HDS Unveils Integrated File Sync and Share for Enterprise

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation unveiled solutions and services that allow enterprises to adopt cloud computing more readily, enable their mobile workforce more securely and reliably, and provide a better IT experience to their end users.

The family of cloud services and solutions offer new options to help manage the multiple demands of IT. These demands include growth of unstructured data, user expectations to access information from anywhere, and the requirement to ensure security, simplicity and protection of all data wherever it lives.

With this offerings, customers can achieve the cost and flexibility benefits of the cloud by reducing capex and opex:

• Hitachi Content Platform (HCP) Anywhere: The integrated file sync and share solution that is built, sold and supported for the enterprise by a single vendor. It brings secure mobility to the enterprise – it lets users access data and collaborate on any device, from any location at any time and easily share files. And IT keeps the data within its control, security and compliance practices, unlike consumer-grade file sharing services which have struggled to gain the confidence of enterprise IT groups. HCP Anywhere is built for the enterprise and jumps ahead of alternatives in ease of implementation and control of important, but rarely discussed issues of encryption, key ownership and terms of service.
• New version of HCP: One cloud storage platform for data protection, enterprise mobility and content cloud, it features advanced metadata management and sets a foundation for big data and analytics.
• Hitachi Cloud Services: An extension of the enterprise into a secure, robust, content cloud managed by HDS.
• Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program: A partner-provided public cloud offering built on HDS cloud infrastructure and solutions, it is part of a new HDS cloud partner framework.

"Though consumer file sync and share options have been available for some time, options for the enterprise are still emerging," said Terri McClure, senior analyst, ESG. "With this new cloud package, HDS is leveraging its enterprise solution provider strengths at the core and has done a nice job providing a consumer-like experience at the edge. Its new HCP Anywhere application and platform should be particularly appealing to security-conscious end users who need to lock down access to business data and leverage additional cloud capabilities and support to satisfy end user requirements for data access across multiple devices. HDS already has a reputation of trust with this customer base and the economics for its file sync and share are very compelling. With all the back-end integration, self-service and controls HDS offers today and plans to add, HDS appears to be bringing a serious enterprise sync and share solution to market."

"Our unique approach to cloud allows our customers to choose the best possible solutions to address their needs, at their own pace, and in a way that makes sense for their business," said John Mansfield, EVP, global solutions strategy and development, HDS. "Our cloud portfolio does more than just solve the challenges customers face today – it sets them up for what is coming next. Trends like big data, bring your own device, next-generation file services, secure clouds, distributed IT, and metadata-driven automation, management and analytics are quickly becoming pervasive. The products and services we are announcing today allow enterprise organizations to use cloud and file sharing in ways that were never before possible. It is with these new offerings that customers can further innovate with information as the IT industry continues to evolve."

HDS delivers secure, flexible, scalable and easy-to-manage private, hybrid and public cloud infrastructures that enable businesses to lower TCO, meet service level agreements, and improve operational efficiency. At the heart of HDS cloud solutions are a set of cloud-enabled platforms that support the unified, virtualized and distributed environments common in organizations.

Together, HDS cloud solutions based on HCP enable organizations to experience some of these benefits:

• Reduce TCO by 60%.
• Reduce space needed for backups by 30%.
• Create a 2-year deferral on new storage purchases.
• Enable 5 times more terabytes managed per administrator.

HCP Anywhere:
Bring Enterprise to the Mobile Workforce
It an integrated solution for safe, secure file sharing and synchronization. It is enterprise- and Internet-ready. It makes it possible for employees to access any data, from anywhere, at anytime on any device. But it also gives data control back to the business by ensuring that end-to-end file sharing solutions are deployed safely, securely, and with corporate oversight.

HCP Anywhere is easy to set up, deploy and manage for IT as well as users. No end user training is required and a self-service portal is provided. It works with existing IT practices and processes and no backups are needed. End users can download the HCP Anywhere client app on their iOS devices from the Apple iTunes store.

Users save a file to their HCP Anywhere folder and they instantly become more mobile. HCP Anywhere automatically syncs to all registered devices and becomes available via Web browsers. Users can bring their own device and have access to work files anywhere, not just in their offices. And they can safely share files with access-controlled, time-sensitive links.

IT gets easy administration with built-in mobile device management, auditing and integration with Microsoft Active Directory, so it’s easy to add and manage large numbers of users. Users can send links instead of attachments, reducing email storage and network payloads. The software uses HCP to store, protect, share, sync, secure and manage data an efficient, scalable and high-density object storage platform where the data is single-instanced, compressed and free from tape backup. Beyond sync and share, with HCP Anywhere gives IT a quality cloud storage platform that works with modern workloads and future plans.

With HCP Anywhere, organizations can:

• Safely enable mobility and BYOD capabilities.
• Improve information access to drive business growth.
• Increase IT efficiency to control cost.
• Reduce loss of data caused by rogue applications.
• Avoid legal and compliance issues arising from rogue data on unknown user devices.

New HCP: Scalable Cloud Storage Platform
HCP is an object store and scalable, reliable foundation for Hitachi cloud solutions and services. It virtualizes infrastructures and automates IT operations so customers can manage rapidly growing and increasingly diverse file data. Multitenancy, built-in data protection, and security, along with chargeback data features, make HCP suited to cloud service providers who offer storage-as-a-service, enterprise IT environments who struggle with data volumes, data growth, backup and data governance or security issues, and medium-sized data-driven organizations who have growing data volumes.

New version of HCP includes several enhancements:

• Cloud application support: Customers can take advantage of the new ecosystem of cloud applications built for Amazon S3, while still securely storing their data on their own premises.
• Metadata intelligence: Tag files with custom metadata from multiple users and applications to automate more intelligently, simplify management, aid in search, and support analytics.
• VMware: Customers can use the server platform of their choice along with VMware to run HCP.
• Tiering to external storage: Customers can enjoy the intelligence of HCP while leveraging other media types to store data.

Hitachi Cloud Services
and Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program
HDS provides hosted cloud storage for the unstructured data that organizations wish to store offsite. These cloud options extend onsite storage solutions to the cloud using HDS platforms and support easy, reliable access to the data, regardless of location. New Hitachi Cloud Services are managed by HDS consultants and best practices. The offsite and enterprise-to-cloud management offering includes a set of cloud storage services as well as REST API support to enable interoperability with enterprise applications for integrated architectures for all information, both onsite in data centers and in the cloud.

The Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program was developed for Hitachi cloud service providers to host, manage and sell HDS cloud services to their customers. Cloud service providers build and manage their hosted cloud environments on HDS cloud platforms and technologies. They represent one of several partnering options covered by a new HDS partner framework that also includes cloud builder partners and cloud resellers.

Hitachi Data Systems Cloud Solutions
and Services Availability
HCP Anywhere and HCP are available worldwide directly through HDS and Hitachi TrueNorth partners. Later this year, enhancements to HCP Anywhere will include integration with Hitachi Data Ingestor, the company’s bottomless, backup free cloud on ramp, to improve content distribution and simplify management. Hitachi Cloud Services are available in the U.S. directly through HDS and globally later this year through Hitachi TrueNorth partners. The Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program is available in the U.S. to Hitachi Cloud Service Providers and through HDS partners later this year.

"In the next five years there will be two types of CIOs – those who have embraced content management solutions and implemented them today and those who are looking for a new job. The sound of a successful content management solution with Hitachi Content Platform is silence. The sound of not using HCP or another content management solution is that of a backup tape breaking. HCP Anywhere will drive the adoption of archive solutions as it is the cumulative effect of users’ habits that drive data management. HCP will be the logical storage solution for the influx of human-created data," said Dustin Smith, regional CTO, Allen Systems Group, Inc.

"HCP has always been extremely reliable, with first class backup, replication, performance and availability. The new metadata capabilities in HCP will help us better manage file data overall, give us some built in query capabilities for day-to-day use, and prepare us for more advanced analytics down the road," said Erich Zeindlhofer, IT manager, Kremsmüller Industrieanlagenbau KG.

"At the Garvan Institute we focus on understanding the role of genes as well as molecular and cellular processes in health and disease. Secure collaboration on large data sets is critical for developing future cures. We’re excited to explore the productivity and innovation benefits that HCP Anywhere can bring to our researchers by extending our information infrastructure directly to mobile devices such as laptops, tablets and even smart phones to deliver pioneering research into some of the most widespread diseases affecting our society today," said Dr. Warren Kaplan, bioinformatics specialist, Centre for Clinical Genomics, Garvan Institute of Medical Research.