Times N on Trial

Another startup has entered the storage virtualization fray. Times N Systems Inc., which announced its first products June 25, says it's being trialed at seven prospective customer sites and will be installed in at least ten more test locations before the month is out.

The news puts Times N, founded in 1999, into the growing crowd of firms offering storage virtualization -- the pooling of storage across multiple servers and devices (see Virtualization Vendors Vie for OEMs).

Times N says it's unique in offering enterprise customers a way to virtualize not only the servers in their corporate networks, but the storage devices directly attached to those servers. The result, says the vendor, is a way to improve I/O in corporate networks two to four times, without buying Fibre Channel gear or new servers.

"We create a big virtual disk spanning multiple resources, then stripe data across the resources," says Margaret Lewis, program director of product marketing at Times N.

Times N's product, the TNS 1600, includes a specially designed PCI adapter that fits Intel servers. The adapters provide a high-speed, proprietary connection to Times N's hardware unit, called the TMN Shared Memory Node. Each node can handle the maximum equivalent of 16 servers, each equipped with 16-Gbytes of disk storage. Once the virtual disk is set up, Linux- or Windows2000-based software enables data to be controlled and manipulated.Other vendors, including FalconStor Software Inc. and DataCore Software provide virtualization as well, with a slightly different take. FalconStor, for instance, provides its IPStor servers as go-betweens for servers and virtualized NAS and SAN devices. Like Times N's solution, it uses its own high-speed protocol to link servers and virtualized storage.

Times N says it's different from FalconStor because it virtualizes direct-attached storage at a low price, making it possible for medium-sized companies to get faster I/O without having to buy Fibre Channel gear or high-end servers. In contrast, FalconStor seems to specialize in virtualizing higher-end SAN and NAS devices.

Times N feels its product should appeal to a small or midsized business, where a complex SAN or NAS hasn't yet been installed. Lewis says that at $29,000 to $65,000 for an entry-level configuration, Times N's solution could provide an attactive alternative for companies not willing to install a rudimentary Fibre Channel SAN configuation at $55,000 to $80,000, or a high-end server starting at $40,000.

"Our customers have an array of really interesting proposed applications," Lewis says. But word on just who's using the gear for what purposes won't be released until sales are firmed up.

On the downside, Times N's product doesn't work with RISC machines, such as Sun workstations, although Lewis says there's no reason it couldn't be made to do so. Also, it remains to be seen whether Times N can sufficiently differentiate itself from the likes of FalconStor in order to made headway in an increasingly competitive market.Times N Systems has scored approximately $15.6 million in funding, primarily from Austin Ventures, Convergent Investors, and Sternhill Partners.

The company's management team includes CEO Ted Scardamalia (ex-IBM); CTO and VP of product development Lynn West (ex-IBM); VP of marketing and business development Kim Kasee (ex-Compaq); director of operations Richard Dorr (ex-IBM); director of software development John Levesque (ex-Advanced Computing Technology Center, IBM); and chief architect Karlon West (ex-Nortel).

- Mary Jander, Senior Editor, Light Reading
http://www.lightreading.com

Movers and shakers from more than 100 companies including DataCore, FalconStor, and Times N Systems – will be speaking at StorageNet, Byte and Switch’sannual conference, being held in New York City, October 2-5, 2001. Checkit out at StorageNet