Marathon’s everRun is a software solution that abstracts the physical hardware from the application to create a single Windows environment that runs on two servers, sharing an IP address, MAC address and host name. This means a single environment to manage and license, without scripting or expensive cluster-aware applications. Compared with traditional high availability (HA) products, which involve downtime, everRun is an “always on”, truly fault-tolerant solution that can handle a server failure without losing even a single compute cycle. For midmarket companies that need something better than a simple replication-based HA solution for Exchange and other essential applications, this can be a cost-effective solution.

Nimble Storage’s CS-Series is an iSCSI solution that combines primary storage and data protection into a single system. Dubbed “Converged Storage,” it puts as much as 32 TB of disk and flash storage into a 3U chassis with a log-structured file system and variable-block architecture to improve performance and flash endurance. The system takes regular incremental snapshots of its deduplicated data sets and stores them on SATA disks. The result is a storage system with Tier 1 performance that provides snapshot restores for 60 to 90 days’ worth of data, typically. And, with its WAN-optimized architecture and replication, the Nimble system can also provide off-site DR in the same converged storage package.

NTFS file fragmentation occurs when files are written to a large number of noncontiguous blocks on a disk. Accessing each block in a file read requires a separate logical I/O to the disk controller, which impacts performance. This has significant implications for virtual environments, where IOPS are so critical. Free-space fragmentation occurs when files are erased and each of these fragmented blocks is made available for reuse, causing further file fragmentation. Raxco’s PerfectDisk is a software solution that consolidates free disk space as it defragments existing files in a single pass. With the rise of server virtualization, the value of a tool that can improve performance across the board while it helps maintain that performance is significant.

To meet the performance (mostly IOPS) required by today’s compute infrastructures, hard disk drive (HDD) array manufacturers are forced into resource-intensive practices that they can’t sustain, like increasing spindle counts, power consumption, floor space and system complexity. Nimbus has coined the term “Sustainable Storage” to describe its 100% flash S-class systems, which can meet the existing performance requirements that strain HDDs and sustain the increases that will be required in the future. These modular systems house replaceable blades of NAND flash storage and leverage internal deduplication and compression, plus lower component and operating costs, to keep the cost per IOPS surprisingly affordable. With a full set of storage management features, the Nimbus S-class systems are a cost-effective replacement for existing HDD arrays.

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StorSimple manufactures a hybrid cloud storage solution that integrates into the local storage environment as an iSCSI device, with SAS and SSD capacity. On the back end, this gateway appliance connects to cloud storage (public or private), enabling simple off-site movement of data for backup, DR and primary storage capacity. StorSimple has built intelligence into the unit to effectively prioritize data blocks and efficiently move data between tiers of storage on the appliance and to the cloud.

Caringo produces a software solution that can create an object-based storage system out of commodity hardware components. Object-based architectures offer extreme scalability while maintaining performance and are used in the largest proprietary cloud storage infrastructure. CAStor combines these benefits with the flexibility and economies of off-the-shelf components for use in public and private cloud storage.

QuorumLabs’ onQ Business Continuity appliance stores backups from client servers by creating virtual machine images, essentially doing a physical-to-virtual conversion the first time a client server is backed up. Then, subsequent backups are just incremental updates to these image files. As the name implies, it’s all about the recovery, and the product’s “recovery nodes” can fire up a server image in a few minutes, providing the hardware for a failed server and bypassing the entire restore process that traditional backup software requires.

Nine Technology has a solution that can be used to create an online backup service provider business using commodity hardware. MSPs, VARs and IT service providers can add backup services to their product mix without the kind of investment (hardware or software) typically required by other products. The company offers PC and desktop backup with a software solution and server backup using an on-site appliance, which connects to the provider’s infrastructure on the back end. Through a partnership with iMation, this appliance also has an RDX removable disk drive for another off-site backup alternative.

Nasuni is a cloud gateway solution providing local NAS services in a virtual environment. It uses an efficient caching model to maintain the most active data on local storage and connects with cloud service providers on the back end. It leverages deduplication to optimize local capacity and synchronous snapshots to capture the entire system at regular intervals for recovery. As a downloadable virtual machine implementation, the Nasuni Filer is an easy way to start using the cloud to consolidate file servers and a very quick way to restore NAS services in a DR scenario. 

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