Iomega Now Also in Virtualization for SMBs

Iomega, an EMC company, announced that the Iomega StorCenter ix2 and Iomega StorCenter Pro ix4-100 desktop network attached storage (NAS) products have achieved VMware Ready Certified status. These easy-to-use, inexpensive NAS appliances represent a value standard for implementing virtualization using VMware in small businesses, remote offices and similarly sized work groups.

Starting at under $300, small business customers and others can utilize Iomega NAS products with VMware to reduce costs and business risk. For example, a small business running Microsoft Exchange on one server and Microsoft Dynamics GP ERP on another server can use VMware to run both those applications on a single server and an Iomega ix2 or ix4-100 NAS. Reducing the number of servers reduces costs – server capital costs, server power consumption, and server management time.

The Iomega StorCenter ix2 and StorCenter Pro ix4-100 NAS devices are showcased this week in the EMC booth at VMworld Europe 2009 in Cannes, France (February 24-26, 2009).

"Iomega is proud to have our NAS products be among the first storage products of this class to be VMware Ready Certified to enable small business entities and other work groups to enjoy the efficiencies of a VMware platform," said Jonathan Huberman, President of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "The StorCenter ix2 and ix4 can now be the low cost platforms for VMware environments at businesses that might never have been able to take advantage of virtualization to save money and increase computing efficiencies. Now small businesses, remote offices and other work groups can unleash the power of virtualization to fuel the success of their businesses."

"Now that the Iomega StorCenter ix2 and ix4 are VMware Ready Certified, a new set of customers can take advantage of the simplicity, manageability and reliability that VMware Infrastructure delivers," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances, VMware. "There are many businesses worldwide with fewer than 100 employees who want the full range of operational benefits and cost savings that the VMware platform offers, including the use of shared storage. Iomega’s solutions put shared storage within reach of these businesses."

Iomega Value to VMware users
Customers can utilize Iomega network storage devices as NFS Datastores upon which to start and build their VMware environments. Iomega devices enable users to economically start with a single server to enjoy the basic benefits of VMware – including hardware independence, software portability and better server utilization virtualization, and easily expand the environment to multiple servers and shared storage to take advantage of advanced features like VMware VMotion, VMware High Availability (HA) and VMware Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) to optimize server utilization and to insulate applications from server outages.

Typical Use Cases
VMware Ready Certified Iomega StorCenter network storage is ideal for users who are considering virtualization for the first time and require shared storage to take full advantage of the power of the VMware platform. Typically, small businesses and other similarly sized work groups within larger organizations require cost-effective equipment for test and development, proofs of concept, and low risk initial deployments. These smaller user groups must adhere to the same regulatory and legal requirements as large enterprises – often without the same financial resources to invest in their data management solutions. The StorCenter ix2 and StorCenter Pro ix4-100 deliver dependable shared storage at prices that enable new users to get started with VMware virtualization.

Additionally, the Iomega and VMware infrastructure combination delivers value to larger organizations looking to deploy virtualization in branch office environments. The ease of use and low-cost of Iomega storage unlocks the power of VMware virtualization for businesses such as retail outlets with modest IT needs and no IT staff.

Industrial Strength Features
of Iomega StorCenter products
The dual-drive StorCenter ix2 NAS and the new quad-drive StorCenter Pro ix4-100 NAS represent today’s most advanced and easy-to-use network storage appliances for small businesses, remote offices and work groups.

The Iomega ix2 and ix4-100 devices protect users’ data with RAID algorithms, as well as providing UPS support to provide data consistency in the event of a power failure. The ix4-100 also supports user replaceable disk drives to maximize data protection coverage in the event of a hardware failure.

VMware users can take advantage of the NFS and CIFS file sharing attributes of the ix2 and ix4 – both devices are VMware Ready Certified as NFS storage – as well as other enterprise features such as support for Active Directory users and groups; email home; FTP, SNMP and NTP support; users and groups; quotas and jumbo frames.

StorCenter ix2 and StorCenter Pro ix4-100:
Standard Pricing and Availability
The StorCenter ix2 Network Storage appliance, recommended for groups of 12 users or less, is available worldwide for $299.95 for the 1TB capacity unit, and $479.95 for a 2TB capacity unit. The StorCenter Pro ix4-100 NAS Server, recommended for up to 25 users, is available worldwide in a 2TB unit for $799.95, and a 4TB unit for $1,299.95. (All prices are U.S. suggested retail.)