Syncsort ECX Enterprise Catalog Delivers Insight, Analytics and Search Functions

At NetApp Insight 2013, Syncsort Inc. announced the availability of a data management solution, ECX Enterprise Catalog.

It provides a centralized, scalable and easy way to catalog and search the NetApp ONTAP and VMware landscape, delivering valuable information that empowers IT to increase storage efficiency, accelerate the use of snapshot technology for efficient data protection and ensure compliance.

ECX software users gain needed visibility into their file and VM environment across all tiers, helping them achieve operational efficiency to control costs, identify unprotected data or indicate where protection may have failed due to an errant configuration, change or other issues.

“The ECX Enterprise Catalog opens a new era of opportunities for customers to gain critical and rapid insight into their environments as they deal with explosive data growth,” said Flavio Santoni, CEO, Syncsort data protection business. “This insight will enable significant opportunities for improving storage efficiency and reducing costs, as well as accelerating the use of snapshot technology as a high performance and efficient form of data protection.”

ECX’s search and reporting capabilities are easy to deploy, to learn and use, and ready to scale to large data environments.

Highlights include:

• Co-exists with any data protection solution that customers use – no need for rip and replace
• Can be deployed and operational in 15mn as a VM appliance, and can scale to handle billions of objects
• Provides deep insights into the NetApp ONTAP environment by cataloging all existing Snapshots, SnapVault and SnapMirror volumes and the files contained in them, and numerous other NetApp system objects including nodes, LUNs, aggregates, qtrees, volumes, CIFS and NFS shares, and vFilers
• Catalogs the presence and location of VMware objects, including VMs, data stores and LUNs, allowing rapid location of objects as well as detailed efficiency reporting.
• Delivers timely, useful information by finding files quickly and reliably across both primary disk and all tiers of snapshot copies, resulting in the ability to enable higher levels of efficiency by increasing insight into an organization’s storage and VM infrastructure
• Assures data is properly protected at all times by identifying unprotected volumes or data on unsecured storage, so corrective measures can be taken
• Saves time and resources with a search capability that returns rich information ins and with reports that can be generated automatically and sent via email in multiple formats including PDFs, Excel and Word
• Bolsters performance and efficiency by identifying volumes that may have more snapshot retention then they require, snapshots that are taking up an excessive percentage of space, or VMs that are no longer used

“We value the contribution of our partners to enrich the benefits customers derive from NetApp platforms,” said Maria Olson, VP global alliances, NetApp, Inc. “Syncsort has been a long time partner of NetApp. The ECX Enterprise Catalog will enable new levels of insight that will lead to increased operational efficiency, while accelerating customers’ ability to leverage NetApp’s leading snapshot technology for efficient data protection.”

ECX’s file reporting and analytics can also be used to quickly pinpoint areas of inefficient use of storage, identifying old files that have not been accessed for a set amount of time, extremely large files, file types that may violate storage policies (video, music) and unused VMs.

“Disk to disk backup without indexing is not enough to eliminate traditional tape backup. ECX addresses this need,” said Mark O’Pella, senior staff, systems architect, Rosetta Resources, Inc., a Houston, TX-based oil and gas company. “ECX’s SnapVault indexing capabilities provided what I needed to eliminate tape backup in my environment.”

ECX cataloging is not dependent on any specific tool or bound to any specific time period. It catalogs snapshots created by PowerShell, NetApp OnCommand  Unified Manager, SnapCreator, SnapManager, OSSV, SnapProtect, etc.  It does not interfere with or replace traditional backup technologies. It catalogs an organization’s entire existing file history on disk, not only new data added after it is installed. Even if IT has stored years of snapshots on disk, ECX will catalog all of them and give a complete view of the NetApp environment.

“Increasingly, customers seek to utilize snapshots as a way to manage and protect their data particularly in virtual environments,” said Robert Amatruda, research director, data protection and recovery, IDC. “Syncsort’s ECX Enterprise Catalog gives VMware and NetApp customers the ability to discover, search, navigate and query information resident inside snapshots for expanded use-cases, providing greater value in maximizing operational efficiency, data protection and compliance.”

“Given the unfettered growth of unstructured data across primary storage systems, there is a clear need for a more granular level of intelligence on the disposition of data across storage – for rapid search, compliance and storage reclamation,” said George Crump, founder and analyst, Storage Switzerland. “The ECX Enterprise Catalog is an innovative new technology that addresses these needs and is very well aligned with NetApp’s Snapshot approach. With ECX, Syncsort is uniquely providing search and reporting capabilities that give deep insights into NetApp ONTAP and VMware.”

“Syncsort Data Protection Group has delivered something needed and valuable with its ECX Enterprise Catalog,” said David Floyer, co-founder and CTO, Wikibon. “It allows the NetApp and VMware user communities insight into their data infrastructure, keeps track of all logical and physical copies and helps ensure protection in an imaginative and beneficial way. There is rich potential for Syncsort to grow the scope of what the ECX catalog covers.”

“IT organizations are under tremendous pressure from the combination of growing data volumes and limited IT budgets,” said Randy Kerns, senior Strategist, Evaluator Group. “In order to tackle the problem of growing data, you have to first have insight into data in the enterprise. Syncsort’s new ECX Enterprise Catalog makes this possible.”

“With the ECX catalog, Syncsort is delivering on a long-standing need: the ability to catalog IT objects,” said Christine Taylor, analyst, Taneja Group. “By consolidating IT information into a single, scalable database that allows for search and reporting, Syncsort is opening up a new and valuable area of IT software.”

“Syncsort has created a solid platform that fills key gaps for NetApp users by providing powerful catalog and search across the NetApp infrastructure,” said Bob Kerr, VP, SwishData Corp.http://www.swishdata.com/ “ECX reports give IT deep insights that help uncover storage inefficiency and validate data protection.”

“ECX is an exciting new product offering from Syncsort. As a partner, it opens up many new business opportunities for us,” said Andy Schüpbach, product manager, ABO-Storage Distribution AG, a Swiss distributor of storage products and data management solutions. “It also provides our customers with an excellent tool to better manage and understand their NetApp environments.”

“ECX is an exciting new product offering from Syncsort,” said Lee Rosales director, Simplify IT Solutions, Ltd, a storage-centric infrastructure specialist in the UK. “From a single pane of glass, NetApp users have file level reporting and an indexed searchable catalogue across all NetApp systems regardless of location. This is the missing link to add storage efficiency to the file services and will help reduce data capacity and management overhead and hence lower storage costs.”