StoneFly, Inc. launched a new release of its StoneFusion operating system (OS), offering upgraded mirror encryption capabilities that reinforce the company’s tradition of delivering the highest levels of data protection combined with best-in-class storage performance.

By sending encrypted data from the local IP SAN over the wide area network (WAN) during replication - and not encrypting it a second time as other systems do at the point when the data arrives at the remote SAN - StoneFusion ensures that data travels rapidly across the wire, remaining both fully protected and fully encrypted. This approach makes use of the advanced AES 256 encryption algorithm, a standard adopted by the U.S. government, and enables StoneFly to efficiently deliver both encrypted and non-encrypted volumes to the same remote SAN.
 
“With StoneFusion, StoneFly has continued to employ a performance-based approach to data protection since pioneering the IP SAN marketplace a decade ago,” says Bahman Jalali, director of engineering and product management for StoneFly. “In fact, Stonefly’s patented IP SAN architecture introduces no performance penalty when data is encrypted and written to disks. In taking this approach, we bring our customers the best of both worlds, delivering both superior security and market-leading performance, all in a simple-to-use IP SAN.”

Ideal for applications in medical, finance and government, StoneFly IP SANs offer compliance with patient privacy and data control measures for HIPAA, JCAHO, Medicare and Medicaid, along with PCI and GLBA compliance for the financial industry. The upgraded StoneFusion release provides added value to data-intensive installations in these markets, where minimizing performance degradation during encryption is critical.
 
StoneFusion is a standard integrated component of all StoneFly IP SANs, and offers a complete portfolio of storage and data protection features including a patented storage virtualization engine. In addition, the StoneFusion OS v6.3.2 incorporates StoneFly Reflection for local and campus mirroring; StoneFly Snapshot for fast, efficient data recovery; and advanced features such as Quick Sync, for rapidly restoring mirrored iSCSI volumes in the event of a storage path or site failure.