Releases

posted on 12 February 2008 09:30

BOULDER, Colo., February 18, 2008— LeftHand Networks,^® the leading provider of highly available open iSCSI SANs, announced today that its Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) for VMware® ESX is available as part of Virtualization Solution Kits that are an industry first for providing highly available applications and storage without requiring an external SAN.  The Virtualization Solution Kits, consisting of VMware and LeftHand Networks products and support services, are now available through Alternative Technology, Inc. and Avnet Technology Solutions.  Small and medium businesses (SMB) and remote and branch offices (ROBO) of the enterprise now have access to an affordable solution that delivers the high availability required in a virtualized environment.  The LeftHand Networks VSA is also the first virtual storage appliance to be certified and listed in the VMware Storage/SAN Compatibility Guide for the ESX Server.

Companies are adopting server virtualization to optimize existing IT investments and to ensure business continuity and data protection.  A highly available virtual infrastructure is a must for complete business continuity and data protection, and shared storage is a requirement to enable this. The LeftHand VSA, based on LeftHand’s award-winning SAN/iQ® software, runs as a VMware Certified Virtual Appliance and provides complete SAN management functionality by utilizing the VMware® ESX Server disks.  This eliminates the need for an external SAN in order to implement VMware® High Availability (HA), making it easier than ever for customers to take advantage of the benefits of enterprise-class virtualization.

“LeftHand's VSA is the first virtual storage appliance listed on the Storage/SAN HCL, and provides our customers with a cost-effective, feature rich shared storage solution," said Parag Patel, vice president Storage ISV Alliances, VMware.  “The powerful combination of LeftHand’s VSA and VMware’s ESX provides SMBs and Remote and Branch offices a complete virtualization environment that provides both application and storage high availability – all within ESX servers and at extremely attractive price points.”

Four Virtualization Solution Kits are now available through Avnet and Alternative Technology.  The Kits consist of the LeftHand Virtual SAN Appliance for VMware® ESX and VMware® Infrastructure (VI) Acceleration Kits in combinations that provide customers with highly available storage and/or applications while providing significant price advantages.  The Virtualization Solution Kits extend the value of VMware’s existing VI Acceleration Kits by adding the VSA to provide the shared storage required to implement VMware advanced functionality such as VMware® High Availability (HA), VMware® Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), and VMware® VMotion™. 

“LeftHand Networks and VMware are driving new innovations into the SMB and ROBO markets while changing the economics of virtualization,” stated Larry Cormier , vice president of Marketing, LeftHand Networks.  “This announcement also highlights the partnership we have with our mutual distributors who are responding directly to the requirements of these customer segments by offering the Virtualization Solution Kits.  As these Kits exemplify, virtualization technologies are quickly changing the IT landscape – helping customers lower the cost of their IT infrastructure while enabling higher levels of protection for business critical systems.” 

The VSA being certified and listed in VMware’s ESX Storage/SAN Compatibility Guide (HCL) ensures full compatibility and support with VMware ESX virtual infrastructure solutions.  For certification, LeftHand’s VSA passed the same certification tests applied to external SAN systems.

LeftHand Networks / VMware Virtualization Solution Kits

The first two Kits are for customers who require a complete high availability for both their applications and storage. Customers choose a specific Kit based on VMware features, number of VMware and VSA licenses, and the need for implementation assistance.

Highly Available Application and Storage Virtualization Solution Kits

VMware Standard HA Acceleration Kit with Virtual SAN - Ideal for environments where high availability of infrastructure and data is critical, this solution gives organizations the ability to ensure business continuity, while providing all the additional benefits offered by server virtualization combined with a SAN.  This Kit combines the VMware® Infrastructure Standard HA Acceleration Kit, two LeftHand Networks Virtual SAN Appliances (VSA) for VMware® ESX and support and maintenance services.

VMware Midsize Acceleration Kit with Virtual SAN - This Kit serves the needs of small and mid-market organizations looking for enterprise-class solutions that bring all the benefits that virtualization and a full-featured SAN has to offer, including business continuity using VMware’s VMotion™ technology, and much more.  Additionally, this Kit offers training and consulting credits that can be applied to VMware courses or services to help organizations optimize the use of their VMware solutions.  This Kit combines the VMware® Infrastructure Midsize Acceleration Kit, three LeftHand Networks Virtual SAN Appliances (VSA) for VMware® ESX and support and maintenance services.

High Availability Application Virtualization Solution Kits

These Kits are for customers who need shared storage to support VMware features such as VMware High Availability (HA), VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS), or VMware VMotion™, but do not require complete SAN functionality. Customers choose a specific Kit based on VMware features, number of VMware licenses, and the need for implementation assistance.

VMware Standard HA Acceleration Kit with Shared Storage - Ideal for environments where high availability of infrastructure and data is critical, this solution gives small and mid-market organizations the ability to ensure business continuity, while providing all the additional benefits that server virtualization and shared storage offer. This Kit combines the VMware® Infrastructure Standard HA Acceleration Kit, a single LeftHand Networks Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) for VMware® ESX and support and maintenance services.

VMware Midsize Acceleration Kit with Shared Storage - For IT organizations that need to ensure Highly Available Applications to meet their business needs, this kit includes not only the VMware advanced server virtualization technology, but shared storage capabilities without requiring additional external storage hardware.  Training and consulting credits are also included that can be applied to VMware courses or services to speed implementation.  This Kit combines the VMware® Infrastructure Midsize Acceleration Kit, a single LeftHand Networks Virtual SAN Appliance (VSA) for VMware® ESX and support and maintenance services.

“Alternative Technology continues to deliver innovative virtualization solutions that for the first time allow SMB and ROBO environments to easily embrace the benefits of virtualization,” said Tom Zorn, executive vice president, Alternative Technology, a wholly owned subsidiary of Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions, which is a business unit of Arrow Electronics, Inc.  “These Virtualization Solution Kits also allow customers to buy what they need today and evolve their virtualization and SAN capabilities and configurations as their business needs evolve and grow, and that’s a huge benefit.”

With the various Virtualization Solution Kit options, customers can select the Kit that best meets their high availability requirements.  And, as their IT demands evolve and increase, both VMware Infrastructure and LeftHand have upgrade paths into more robust virtualization and iSCSI SAN solutions.

“Virtualization is rapidly becoming one of the hottest technology solutions for SMB and remote office environments because it offers significant cost and resource savings,” said Tim FitzGerald, Virtualization & Consolidation Solutions group leader, Avnet Technology Solutions, . “The Virtualization Solution Kits are tailored to the unique needs of SMB and remote office environments, combining high availability storage and applications on a single server platform and eliminating the need for additional SAN hardware. With Avnet’s dedicated Virtualization and Consolidation Solutions group and newly announced V Rewards Program, we’ll be able to help our partners capitalize on this growing market by providing them with comprehensive solutions designed to address their customers’ business challenges.”

Availability

The LeftHand/VMware virtualization bundles are available immediately through Alternative Technology and Avnet Technology Solutions in the and .  The Virtualization Solution Kits are priced approximately 20 to 40 percent less than the separately purchased server and storage virtualization products. 

# # #

About LeftHand Networks

LeftHand Networks pioneered IP-based storage area networks (SAN) in 2001. SANs built using LeftHand’s SAN/iQ^® software are uniquely able to distribute and protect data across a cluster of industry-standard storage servers. The company’s patented architecture increases data availability, allows users to start small and grow the SAN seamlessly, and simplifies management. The LeftHand SAN is ideal for storage and server consolidation, multi-site SANs, and disaster recovery.  For more information, contact LeftHand at info@lefthandnetworks.com.