HETEROGENEOUS ENTERPRISE
STORAGE MANAGEMENT

3PAR debuts native SMI-S interoperability for Utility Storage

One of the promised contributions of the new breed of SAN-based virtualization appliances is heterogeneous LUN management. Unfortunately, the use of these appliances brings with it additional layers of complexity and results in a brittle storage infrastructure. Using these appliances also entails a duplicate purchase of controllers and software functionality that already exists in the arrays they intend to "virtualize." And there are hidden costs, including additional customer testing, interoperability risk, performance bottlenecks and uncertain escalation paths.

But there is a simple and efficient alternative: Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S) enabled storage platforms and (SRM) management software. SMI-S makes heterogeneous LUN management possible, based on open standards and without the need for costly virtualization appliances.

3PAR is committed to this approach, and has already demonstrated how you can monitor the 3PAR InServ Storage Server within a heterogeneous storage environment using SMI-S compliant storage management platforms. With SMI-S, users can leverage heterogeneous enterprise management and storage resource management software to manage a heterogeneous storage pool–avoiding the cost and complexity of SAN-based virtualization appliances while gaining the advantages of a common management environment.

3PAR has demonstrated SMI-S interoperability with CreekPath, a leading SRM solution, and IBM/Tivoli, a leading enterprise management software solution. 3PAR's SMI-S provider represents a second-generation approach to SMI-S development. 3PAR integrates its provider directly within the storage array. This is in contrast to first-generation approaches that require a separate proxy server which create single-points-of-failure and add complexity to your storage management environment. Native implementations are simpler, more robust and offer more efficient options for custom extensibility of the SMI-S standard.

For more information
Press release
Steve Duplessie on the 3PAR/SMI-S announcement

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ORACLE SINGLES OUT 3PAR
FOR THIN PROVISIONING

Set it and forget it with 3PAR/Oracle solution

In a bold move, Oracle Corp. has validated 3PAR InServ Storage Servers with Thin Provisioning, thus demonstrating the value of Utility Storage combined with Oracle® Database 10g. A Certified Partner in the Oracle® PartnerNetwork, 3PAR has established significant gains in database performance, storage utilization and management by deploying Oracle Database 10g with Automatic Storage Management in conjunction with 3PAR InServ Storage Servers and 3PAR Thin Provisioning. This joint solution simplifies database storage management and enables resource optimization. Recent tests by Oracle and 3PAR demonstrate that the combined Oracle and 3PAR solution delivers:

• 30% reduction in resources required for storage provisioning
• 65% increase in productivity for DBAs
• 50% less wasted capacity

Automatic performance and availability
Traditional DB environments require massive host and storage configuration efforts to achieve performance and availability objectives. 3PAR's massively parallel and automatically load-balanced architecture improves performance and maintains it. With the provision-once capabilities of 3PAR Thin Provisioning, users can now create a "set it and forget it" Oracle environment. This combined solution eliminates time spent managing and planning storage for Oracle growth, performance and availability.

Maximum capacity utilization
To avoid downtime and maintain service levels, users typically over-provision for mission critical applications like Oracle. 3PAR eliminates this traditional trade-off between performance and resource utilization. 3PAR RAID 5 technology cuts data protection overhead by up to 87% and 3PAR Thin Provisioning cuts capacity purchases by up to 75%, without sacrificing performance.

"Oracle Database 10g with Automatic Storage Management greatly simplifies the task of deploying databases that are scalable and high performing. Oracle's Automatic Storage Management technology and 3PAR Utility Storage with Thin Provisioning enable rapid and easy deployment of fast databases with high storage utilization. Together, it's an exceptional combination for utility computing datacenters."

—Angelo Pruscino, Vice President and Architect, Oracle Corporation.

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3PAR WELCOMES NEW CUSTOMERS

Brevan Howard, Cbeyond, FreshDirect and the U.S. Census Bureau

3PAR Utility Storage is now established in many enterprise, government and service provider markets. Some interesting new additions are Brevan Howard in Financial Services, Cbeyond Communications in Network Services, Fresh Direct in E-Commerce and the U.S. Census Bureau in Government.

One of the newest international additions to the 3PAR customer family includes Brevan Howard, manager of a £6bn European hedge fund. Looking to reduce capital and staff costs, Brevan Howard needed a simple storage solution for numerous hosts as well as cost-effective disaster recovery. The company selected the 3PAR InServ Storage Server to directly connect up to 12 different host servers, avoiding the cost and complexity of a SAN. Using a simple IP network connection, Brevan Howard was also able to connect to a second InServ Storage Server for simple and efficient disaster recovery.

"Reducing San infrastructure is one of 3PAR’s key aims. Combined with the speed with which the 3PAR system behaved at the Scottish facility, this ability to avoid the time and cost of installing a San gave Mr. Bryant [Paul Bryant, IT Manager, Brevan Howard] his conclusion. He had the 3PAR system on-site within a fortnight. 'The whole selection and delivery process took place in under a month. That is unheard of in the financial sector'" [Bryant said].

Financial Times of London
November 17, 2004
"Timescales and terabytes"

3PAR has also freshened up the data center at FreshDirect™, New York’s largest and fastest-growing e-grocer. FreshDirect selected two InServ S400 Storage Servers as the foundation for its utility computing environment. With 3PAR, FreshDirect has been able to cut web transaction times by 85%, even as peak usage has tripled. [read more about FreshDirect in the Customer Spotlight]

Cbeyond Communications, a provider of integrated voice, data and internet services, purchased two 3PAR InServ Storage Servers for its mission-critical operational support systems and its test and development environment—half the capacity required by competing vendors’ solutions. By so doing, Cbeyond eliminated the additional cost and complexity of SAN switching and host volume management associated with fifty Linux and Solaris hosts. Cbeyond was also able to improve performance over its prior system.

"We have achieved substantial savings with 3PAR's Thin Provisioning. 3PAR Thin Provisioning allowed us to permanently eliminate the waste associated with unused allocated capacity and has dramatically simplified storage provisioning. Since 3PAR, I can't think of the last time we worried about storage."

—Allen Thomas, Senior Director of System Operations, Cbeyond

In the government sector, the U.S. Census Bureau has reaped huge savings in administration and infrastructure costs with a 3PAR InServ S400 Storage Server. Prior to deploying the 3PAR solution, the Census Bureau simply could not afford to scale storage administration in step with its increasing capacity and user base. With 3PAR, the Bureau has been able to scale 300% over its previous environment while simultaneously reducing administration by 95%. [read more about the Census Bureau in the Customer Spotlight]

For more information
Press release – Brevan Howard
Press release – Cbeyond
Press release – Fresh Direct
Press release – Census Bureau

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3PAR’S NEW LOOK

New web site, new features

Have you noticed our new look? We’ve updated our site with a clean, inventive look and fabulous features:

• Click to the Customers page to track who’s discovering 3PAR Utility Storage and the benefits they’ve received.
• Our Solutions pages now include expanded Platform Solution and IT Solution sections, so you can see how Utility Storage can be applied to solve real problems in your data center.
• The refreshed Product pages will keep you up to date on 3PAR’s latest offerings. Check out the Benefits page for details on how you can save 50% on your total cost of data!
• On our Partners pages, you’ll see how our many partners, including our utility computing partners, together with 3PAR, make the benefits of the next-generation data center real today.
• Our Support pages now include more details on our remote monitoring and service programs.

And you'll notice that we've been expanding our reach internationally. www.3par.com now features pages for Austria, Japan, Korea, Poland and the United Kingdom in addition to the United States. You'll see these pages grow throughout the year.

For more information
www.3PAR.com

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DATA CENTER CHALLENGES DRIVE VIRTUALIZATION ADOPTION

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EXPANSION INTO KOREA

Snet markets 3PAR in Korea

Electronic commerce service providers, leading portals, broadcasting companies, public organizations and financial service firms in Korea can now purchase 3PAR Utility Storage from network integration firm Snet Systems.

"We expect the Utility Storage system business to help us increase our revenue. The company intends to eventually turn into a system integration firm based on experiences in network integration and storage system business."

—Pak Hyo-dae, CEO , Snet Systems

3PAR Utility Storage is now available in the United States, Europe and Asia.

For more information
Article from Korea IT News

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