(DataCore is a Gartner client)

Dave Russell - david.russell@gartner.com            
Server & Storage

Gene Ruth - gene.ruth@gartner.com
Research Director, Senior Storage Analyst                             

Mark Margevicius - mark.margevicius@gartner.com     
VDI

Gartner clients should access the following reports concerning DataCore Software –

External (Heterogeneous) Storage Virtualization: Successful Use Cases

GARTNER SUMMARY: Although most of the business benefits of storage virtualization can be gained with standard disk arrays or heterogeneous storage virtualization appliances, users have begun to find successful use cases that specifically apply to the latter.

How to Implement High-Availability Storage for Server Virtualized Environments
GARTNER SUMMARY: High-availability storage and many additional operational tasks are required to provide true high-availability services in virtualized server environments.

All Thin Provisioning Is Not Created Equal: What You Need to Know About Thin Provisioning Implementations
GARTNER SUMMARY: Most storage vendors offer thin provisioning on one or more of their disk arrays, but all thin provisioning implementations are not created equal. This research details key differentiators in how vendors implement this technology and explains why some differences are more important than others.

       (DataCore is an ESG client)

Mark Peters - mark.peters@esg-global.com  303.499.1329              
Senior Analyst                                                      
                                                                                                                      
Mark is a senior analyst at ESG, focused on storage systems, as well as the challenges of power, cooling and space efficiency in data centers. Mark's particular emphases are block storage, virtualized storage and all types of solid state storage.

Steve Duplessie - steve.duplessie@esg-global.com  508.381.5177      
Founder and Senior Analyst                              
                                                                                                                       
Steve is the founder of and Senior Analyst at the Enterprise Strategy Group. Recognized worldwide as the leading independent authority on enterprise storage, Steve has also consistently been ranked as one of the most influential IT analysts. Known for his 'pull no punches' straight shooting style, Steve has been the keynote speaker at events throughout the world.

Tony Palmer - tony.palmer@esg-global.com  508.381.5174             
Senior Engineer and Analyst, ESG Lab          
                                                                                                                        
Tony Palmer is ESG Lab's Senior Engineer, providing independent hands-on validation and analysis of emerging storage hardware and software products.

Notable research on DataCore –
White Paper: DataCore’s SANsymphony-V Storage Virtualization Software
Lab Reports: DataCore SANsymphony-V: Compelling Storage Virtualization Software

“DataCore’s impact on performance was dramatic, in every metric we measured,” said Tony Palmer, senior engineer and analyst with ESG Lab. “Even more impressive is how SANsymphony-V simplifies management and how easily it can make data center storage more resilient. With a single mouse click disk capacity is served and all the normal error-prone steps to configure, tune, and set best paths for high-availability get done auto-magically.”

                                                              
ESG Lab Validation: DataCore SANsymphony-V                              ESG Storage Virtualization Software Report                             

"For server virtualization endeavors to truly succeed , IT shops will have to match those capabilities with total storage virtualization - or else it's all for naught. Autonomous storage virtualization that sits a layer above the physical storage is the way it inevitably has to be."
- Steve Duplessie, Founder and Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

“End users are telling us that storage ‘surprises’ can be a major irritant with – or even impediment to – desktop and server virtualization projects. The surprises are twofold – firstly operational, whereby the virtualized compute layer is precluded from working well by the lack of an equally flexible storage infrastructure; and secondly, financial, as the first issue precludes the economic advantages of server virtualization from being achieved, and the subsequent ‘quick-fix’ storage acquisitions drive costs up and over budget.”
- Mark Peters, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group

 

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     (DataCore engages in project-based work with IDC)

Rick Villars - rvillars@idc.com
Storage Systems & Executive Strategies

Eric Sheppard - esheppard@idc.com        
Storage Software                                      

Carla Arend - carend@idc.com             
European Infrastructure Software          

Nick Sundby - nsundby@idc.com            
European Storage Group                        

Notable research on DataCore –
Achieving the Full Business Value of Virtualization with a Scalable Software-Based Storage Virtualization Solution
“...A return on investment ROI of over 300% and Payback in fewer than 12 months, including deployment time.”
Removing Storage-Related Barriers to Server and Desktop Virtualization
“Choose storage virtualization software that is not tied to any one hardware vendor so that you will have the most latitude when selecting future devices.”

"Unanticipated storage hardware investments and inefficient storage use are often the most critical factors that bring server consolidation and desktop virtualization projects to a screeching halt. Storage virtualization software solutions like DataCore's SANsymphony-V allow IT teams to maximize the use of existing storage assets while also dramatically reducing administrative burdens. They frequently play the key role in ensuring the success of organizations' server and desktop virtualization efforts.“
- Richard Villars, Vice President of Storage and IT Executive Strategies, IDC.

“With the launch of SANsymphony-V, DataCore has redesigned its software for virtual server and desktop environments. However, DataCore's key benefits of extending the useful life of hardware, cutting hardware costs and removing vendor lock-in are still intact, and apply to both the physical and virtual world. By driving down storage cost and thus removing a major obstacle for adoption, DataCore makes server and desktop virtualization affordable for the broader IT community."
- Carla Arend, Program Manager - European Infrastructure Software Research, IDC.

The Business Value of Software-based Storage Virtualization 
Dealing with storage is one of the most critical technical and economic roadblocks to broad adoption of virtualization in many organizations. Limits include the up-front direct cost associated with replacing storage with complex networked storage systems, the added operational cost of managing networked storage systems, and the inherent inefficiencies of many of these storage systems. Storage virtualization software such as DataCore's SANsymphony-V addresses many of these challenges.

IDC Viewpoint Report - Removing storage-related barriers to Server and Desktop Virtualization

        (DataCore engages in project-based work with Taneja Group)

Arun Taneja - arunt@tanejagroup.com              
Founder and Consulting Analyst               

Jeff Boles - jeff@tanejagroup.com                   
Sr. Analyst / Director – Validation Services

Jeff Byrne - jeff.byrne@tanejagroup.com                  
Senior Analyst & Consultant                        

Notable research on DataCore –
Product Profile: Building the Virtual Infrastructure with DataCore SANsymphony-V
DataCore Adds NAS Performance Acceleration, File Sharing Support to SANsymphony-V Storage Platform
Building the Virtual Infrastructure with DataCore SANsymphony-V

According to Arun Taneja, Founder, president and consulting analyst of the Taneja Group, "What DataCore has done here by putting DataCore virtual storage servers on virtual machines is a subtle way of further emphasizing that its hardware independent software solutions can go places and do things that hardware-based solutions can't because of their physicality and built-in limitations on the other devices and systems with which they will work. This will not be lost on the server virtualization players, like VMware, Microsoft and Xensource, and is likely to spur opportunities for technical and commercial collaboration with DataCore."

Report: Building the Virtual Infrastructure with DataCore SANsymphony-V

Report: DataCore storage virtualization and SAN solutions run 'hardware-free' on virtual machines

Review: DataCore SANsymphony 7.0 – The Perfect Complement to Virtualized Server Infrastructure.

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        (DataCore engages in project-based work with 451 Group)

John Abbott - john.abbott@the451group.com                 
Founder/Chief Analyst
                                     
Henry Baltazar - henry.baltazar@the451group.com            
Senior Analyst, Storage & Systems               

Simon Robinson - simon.robinson@the451group.com       
Research Director, Storage                            

Dave Simpson - dave.simpson@the451group.com
Senior Analyst, Storage

Notable research on DataCore –
DataCore adds auto-tiering to SANsymphony-V 'storage hypervisor'
DataCore Software, a pioneer in storage virtualization, is taking that concept one step further by referring to the 8.1 release of its SANsymphony-V software as a 'storage hypervisor.' The key addition in this release is automatic storage tiering across heterogeneous disk platforms, including SSDs.

DataCore renews storage virtualization, plays up virtual desktop synergies
451 GROUP SUMMARY: The veteran company has released SANsymphony-V, updating the software to fit more easily with virtual servers, virtual desktops and, potentially, the cloud.

“DataCore attributes its recent renaissance to its decision to work directly with server virtualization resellers instead of selling through more traditional storage channels. DataCore has persevered through the tough times to get where it is today, but all that hard work now appears to be paying off."

451 Group 2011 Market Impact Report:
DataCore renews storage virtualization, plays up virtual desktop synergies

DataCore has heterogeneous storage virtualization cracked. It's been developing and selling the technology for the past 13 years.

The 451's Dan Kusnetzky on DataCore's Advanced Site Recovery Software

The concept of automated failover among multiple sites isn't brand new, especially in the mainframe world, pointed out 451 Group vice president of research operations Dan Kusnetzky. "What's new is this capability becoming available on industry-standard hardware with industry-standard microprocessors," he said. All of that has its roots in server virtualization, but "as we move to a virtualized environment it's critical to consider storage virtualization, as well as ways to do access virtualization, so end users don't necessarily know where the application and data store they're talking to are located."

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John Katsaros - jkatsaros@irg-intl.com  650-949-3256            
Principal                                                                     

Notable research on DataCore –
Storage Virtualization Software: A Cornerstone of Affordable Business Continuity

Late 2008 saw an event that was a major inflection point in the development of business continuity solutions. At the September VMware User Group meeting that year, VMware co-founder and chief scientist Mendel Rosenblum demonstrated a remarkable capability that he called "Continuous Availability," in which a single virtual machine runs in multiple places at the same time. The setup was simple: two instances of a virtual Microsoft Exchange server running in parallel , a primary one supporting users and a secondary one shadowing it. When he unplugged the primary, the system switched over to the secondary instance without missing an e-mail message.

So here’s the question raised by Mendel’s demonstration that is disrupting the storage market. If business continuity can be supplied as part of a software virtualization platform (with all the convenience and flexibility that implies), what future do hardware-specific storage virtualization solutions have? After all, just as server virtualization eliminates the need for specialized server hardware, shouldn’t storage virtualization eliminate the need for specialized storage hardware or appliances? In fact, doesn’t the fundamental logic of virtualization eventually demand a hardware-agnostic storage management solution that can itself run in a virtual machine in one of the general-purpose x86 servers that make up today’s ideal data center?

IRG brief Storage Virtualization and Business Continuity

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Jon Toigo - jtoigo@toigopartners.com  727-736-5367            
CEO, Toigo Partners International                                                                                          

Notable commentary on DataCore –
STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION FOR ROCK STARS Part 1: Hitting the Perfect Chord in Storage Efficiency

My Awards Ceremony, Part 3
Countdown to Solving the Server Virtualization Stall

My Awards Ceremony, Part 2
Is Your Server Virtualization Project Stalled?

Big 2011 News…No Really, Part 1
The Next Big Industry Push is VDI

"At the end of the day, DataCore Software is enjoying a renaissance in the U.S. market, capitalizing on a mixture of trends ranging from the current fascination with server virtualization and storage thin provisioning (which they pioneered), to a shift in buyer habits that favor software over proprietary hardware."

"DataCore Software...I see their software today as offering even greater value in the context of the recessionary economy." - Jon William Toigo

"I have yet to find an unhappy customer using their stuff."

C-4 Summit Technology Perspectives
We caught up with DataCore Software in Fort Lauderdale, FL and were pleased to interview CEO and President George Teixeira, CTO and Chairman Ziya Aral, Vice President of Operations Bettye Grant, and Senior Manager of Product Marketing Augie Gonzalez.

While we were in town, we were also pleased to have the opportunity to chat with DataCore Software customer, Mike Gayle, who is a Deacon and IT Director for Calvary Chapel of Fort Lauderdale.

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The State of Virtualization and Clouds and the Impact of Storage

Download the Survey

“Unanticipated storage costs, availability concerns, and performance bottlenecks are the most critical factors stalling or stopping server consolidation and desktop virtualization projects from being started or completed,” commented George Teixeira, President and CEO of DataCore Software Corporation. His words are a striking evaluation of the state of virtualization in the IT industry and reinforced by recent surveys and industry reports.

In order to better understand the current environment, DataCore Software worked with the help of Davis Murphy Group (DMG) to conduct an independent, online survey. In early 2011 the invitation to participate in the survey was extended to thousands of companies and end-users engaged in or considering virtualization.

Time to face the hard truth about enterprise storage: Apart from the intelligent software embedded in the controller, that Tier 1 SAN you spent millions of dollars on is just a conglomeration of commodity components. A 15,000-rpm enterprise-class hard drive mounted on a fancy set of rails and topped with a shiny corporate logo is still just a 15,000-rpm physical disk, even if you did pay a jaw-dropping markup. Controllers are mostly based on standard appliance or x86 platforms running Windows or modified Linux variants, with custom Java-based Web interfaces for management slapped on top.

"It's past time for an intervention. We've all grown comfortable with the server virtualization model, where you buy intelligent software and run your choice of hardware. Why should storage be any different? The alternative, pay once for intelligent software and run it on the hardware of your choice. Get the software virtualization layer in place, and the possibilities are endless." 

How To Break Free From Tier 1 SAN Vendors  

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“DataCore is one of a few vendors that is answering user demand to do more with less. With solutions like this you can not only drive down capital [CapEX] costs while improving reliability you can also improve administrator and operational [OpEX] efficiency by centralizing storage operations to a single platform,” states Crump. See Article.

Solutions like DataCore enable non-stop data access using commodity-priced storage devices from vendors of your choosing. Each side of the mirror can use different types of storage; they need not be from the same supplier. In fact, some of the solutions can reconfigure the equipment that you already have to eliminate storage downtime.

“VMware customers are demanding that the many storage-related interruptions they face while making metro-wide, virtual machine migration, failover and load balancing be eliminated. Solutions like those offered by DataCore are addressing these interruptions and are critical to making these tasks practical,” said George Crump, founder and senior analyst at Storage Switzerland.

We’ve been conditioned to think of infrastructure as hardware. Is it time to rethink?
Storage Switzerland - Virtual Storage Infrastructure - Can software take center stage

Storage Switzerland - Virtualization is Alternative to Rip and Replace upgrades

Storage Switzerland - Serious About High Availability?

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DataCore releases a "nirvana" VDI storage solution.

Brian Madden: "Frequent readers know that I'm not one to republish vendor papers. But in this case, the DataCore paper (by Ziya Aral & Jonathan Ely) is actually really, really good. They take a no-BS look at VDI storage, and they validate their architecture with standard tools like Login Consultants' VSI benchmark.

Read the DataCore VDI Benchmark Paper.

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DataCore is offering new SAN software starter packages for small and medium sized organizations that are priced under $10,000... "I'm very excited about the DataCore announcement. The SMB area can now enjoy the reliability and security of their data, previously only available to businesses with large storage budgets," stated Curtis Breville, senior analyst in storage management at Enterprise Management Associates.

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John Sloan, a senior research analyst specializing in infrastructure, consolidation, servers and storage says "DataCore's storage virtualization solutions bode well in terms of opportunities for the channel".

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"DataCore's software approach to storage virtualization has put this vendor on the map for all sizes of enterprises that rely on multiple brands of storage hardware", observed Greg Schulz, senior analyst and founder at Storage I/O.

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Storage Is a Key Aspect of Server Virtualization

"DataCore's SANsymphony product allows virtual SANs to be created on VMs. Such a capability provides an extra level of integration and collaboration between server and storage virtualization"

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Aligning Network-Based Storage Virtualization With Business Needs
(Jerome Wendt)

"DataCore's SAN Domains begin to change the focus of the conversation from how companies manage their storage to how they manage their enterprise."

DataCore Software's SANsymphony 6.0's inclusion of SAN Domains into its architecture takes network-based storage virtualization to a new level in providing users with greater control to regulate service levels and manage their performance and resource usage. This capability now puts network-based storage virtualization on par with the state of the art advances seen in LAN and server based virtualization technologies. By allowing companies to create SAN Domains in their virtualized storage infrastructures, SANsymphony delivers the virtualized, consolidated storage infrastructure that companies want and the appropriate levels of control and flexibility that they need to operate successfully in today's corporate computing infrastructure.

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"DataCore has brought to the market a new class of disaster recovery and business continuity products under its Virtual Infrastructure," said Dianne McAdam, Director, Enterprise Information Assurance, Clipper Group. "These offerings provide a rich set of functions at a very affordable price for the small to medium sized business."

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