Iomega With Microsoft and Citrix Certification

Iomega, an EMC company, announced at the Storage Networking World conference a full battery of interoperability logo certifications with the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 and 2003 operating systems, as well as the Citrix XenServer server virtualization platform.

Iomega’s network storage products, the StorCenter ix4-200r rackmount server, the desktop StorCenter ix4-200d server and the recently announced desktop StorCenter ix2-200 Network Storage appliance, are all now certified for the Microsoft Windows Server Catalog and Citrix Hardware Compatibility Lists (HCLs) as part of the Citrix Ready program. Additionally, the ix2-200 iSCSI target will appear on the Windows Server Catalog by the end of October.

These certifications validate interoperability and adherence to testing criteria supporting customer deployments of Iomega network storage appliances in sophisticated environments. Additionally, logo certification assures customers of the best service from Iomega and supported operating system vendors as a result of thorough testing in applicable test suites.

Iomega also announced that it increased the capacity of the StorCenter ix4-200r, its high-performance rackmount network storage product. By incorporating 2TB SATA disk drives into the product the ix4-200r is now available in an 8TB capacity to serve the data hungry needs of virtualized environments, file serving and unstructured data applications such as video surveillance. The high performance of the ix4-200r, based on Intel Celeron processor, 8TB capacity and additional logo certifications, distinguishes the ix4-200r at the top of its class of network storage products for small and medium business, workgroups and departments.

"These additional certifications mean that new and existing customers can now use Iomega network storage products in their most sophisticated environments." said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "This is another example of the synergy between EMC and Iomega, combining EMC’s industry-leading best practices for interoperability with Iomega’s innovative storage products for small environments. Without a doubt, the logo certifications combined with the new capacity point vaults the ix4-200r to the head of its class."

The Iomega network storage products are on the respective vendors’ HCLs, and the new ix4-200r is now available worldwide from Iomega’s network of IT resellers.

Certifications for Peace of Mind in a Microsoft Environment
The Iomega StorCenter ix4-200r, ix4-200d and the recently announced ix2-200 appliance are Microsoft Windows Server 2008 x86 and x64 certified iSCSI RAID storage devices. This prestigious certification confirms that the Iomega iSCSI target products have been tested to Microsoft’s standards and customers can use these Iomega storage units with confidence in the high percentage of new Windows Server environments. The same products are also certified with Windows Server 2003 x86 and x64 as iSCSI storage devices.

Windows Server 2008 certification validates storage devices for both physical and Hyper-V virtual environments including high availability with Microsoft MPIO. Windows Server and Windows Server Hyper-V support a broad range of storage including low cost iSCSI targets such as Iomega to large scale enterprise iSCSI and Fibre Channel SAN arrays.

"Microsoft is pleased to work with Iomega to certify the StorCenter products with Windows Server and Hyper-V," said Eric Jewett, director of Windows Server Division at Microsoft. "The entry of smaller form factor storage devices such as Iomega offers customers even lower cost options for deploying Windows and Hyper-V while also offering advanced solutions and high availability."

Citrix XenServer for Streamlined Deployments
Citrix Ready certification of the Iomega products as both NAS and iSCSI storage devices with the Citrix XenServer 5.5 server virtualization platform enables customers to deploy virtualization at a very low cost. The Citrix Ready program identifies verified solutions that are trusted to enhance the Citrix Delivery Center(TM) product family, which includes XenServer. The Citrix Ready designation is awarded to third party products that have successfully met verification criteria set by Citrix, and gives customers an added confidence in the compatibility of the joint solution offering.

"By certifying interoperability with Citrix XenServer, Iomega is making it easy for their customers to fully leverage the resources and functionality of their existing storage systems with virtualization at a fraction of the cost," said Scott Armstrong, senior manager, Strategic Alliances, Citrix Systems. "This not only expands the use cases for both companies’ products, but also enables our customers to more easily integrate virtualization into their existing IT frameworks and create a more agile virtual infrastructure."

Iomega – Expanding the Use Cases for Shared Storage
With the announcement of these new certifications customers can confidently use Iomega network storage for server-based applications previously not addressed by storage in Iomega’s class.

Price and Availability
The new 8TB StorCenter ix4-200r rackmount NAS server is now available worldwide for $3,799.99. (Pricing is U.S. suggested retail.) The various Iomega network storage products are listed on the respective vendors’ Hardware Compatibility Lists (HCLs).