StoneFly, Inc., a supplier of integrated IP storage area network (SAN) systems and a wholly owned subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory, Inc. (DNF), announced its entry into VMware, Inc.'s Technology Alliance Partner (TAP) and Hardware Certification Programs.

In addition, StoneFly announced that the StoneFly StoneFusion 6.X operating system now offers enhanced support for virtual server environments, including the latest versions of VMware ESX. As StoneFly's Intelligent Network Storage Platform, StoneFusion comes standard with each StoneFly IP SAN and offers comprehensive storage services, including built-in support for the VMware iSCSI initiator for speedy integration of networked storage with virtual servers.

While StoneFly has been applying the principles of virtualization since its founding in 2000, participation in the VMware programs strengthens its commitment to a growing base of customers interested in deploying virtual machines. "By formalizing our ties with VMware, we will not only be able to leverage their outstanding software to develop comprehensive disaster recovery solutions, but we can also help our customers achieve even greater advances with their virtualization initiatives," said Bahman Jalali, director of product management for StoneFly.

StoneFly IP SANs facilitate server virtualization, helping busy IT departments consolidate resources to improve efficiency and simplify the management of datacenters or IT infrastructure. At Randolph College, in Lynchburg, VA, a StoneFly IP SAN is deployed in conjunction with VMware Server to bolster business continuity and consolidate servers while also reducing energy consumption.

Within one month of installing the IP SAN along with VMware Server, Randolph had already virtualized four servers, and there are plans to transfer 12 additional server images to the SAN by year's end. Virtualization has delivered significant value, including the ability to manage printers by a virtualized print server image on the SAN, meaning that the old physical print servers can be turned off. Not only does power usage go down with fewer servers to contend with, but now Randolph doesn't need to invest in as much additional server hardware when it can use images on the SAN to meet a large portion of its daily IT needs.

StoneFly's Hybrid Storage Concentrator (HSC), Modular Storage Concentrator (MSC) and Integrated Storage Concentrator (ISC) offerings are among the key StoneFly product families that can be utilized with VMware software. Via StoneFusion, each HSC, MSC or ISC IP SAN supports StoneFly Snapshot, StoneFly Reflection for synchronous and asynchronous mirroring, and block-level virtualization. StoneFusion also features centralized storage management, storage consolidation, access control, volume management and provisioning to present SAN storage to hosts as local disks.