NetApp Announces VMware Products

from the "It's about time" department.

Network Appliance announced February 12th that they were planning to release two products for VMware ESX Server.

The first is SnapManager for Virtual Infrastructure. This product will manage backups, recovery, and replication of NetApp storage connected to VMware Virtual Infrastructure systems. More info here: http://www.netapp.com/products/enterprise-software/manageability-software/server-suite/smgr-virtual-infrastructure.html. The product data sheet is here: http://www.netapp.com/ftp/ds_2741_snapmanager.pdf

The second product is Provision Manager which is designed to simplify and accelerate storage provisioning. More info here: http://www.netapp.com/products/enterprise-software/manageability-software/data-suite/provisioning.html. The product data sheet is here: http://www.netapp.com/ftp/ds_2742_provisioningmgr.pdf

In related news, with the release of NetApp OnTap 7.3 deduplication is available in primary storage for Network Appliance systems without the purchase of a Nearstore license. This should improve efficiencies in storage, especially where deployed systems are based on common images.