Virsto 2.5 for Windows Server Hyper-V

Virsto Software, provider of storage hypervisor software, is shipping Virsto 2.5 for Windows Server Hyper-V.

The new product allows users to increase existing physical storage utilization by up to 90 percent, to accelerate VM provisioning and management by up to 99 percent, and to reduce the cost of storage in virtual environments by up to 70 percent.

With this release, Virsto delivers a 100 percent software storage abstraction layer with storage capabilities directly to Hyper-V, extending the benefits of virtualization beyond the server and transforming Hyper-V into a storage hypervisor.

Virsto 2.5 for Windows Server Hyper-V provides customers with a suite of capabilities that reduces the cost and complexity of storage in virtualized environments by improving storage utilization and performance, while delivering VM storage self-provisioning, automated storage space reclamation and thin provisioning.

New product features include:

• Enhanced VMM support: It delivers enhanced support for Hyper-V and the Microsoft Systems Center Virtual Machine Manager (VMM) by provisioning Virsto vDisks within the existing VMM GUI and workflow. No scripting, seamless integration, 90 percent more storage utilization. Private and public cloud implementations can use this capability to enable self-service VM provisioning at low cost.
• Bulk VM provisioning wizards: One-click VM provisioning option enables provisioning of the highest performance VHDs for new virtual machines in seconds – not 20 minutes per VM that normal provisioning requires.
• Backup and recovery: It integrates transparently with Microsoft Data Protection Manager (DPM) and Windows Volume Shadow Copy Service (VSS) functions to give customers automated backup and recovery.
• Tiering for solid state and rotating storage: It supports up to four distinct storage tiers, providing the flexibility to manage business priorities, QoS, and costs for any hardware, allowing IT organizations to utilize SSD, FC, SAS, and SATA disks.
• Systems Center Operations Manager Management Pack: It offers a new Systems Center Operations Manager Management (SCOM) pack that takes integration with Windows Server Hyper-V to the next level. Customers can deploy Virsto while they continue to manage the Hyper-V environment within native workflows.

"Virsto has been a significant Microsoft Hyper-V partner for years. Virsto 2.5 for Windows Server Hyper-V delivers added value to System Center, with additional tools that help businesses create, manage and monitor a dynamic storage environment and reap the full benefits of their infrastructure investments. Virsto continues to deliver differentiated features and functionality to Hyper-V R2 today and will to the Hyper-V R3 platform when it ships with Windows 8," said Mark Davis, CEO, Virsto.

"As Windows Server Hyper-V increasingly becomes the virtualization solution of choice for strategic workloads in the enterprise, customers look to Microsoft’s partners to offer differentiated solutions that fill specific needs. Companies like Virsto extend Windows Server Hyper-V to deliver additional benefits in virtual machine storage provisioning, VM performance and storage space efficiency, helping Microsoft deliver differentiated value to its customers," said Mike Schultz, senior director, Windows Server and Virtualization, Microsoft Corp.