SHORT TAKES

NETWORK APPLIANCE PARTNERS WITH COMPUTER ASSOCIATES

Sunnyvale, CALIF. — Network Appliance, Inc., a leading provider of network-attached data access and content management solutions, announced it has joined the Computer Associates International, Inc. VIP Partners program. As a member, Network Appliance will deploy its CA-certified network attached storage-based database appliance solutions, known as “filers,” for use in CA Ingres II database environments. NetApp storage appliances are ideal for data management, data serving, and back-end storage of UNIX and Windows NT enterprise data. NetApp filers, which can be implemented in Ingres II environments using network-attached storage, are designed to store and process mission-critical transaction database information. As Global 2000 companies adopt eCommerce business strategies, NetApp systems will become the preferred network storage infrastructure for powering high-performance database applications and Web sites.

“Computer Associates is committed to providing enterprise-class solutions for eCommerce through partnership and certifications with CA VIP Partners like Network Appliance,” said Carl Hartman, CA VP Marketing. “With today’s announcement, Ingres II customers will be able to expand their data management and applications infrastructures easily and quickly using NetApp filers.” Today, Ingres II customers can focus on rapidly growing their information infrastructures using the industry-leading performance, reliability, and ease-of-management filers from Network Appliance. Unlike raw I/O storage systems, which are difficult to expand after configuration, NetApp filers are optimized for network access and retrieval in Internet, UNIX, and Windows NT environments. “Network Appliance has built its reputation on providing storage and data management solutions for customers that simplify the management of enterprise and Internet network storage infrastructures,” said Richard Clifton, senior director of database marketing at Network Appliance. “Together, NetApp and Ingres II solutions allow customers to build scalable, Web-based database solutions more quickly and easier than ever before, freeing companies to focus on making their businesses successful.”

IBM, ESRI ALLIANCE TARGETS GOVERNMENT MARKETPLACE

Redlands, CALIF. — IBM and Environmental Systems Research Institute Inc. (ESRI) announced a global strategic alliance designed to serve the emerging marketplace for Geographical Information Systems (GIS). The demand for these systems is expected to increase as the marketplace grows to more than $60 billion, by 2005, quadrupling the current opportunity, according to multiple sources. IBM and ESRI will take advantage of this growth as both companies jointly market the industry’s first enterprise-wide GIS solution. Initial target industries include government and telecommunications.

GIS offers policy makers, industry planners, academic researchers and others sophisticated spatial analysis to visualize enterprise information. It is a computer-based tool that combines data visualization, spatial analysis and mapping with database management system integration to help users understand relationships, enhance decision making and solve problems faster. This technology proved invaluable with the Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination Group (GeoMAC). During the past summer, federal wildland fire managers were faced with the worst fire situation in decades. With more than 25,000 firefighters and every available resource allocated to fight more than 80 large fires in Idaho and Montana alone, it was difficult to visualize the big picture. There were numerous critical situations reported and additional resources requested. The Great Basin Multi-Agency Coordination Group, one group responsible for prioritizing the allocation of critical firefighting resources in the Western United States, saw the need for a better tool to aid in making these decisions. “With the use of the IBM-ESRI GIS solution, GeoMAC was able to provide much needed spatial information within a week’s time,” said John Guthrie, technical coordinator for GeoMAC. The Web site demonstrating this effort can be reached at http://wildfire.usgs.gov .

HITACHI & VERITAS SOFTWARE TO INTEGRATE SOFTWARE

Santa Clara, CALIF. — Highlighting their commitment to support the implementation of multivendor Storage Area Networks (SANs), Hitachi Data Systems and VERITAS Software Corporation, The Data Availability Company, announced they will cooperatively develop their storage-management products to deliver integrated and open solutions to market. These solutions will meet enterprise customers’ demand for centralized management capabilities that leverage both hardware and software interoperability. As part of their cooperative effort, Hitachi Data Systems has been licensed to offer VERITAS SANPoint Control software for use in the SAN solutions it offers to customers. Beginning in the fourth quarter of this year, a trial copy of the software will be included with every Hitachi Freedom Storage system delivered to customers by Hitachi Data Systems or its indirect sales partners. VERITAS and Hitachi Data Systems will collaborate on a joint sales model, further details to be released at a later time. The companies will jointly develop sales tools and programs to support these efforts.

The commitment to multivendor “open” SANs is intended to provide customers the freedom to implement their networks with whatever combination of components is best suited to their business needs. While other storage providers still rely on proprietary software for SAN management, Hitachi Data Systems and VERITAS Software have become the first to join hands to tightly link the design of hardware and software elements for non-proprietary SANs. VERITAS SANPoint Control simplifies and centralizes the management of multivendor SANs, and includes the ability to centrally discover, visualize and zone leading hardware vendors’ SAN components. VERITAS SANPoint Control enables control of all SAN resources, including servers, storage devices, switches, and host bus adapters. VERITAS SANPoint Control allows storage administrators to use a single management product for the majority of day-to-day SAN operations, reducing the need to monitor a variety of device management applications spread across multiple display screens in the data center. “We’re eager to be working with Hitachi Data Systems to significantly improve the availability and functionality of an enterprise’s data and applications,” said Robin Purohit, senior director of product management for SAN, Clustering and Replication, VERITAS Software. “VERITAS SANPoint Control enables customers to achieve the benefits of centralized heterogeneous storage operations and improve manageability over traditional ‘point-to-point’ storage architectures.” Visit http://www.hds.com or http://www.veritas.com/ for more information.

MTI AND BROCADE ANNOUNCE OEM PARTNERSHIP

Anaheim, CALIF. — MTI Technology Corp., a leading provider of enterprise SAN and NAS storage solutions, and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (Brocade), a leading provider of Storage Area Networking infrastructure, today announced a strategic OEM partnership between the two companies for the next generation of MTI Storage Area Network (SAN) solutions. MTI will incorporate Brocade-branded SilkWorm 2040 and 2800 Fibre Channel fabric switches for new SAN-friendly high performance, reliable and scalable storage solutions for enterprise-wide use. MTI expects to ship its first Brocade-based, SAN solutions within the next few months. Brocade Fibre Channel fabric switches provide the world’s leading networking foundation for SANs. Using Brocade SilkWorm switches, customers can connect servers with storage devices through a storage area network, creating a highly reliable and scalable environment for storage applications. MTI’s Vivant solutions meet customers’ most critical information management needs, providing rapid, reliable access to stored data, compatibility with multiple operating systems and applications, tools to manage ever increasing amounts of stored data and 24-hour on-site service. MTI’s customers require continuous access to their online information. Combining Brocade products with the Vivant solutions improves SAN connectivity.

“As an innovator in data storage and data management solutions, MTI is pleased to offer the reliability and availability of Brocade-based SANs to our customers worldwide. Our decision to incorporate Brocade as a networking infrastructure for our next-generation storage solutions reflects our commitment to delivering the broadest connectivity for today’s enterprise,” stated Tom Raimondi, president and CEO of MTI. “The combination of MTI Vivant solutions and Brocade SAN infrastructure provides an ideal environment for all ranges of storage applications. This ranges from departmental business applications, such as e-mail, to highly available Internet applications, including databases, CRM and MRP.” “Brocade is pleased to partner with MTI to further expand the options for customers of open, heterogeneous SANs,” said Jack Cuthbert, Brocade vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “By bringing a networking model to storage, Brocade, together with its leading partners, will enable companies to significantly reduce the total cost of storage ownership, consolidate servers and storage, and deliver advanced storage management applications, such as LAN-free backup and remote data replication, in a highly available environment.” For more information about MTI, please visit the company’s website at: http://www.mti.com . For more information, visit the Brocade website at http://www.Brocade.com .

RED HAT & NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY TEAM UP

Research Triangle Park, N.C. — Red Hat, Inc., a leading provider of open source solutions for developing, deploying and managing Internet infrastructure, announced an initiative with North Carolina State University, to standardize their College of Engineering academic computing environment (Eos) on open source technologies. The initial deployment will feature Red Hat Linux on Dell Optiplex hardware and will expose thousands of College of Engineering students to open source software. This initiative is a continuation of Red Hat’s University Program, announced in June, to bring the benefits of open source software to educational facilities worldwide, and is a combination of Red Hat’s open source leadership, comprehensive resources and active university community outreach, and NC State’s reputation as a leading and progressive engineering university. The partnership with NC State’s engineering department enables the swift transport of Eos to an open source Internet infrastructure and expand teaching and development resources, while giving engineering students ready access to state-of-the-art computing and development platforms.

“Forrester Research has projected that open source software will dominate the industry by 2004, just when today’s freshmen are graduating. It is critical for us to help prepare them to be leaders in a world dominated by open source software,” said Thomas K. Miller III, Ph.D., Interim Vice Provost for Distance Education and Learning Technologies, North Carolina State University. “The NC State College of Engineering has enjoyed close ties to Red Hat from the beginning, particularly through two of our alumni, Erik Troan and Donnie Barnes, who joined the company shortly after it was formed. Our collaborations with Red Hat not only provide our students with a powerful and affordable platform that ties seamlessly into our campus network, but also a platform with which they can experiment, learn, and innovate in the world of open source.” “I’m excited to see them standardizing their academic computing environment on open source technologies,” said Erik Troan, vice president, product engineering for Red Hat. “The entire software industry is changing and embracing the open source development model. The Program helps these students move to the forefront of today’s Internet computing technologies.” Red Hat seeks to provide various open source software and products to educational institutions interested in utilizing open source technologies. Universities may apply via email for the opportunity to participate in the Red Hat University Program at http://www.redhat.com/apps/community/university/index.html .

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