Symantec FileStore to Build Private Enterprise Cloud Services

Symantec Corp. announced Symantec FileStore , a new solution enabling organizations to build scalable, high-performance file-based storage services for their enterprise, including private and public clouds.

Now available, FileStore can uniquely manage and protect critical information, maximize system performance and scale performance and capacity non-disruptively as application needs change. Organizations of any size wanting to leverage private clouds for the benefits of availability and the ability to manage large volumes of data can reduce their costs with a platform-independent software solution combined with commodity hardware.

Symantec currently deploys FileStore as the file-based storage architecture in its own cloud services, with more than 40 petabytes of online storage for more than nine million active users – the largest SaaS storage environment in the world. Symantec also leverages Veritas Storage Foundation for Windows and Veritas Cluster Server to manage this backup storage. With FileStore, Symantec delivers reliable, high-performance online backup services at a fraction of the cost by driving up storage utilization rates and eliminating planned downtime required to scale performance, capacity or daily administration tasks.

With FileStore, organizations can add or remove storage dynamically without taking systems offline. FileStore integrates natively with Symantec’s leading security and information management solutions, including Symantec NetBackup and Symantec Endpoint Protection. These services run directly on the FileStore nodes, thereby reducing performance bottlenecks, enhancing security and simplifying operations by eliminating the requirement for additional server and storage resources for backup and security.

A single FileStore system scales up to 16 nodes, and 2 PB of total storage. Although these maximums are impressive, the product is designed to scale from entry-level configurations in affordable increments that match the IT organization’s need and budget. A simple implementation process self-deploys and self-configures based on just a few administrator-provided parameters, yet meets the performance requirements of demanding large-file applications such as medical imaging and geophysical exploration.

FileStore takes advantage of Symantec’s market-leading cross-platform file system that provides the cornerstone of an effective computing environment, which began 20 years ago with the first journaled UNIX file system, Veritas Storage Foundation, and has continued to evolve with Veritas Cluster File System. FileStore provides a consistent foundation between traditional storage models and new private cloud models, designed to increase scalability to support multi-petabyte applications, while also significantly enhancing the resiliency of storage environments and keeping storage capital and operational costs low.

Pricing and Availability
Symantec FileStore is available immediately and pricing begins at $6,995 USD for two nodes and two CPU sockets.

"Our ISE technology is helping to deliver on the promises of cloud computing, as the cloud is becoming more of a reality for many of our customers. However, new technologies will be required to help them navigate potential challenges and maximize ROI, security and efficiency during and after the transition," said Mike Hoch, vice president of Xiotech, an innovator in data storage. "With FileStore, Symantec is providing enterprises with a great set of tools to deliver their own storage services, and we look forward to providing our joint customers with solutions that reduce storage operation and management costs and enable storage in the cloud."

"As a growing number of enterprises look for ways to improve storage efficiency and reduce management complexity of their growing environments, they look to leverage storage architecture designs already deployed by storage service and public cloud providers. In evaluating their options, enterprise storage managers must consider the cost, scalability, availability, manageability and performance of any solution that will serve as the foundation for file-based storage services," said Noemi Greyzdorf, IDC Research Manager. "With FileStore, Symantec is poised to deliver a platform that will provide the essential infrastructure to address the evolving demands of enterprise storage environments."

"FileStore delivers new innovations in storage architecture driven largely by Internet, service provider and SaaS companies. By combining commodity hardware with high-value storage software, these companies are creating file-based storage architectures with equivalent performance and availability and at even larger scales than enterprises – but for a fraction of the cost," said Jeff Reed, vice president of clustered storage at Symantec. "By leveraging our own online storage solutions and data center and infrastructure technologies and experiences, we are able to offer enterprises FileStore – the flexible, high-performance file services platform that organizations need to ensure that their public and private clouds are secure, available and cost effective."