Oracle VM Storage Connect Program

Continuing its commitment to work closely with partners to deliver complete, open, and integrated solutions to customers, Oracle announced the Oracle VM Storage Connect Program and a preview of the planned Oracle VM Storage Connect framework.

The Oracle VM Storage Connect framework provides a storage discovery and provisioning Application Programming Interface (API) that is intended to greatly enhance the ease with which storage can be managed and provisioned in an Oracle VM environment.

Storage vendors participating in the Oracle VM Storage Connect Program are working closely with Oracle to provide seamless interoperability with their storage platform through the planned integration with the Oracle VM Storage Connect framework.
The combined solutions will allow customers to provision and manage participating storage platforms through Oracle VM Manager and Oracle Enterprise Manager, simplifying virtual infrastructure management, and delivering faster virtual machine configuration and control.

Public and private cloud infrastructures using virtualized compute and storage services will also benefit from accelerated provisioning and simpler, integrated management.

Leading vendors who support and have already joined the Oracle VM Storage Connect Program include AMD, Brocade, Chelsio Communications, Compellent, EMC, Emulex, FalconStor, Fujitsu, Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett Packard, IBM, Intel, LSI, Mellanox Technologies, NEC, NetApp, Pillar Data Systems, QLogic, Sun Microsystems, Symantec and Voltaire.

Oracle VM Storage Connect partners Hitachi Data Systems, Hewlett-Packard, and NetApp will all be demonstrating their implementations using the previewed Oracle VM Storage Connect framework at Oracle OpenWorld. In addition, all three partners will be giving presentations during the conference.

Partners and Customers
Benefit from Extensive Access to Oracle Resources
In development over the past year, the Oracle VM Storage Connect framework will enable Oracle VM Manager to directly leverage the resources and functionality of existing storage systems in the Oracle VM environment, supporting native storage services such as Logical Unit Number (LUN) creation, deletion, expansion, and snapshot.

The integrated solutions will enable end users to reduce cost and simplify storage maintenance and set-up by allowing virtualization and storage management through a common user interface.

Through the program, partners have access to Oracle’s development resources, as well as benefit from joint marketing initiatives.

The Oracle VM Storage Connect framework does not require storage vendors to change any of their hardware, array software or client software, thus allowing partners to improve time to market.

Partners planning to implement
the Oracle VM Storage Connect framework
can provide their end users with the following benefits:

• Better visibility of the underlying storage;
• Improved allocation of server space; and
• Tighter integration between storage and Oracle VM.

Production release of the Oracle VM Storage Connect framework is intended to be available in the next major release of Oracle VM scheduled for Calendar Year 2010.

“Users are consistently looking for the best way to leverage existing resources and to simplify management,” said Benjamin S. Woo, vice president of storage research at IDC. “The Oracle VM Storage Connect framework can allow end-users to take advantage of the storage systems they have in place, in virtual and cloud environments, thereby helping to reduce the total cost of operations.”

“Oracle VM momentum continues as customers are virtualizing business critical database and application workloads. Through the Oracle VM Storage Connect Program, our customers will further benefit from simpler management and accelerated provisioning, enabling lower cost and greater agility. The Oracle Storage Connect framework will help Oracle Partners to easily extend the work they have done, in areas like advanced storage features, to new opportunities. This program is a win-win for everyone," said Wim Coekaerts, vice president Linux and Virtualization Engineering, Oracle.

“Oracle is dedicated to working closely with partners to satisfy our customers’ needs with industry-leading solutions that are powered by the Oracle software stack,” said Judson Althoff, Senior Vice President, Worldwide Alliances and Channels, Oracle. “The Oracle VM Storage Connect Program is closely aligned with the Specialization goals of our new OPN program. Through OPN Specialized and the Storage Connect Program customers can quickly identify the right Oracle solutions together with the best partner with proven skills and resources in that area providing the customer with total solutions that are easy to acquire, quick to deploy and have low total cost of ownership.”