 2.16PB in a system: Ideally suited to high capacity use cases such as media and entertainment, research, digital video surveillance and backup.
SoftNAS Unveils Cloud Data Platform
SoftNAS introduced its software-centric data management platform for full-spectrum control. The company states that its Cloud Data Platform bridges public clouds, such as AWS and Azure, with on-premises application stacks and SaaS systems to make hybrid cloud design and deployment ultra-fast, flexible and easy. This will address three main issues:
- Migrating large amounts of data into the cloud, while keeping everything live in production
- Capturing and managing the exponentially growing business data of all types, including from Internet of Things, and large-scale analytics
- Utilizing existing IT staff to design and configure instead of always redesigning for the cloud.
QNAP Introduces More Thunderbolt3 NAS Devices
QNAP Systems Inc. released yet another Thunderbolt3 NAS device with its 4-bay TS-453BT3. The company states that by leveraging both Thunderbolt3 ports users can expect up to 514MB/s read speeds. Specifications include:
- 4-bay tower model; Quad-core Intel Celeron J3455 1.5GHz processor (burst up to 2.3GHz), dual-channel 8GB DDR3L SODIMM RAM; hot-swappable 2.5"/3.5" SATA 6Gbps HDD/SSD; 2 x Thunderbolt 3 ports; 2 x M.2 2280 SATA SSD slots and 1 x 10GBASE-T LAN port (pre-installed QM2 PCIe card); 2 x Gigabit LAN ports; 2 x HDMI v1.4b (up to 4K UHD); 5 x USB 3.0 ports (1 x front; 4 x rear); OLED display with touch-sensitive buttons.
Aruba Announces Self-Sustaining Data Center
The web hosting, email, certified email PEC and domain registration company, Aruba S.p.A, opened the world’s first self-powered and eco-sustainable data center in Northern Italy. The data center has been designed for maximum energy efficiency as well as using fully renewable sources (geothermal cooling system and hydroelectric plant and a photovoltaic system, both belonging to Aruba). The site is home to no known natural disasters and will suffer from no power loss upping the ante in high availability and reliability.
