Focus shifts from data to information
Sun Microsystems has launched a number of new storage products that aim to put more intelligence into storing and retrieving information.
The enterprise IT vendor is scheduled to unveil the Honeycomb and Thumper projects as part of its quarterly product release cycle today.
The introductions indicate a shift in the storage industry, Sun claimed, as storage no longer has to focus on just preserving data, but requires an understanding of the kind of data that is stored.
This trend is caused by regulations around data retention, and the requirement to track who accessed certain information, as mandated by legislation such as HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley.
The storage landscape is further complicated by the rise of new services such as on-demand video, according to James Whitemore, chief marketing officer at Sun's Data Management Group.
"There is an understanding that the real problems that our customers face today cannot be solved if you continue to think about managing storage in the same way that you do today," he said.
"You have to start to think about how you lay out data as a shared network resource and how you store data which is captive to applications."
Sun is expected to integrate identity management into its StorageTek Enterprise Storage Manager software that will allow enterprises to monitor and report on who is accessing certain data.
The company is also preparing to launch a new technology dubbed Project Honeycomb that allows a storage application to retain and index metadata about unstructured data such as digital images or video.
The technology makes it easy to find a video through the use of keywords or the creation date. It is scheduled for availability later this summer.
Project Thumper is due out by this summer, and aims to merge huge data throughput with storage for applications such as video surveillance where data has to be processed as it is being produced.
Thumper puts a Niagara server close to the storage point, allowing for high speed processing.
Niagara servers were unveiled earlier this year. They specialise in high throughput computing applications such as web servers.
By integrating data management into the storage devices, Sun is raising the bar on smart storage, according to Richard Villars, vice president for storage systems at analyst firm IDC.
"Today people take existing storage products and apply it to them," he said.
"That works at a certain level, but as companies are looking at growth and management requirements, it is pretty clear that they are going to have to make some significant enhancements in the manageability, scalability and intelligence of the systems.
"Sun is trying to set out an early position in being the leader in bringing the software and hardware together for these new architectures."
Villars pointed out that Sun has yet to show the actual products, but that the server maker is in a good position to define the category.
Sun became a major player in the storage market last year when it acquired StorageTek for $4.1bn.
Demonstrating its commitment to the installed base of StorageTek clients, Sun expects to unveil two updates to its Sun StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager tape backup solutions for mainframe systems.
Sun Microsystems has launched a number of new storage products that aim to put more intelligence into storing and retrieving information.
The enterprise IT vendor is scheduled to unveil the Honeycomb and Thumper projects as part of its quarterly product release cycle today.
The introductions indicate a shift in the storage industry, Sun claimed, as storage no longer has to focus on just preserving data, but requires an understanding of the kind of data that is stored.
This trend is caused by regulations around data retention, and the requirement to track who accessed certain information, as mandated by legislation such as HIPAA and Sarbanes Oxley.
The storage landscape is further complicated by the rise of new services such as on-demand video, according to James Whitemore, chief marketing officer at Sun's Data Management Group.
"There is an understanding that the real problems that our customers face today cannot be solved if you continue to think about managing storage in the same way that you do today," he said.
"You have to start to think about how you lay out data as a shared network resource and how you store data which is captive to applications."
Sun is expected to integrate identity management into its StorageTek Enterprise Storage Manager software that will allow enterprises to monitor and report on who is accessing certain data.
The company is also preparing to launch a new technology dubbed Project Honeycomb that allows a storage application to retain and index metadata about unstructured data such as digital images or video.
The technology makes it easy to find a video through the use of keywords or the creation date. It is scheduled for availability later this summer.
Project Thumper is due out by this summer, and aims to merge huge data throughput with storage for applications such as video surveillance where data has to be processed as it is being produced.
Thumper puts a Niagara server close to the storage point, allowing for high speed processing.
Niagara servers were unveiled earlier this year. They specialise in high throughput computing applications such as web servers.
By integrating data management into the storage devices, Sun is raising the bar on smart storage, according to Richard Villars, vice president for storage systems at analyst firm IDC.
"Today people take existing storage products and apply it to them," he said.
"That works at a certain level, but as companies are looking at growth and management requirements, it is pretty clear that they are going to have to make some significant enhancements in the manageability, scalability and intelligence of the systems.
"Sun is trying to set out an early position in being the leader in bringing the software and hardware together for these new architectures."
Villars pointed out that Sun has yet to show the actual products, but that the server maker is in a good position to define the category.
Sun became a major player in the storage market last year when it acquired StorageTek for $4.1bn.
Demonstrating its commitment to the installed base of StorageTek clients, Sun expects to unveil two updates to its Sun StorageTek Virtual Storage Manager tape backup solutions for mainframe systems.
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