Software Doubling Performance of EMC Symmetrix VMAX

EMC Corporation announced software capabilities for its  Symmetrix VMAX storage systems, increasing performance and simplifying the way petabytes of information can be managed.

Symmetrix VMAX Software Highlights:

• The latest version of Symmetrix Enginuity software doubles system performance with no hardware upgrade required. It leverages Intel Xeon technology integrated into VMAX to deliver up to twice as many OLTP transactions and DSS queries, making the fastest storage system even faster and further increasing workload scale.
• New EMC FAST VP (Fully Automated Storage Tiering with Virtual Pools) software optimizes Symmetrix VMAX for performance, utilization, and cost. Compared to single-tier systems, FAST VP delivers up to 40% more application performance at a 40% lower cost while requiring 87% fewer disks and 75% less power. The energy efficiencies of VMAX with FAST VP will enable customers to reduce power consumption in 2011 by over 270 million kilowatt hours – enough to power 24,400 homes.
• New Federated Live Migration software creates a new storage category by introducing a built-in array-based functionality for technology refreshes that require zero application downtime and 75% less migration time, planning, and resources.
• New virtual server integration delivers scale with up to 5 million virtual machines on a single VMAX. In addition, new VMware API support provides 800% faster management and provisioning and 300% faster replication and mobility.
• New hardware-based encryption for safeguarding data-at-rest with no performance impact. Built-in RSA Data Protection Manager technology provides drive-level data security combined with key management that when combined with existing VMAX security technologies, provides a secure multi-tenancy storage infrastructure.
• New native 10 Gigabit Ethernet delivers an high end storage array to support network convergence across all host platform types, including virtual servers, open systems, and mainframe environments. In addition, native Ethernet support can be used for remote replication over extended IP networks and provides a more than 50% connectivity cost savings compared to competitive alternatives.

"Nationwide is one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world. We need our storage infrastructure to be scalable, secure and high performing,  Symmetrix VMAX with FAST VP is an ideal fit, especially with our virtual server environment. The intelligent self-optimization feature automatically moves data to the most appropriate storage tier based on performance requirements. Infrequently accessed records are also automatically moved to the most cost effective tier. FAST VP is smart, which will allow us to deliver the fast response and high service levels our customers expect," said Fred Pantelano, Vice President, Infrastructure and Operations, Nationwide.

"EMC storage technology is a key part of our information infrastructure, which provides mission-critical e-mail applications for our residential and business customers nationwide. Our customers expect the highest levels of broadband service, so monitoring and reacting to changing data usage patterns manually is impossible. FAST VP allows us to optimize our system for the best performance, take advantage of flash drive technology and maximize the efficiency of our storage infrastructure automatically," said John Fernandez-Martin, director of service operations at Cox Communications, the third-largest U.S. cable TV company.

"Just a few years ago, the features that EMC is delivering would have required a new hardware platform. EMC, in many ways, has changed the game with the processing power and scalability of Symmetrix VMAX, making storage software the key to automation that makes it easier than ever for customers to get value out of existing enterprise-class storage investments and to drive adoption of technologies like flash drives and virtualization of mission-critical applications," said Brian Garrett, Vice President, ESG Lab, Enterprise Strategy Group, Inc.

"Symmetrix VMAX was purpose built for the virtual data center and supports some of the largest data centers in the world. We have about 1,000 customers in our Petabyte Club now and within the next ten years, we’ll have 100,000. That data growth is being driven by trends like mission-critical virtual applications, private clouds and Big Data applications. To manage and secure that information, organizations will need a storage infrastructure that is both powerful and smart. With today’s announcement, we’ve taken the smartest high-end storage system and made it even smarter and we’ve taken the fastest system and made it faster," said Brian Gallagher, President, EMC Symmetrix and Virtualization Product Group.

All of the new Symmetrix VMAX features listed above are generally available.