Intransa Debuts Program

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Intransa, the global leader of scalable, network-centric IP storage solutions, today announced the industrys first certification program to enable ISVs to test, tune and certify applications with the latest scalable, enterprise 10 GbE storage solutions.

“As the demand builds for faster and less expensive IP storage in the enterprise so does the need to ensure that customers get the best performance out of their applications,” said Jeff Whitney, vice president of marketing for Intransa. “As the first to offer a truly scalable IP network storage solution with 10 GbE, it was only to be expected that our customers and StorAlliance partners would ask Intransa for a certification program. With the implementation of 10 GbE our customers will now be assured that their experience is the best it can be.”

“It will take some catch-up on the part of OS, software and hardware vendors to take full advantage of the 10 GbE speed,” said Douglas F. Gibbs, PhD, pathology bioinformatics manager at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, who tested an Intransa StorStac System 10GbE PCU100 configuration during the beta trials. “Many of our initial test scenarios revealed that factors other than the Intransa system were rate-limiting in the tests.” He indicated that applications and even the Windows 2003 OS required tweaking in order to handle 10 GbE capabilities.

Vendors who enter the Intransa StorAlliance10 GbE Certified IP Storage Program are able to leverage Intransa’s extensive experience with IP networked storage, and perform testing in the company’s StorAlliance Certification Lab in San Jose, California. Testing includes network, storage and application tuning modules that allow participants to collect and analyze I/O traces, identify performance bottlenecks for elimination, code enhancement suggestions and assistance with any needed retesting. StorAlliance participants can display the “Intransa 10GbE Certified for IP Storage” logo on their website and marketing materials upon successful completion of the certification program.

"We are seeing rising interest in 10 GbE and iSCSI," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "Intransa is focusing heavily on bandwidth intensive applications and 10 GbE will raise the level of performance and scalability for the markets they are going after. The certification program is an example of their strong commitment to 10 GbE and the realization that in order for solutions to run seamlessly and optimally, you need to address 10 GbE environments holistically."Several software vendors, members of the Intransa StorAlliance Technology Partner Program, agree. “We’re already seeing the value of Intransa’s 10 GbE PCU100 system in terms of increased performance,” said Bill Reed, vice president of business development and co-founder for ABREVITY, the technology leader in Information Classification and Management (ICM). “Intransa’s systems are the fastest system we’ve tested for file system scanning, metadata extraction, report generation and tiered data migration. Customers with more than 25 terabytes of data will see immediate performance gains with 10GbE for tiered storage, legal discovery, security and compliance initiatives. ABREVITY is proud to be the first ISV partner to complete the Intransa 10 GbE IP SAN Certification Program.”

Another StorAlliance program member is Double-Take® Software. "The need for 10 GbE IP storage at the enterprise level is clear. With the increased number of remote offices and significant fan-in requirements, having a storage system that can scale with the data from many remote offices at one time is a tremendous asset," said Bob Roudebush, director of solutions engineering from Double-Take® Software, a Microsoft Gold Partner and established leader in business continuity. "We are truly excited to be part of this new Certification program."

Longtime StorAlliance partner Sanbolic, Inc. is also participating in the program. “In the video surveillance market, speed of data capture is a critical element. Intransa’s StorStac 10 GbE system brings a significant solution to that problem,” said Momchil Michailov, CEO of Sanbolic, Inc., both a Microsoft Partner and recognized leader in video surveillance file systems. “Sanbolic is delighted to be part of this certification program endorsing integration of our file system.”

“As enterprises address the pressing needs to consolidate and better manage data protection in their remote offices, having the highest possible performance in the central repository system is a critical component in providing timely backup and recovery services for their business-critical remote applications,” said Richard Vining from FilesX, a leading provider of continuous, lights-out data protection solutions for remote offices. “Intransa is delivering this performance with their leadership in 10 GbE IP storage, and we are truly excited to be part of this new certification program.”

Intransa Inc.0