From Hifn: Unified Storage Software Bundled With Security Acceleration Hardware

Hifn introduced industry’s first turnkey Unified IP Software solution bundled with an Express data security acceleration card. The new Unified Storage OEM Bundle enables OEMs and systems integrators to quickly enter the fast-growing iSCSI market by transforming open-system, third-party disk arrays into intelligent iSCSI storage appliances. Hifn will offer its new software bundle in addition to its already well recognized iSCSI IP SAN appliances. Hifn made the announcement at Storage Networking World Spring 2008 in Orlando.

Hifn’s new Unified Storage OEM Bundle combines the company’s Express DS250/255 data acceleration card with the award-winning Swarm iSCSI software, featuring advanced management and security features, such as unified iSCSI SAN and NAS storage, integrated hardware data encryption to protect sensitive company data and meet regulatory compliance standards, and built-in data protection features, including point-in-time snapshots and local and remote data replication. The Hifn bundled solution is tuned for the specific needs of SMB customers, leveraging industry-leading ease of use with a robust feature set that eliminates the cost and complexity of adding third-party applications in order to provide essential storage services, creating a complete go-to-market solution. With the customer-proven Unified Storage OEM Bundle, OEMs and systems integrators now have a high-value, low-cost platform that eliminates time-to-market and development roadblocks for expanding their reach into the iSCSI market.

"The customer response to Hifn’s Swarm iSCSI technology has been overwhelming in its praise for the ease-of-use and comprehensive feature set so it makes good sense for us to open up a new channel to bring this technology to the SMB and SME community," said John Matze, Vice President of Business Development at Hifn. "The value proposition of the Unified Storage OEM Bundle is compelling with a field-validated iSCSI platform from a vendor that genuinely understands the needs of SMB users with advanced functionality that they can’t acquire anywhere else."

Hifn’s simple-to-implement and easy-to-use iSCSI software delivers a robust feature set that continues the company’s mission to protect sensitive data in the mid market. The solution offers a unique feature providing support for both iSCSI and NAS storage protocols within Microsoft Windows environments. Setting itself apart from typical iSCSI software products, Hifn includes a rich feature set of storage management and data availability services designed to simplify and reduce storage management overhead and improve data security and availability for SMB/SME customers. All iSCSI management — including administration of multiple deployed appliances — is handled via an intuitive web-based GUI. The solution provides broad volume management features with support for on-the-fly volume and capacity expansion and enhanced data availability with Multi-Path I/O support, providing dual data paths for active/active access to storage. Advanced data protection is included by enabling VSS-consistent snapshots and volume-based remote replication to facilitate disaster recovery and business continuity operations. Hifn’s innovative iSCSI software also includes integrated backup, enabling users to backup directly from SAN-based storage, greatly reducing the backup window and eliminating backup traffic from the production Ethernet LAN.

Hifn’s Unified Software OEM Bundle is the industry’s only iSCSI solution with hardware-advantaged data encryption based on the company’s Express DS250/255 encryption card powered by a Hifn 8155 security processor. Designed for fast and efficient OEM integration, the DS 250/255 is a high-performance, low-power data security accelerator card that provides advanced AES256 encryption for sensitive data while meeting the standards for regulatory compliance, such as HIPAA and Sarbanes-Oxley. The DS 250/255 brings unprecedented storage security to the iSCSI market with more than 2 Gbps of accelerated compression and encryption capabilities.

Hifn Unified Storage OEM Bundle is available now. Pricing starts at $4,995 in OEM quantities.

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