HDS Storage Cluster for Hyper-V

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, Ltd., announced the availability of Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V, an innovative new business continuity and disaster recovery solution for virtualized environments based on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V.

The solution combines Microsoft Windows Server 2008 capabilities such as high availability through Microsoft Multipath I/O, server virtualization and clustering with the proven platform capabilities of Hitachi storage virtualization and system-based replication to create a cost effective, highly available and remotely replicated virtual server infrastructure for organizations looking to reduce business risk and associated downtime costs.

Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V extends Microsoft migration capabilities to remote sites, allowing midrange to enterprise customers to replicate and migrate virtual machines within virtualized environments either locally or across geographically dispersed sites.
The solution also features breakthrough automated failover and data resynchronization, as well as simplified failback of virtual machines.

Additionally, organizations looking to optimize business continuity can use the quick and live migration capabilities of Windows Server for local protection of virtual machines.

“Customers today are looking for ways extend the benefits of virtualization and local availability outside the data center to protect against localized outages and widescale system failures,” said Dai Vu, director of virtualization solutions, Server and Tools Business, Microsoft Corporation. “The combination of our proven virtualization and clustering, combined with data and replication technologies, make this possible.”

According to a recent report by Enterprise Strategy Group, an estimated 85 percent of organizations who suffer a major disaster and do not have a viable business continuity or disaster recovery solution in place are either out of business one year after the disaster or suffer huge financial losses. In addition to the many benefits that server and storage virtualization can provide separately such as consolidation, improved resource utilization, and improved performance, Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V can help organizations reduce downtime and improve data availability, which have important risk-reduction and cost savings implications.

“Today’s announcement marks another important proof point in Hitachi Data Systems’ integrated end-to-end server-to-storage virtualization strategy,” said Asim Zaheer, vice president of Product and Competitive Marketing, Hitachi Data Systems. “As the storage virtualization leader, Hitachi Data Systems is uniquely able to partner with industry leaders like Microsoft to bridge the gap between server and storage infrastructures in customers’ data centers. During a time when business continuity and disaster recovery is a critical part of everyday operations, we believe this joint solution can help organizations instantly improve operational efficiencies and cut costs, both short and long term.”

Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V Solution
Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V consists of three fundamental components: Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Data Center Editions, Hitachi Storage Cluster, and Hitachi TrueCopy software or Hitachi Universal Replicator system-based replication.

• Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Enterprise or Data Center Editions – Consists of Hyper-V, Microsoft’s hypervisor-based server virtualization technology, Failover Clustering, and Windows 2008 Server Core Installation.
• Hitachi Storage Cluster – Works with Microsoft Failover Clustering and Hitachi system-based replication to enable simple, reliable, remote replication with automated fail over and re-sync of disk resources and simplified fail back in a disaster recovery scenario. Hitachi Storage Cluster manages the direction of replication and storage resource ownership within the Hyper-V clustered environment.
• Hitachi TrueCopy and Hitachi Universal Replicator – Two Hitachi system-based replication technologies enable the physical replication of virtual machines and their associated data between sites. Both Hitachi TrueCopy software and Hitachi Universal Replicator are proven Hitachi replication technologies and are supported on the Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage and Hitachi Unified Storage Platform storage systems.

Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V is immediately available through Hitachi Data Systems Global Solution Services (GSS). GSS helps customers accelerate business continuity and disaster recovery initiatives in a virtualized environment and assists in determining the ideal match of availability.

Hitachi Data Systems at Microsoft Tech-Ed 2009
As a Microsoft Worldwide Gold Certified Partner, Hitachi Data Systems jointly demonstrates some of the world’s most demanding workloads in a secure, scalable and virtualized environment. Microsoft Tech-Ed 2009 attendees can see Hitachi Storage Cluster for Microsoft Hyper-V in action in the Microsoft Virtualization Pavilion and Hitachi Data Systems booth at the Los Angeles Convention Center, May 11 – May 14.