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Gadzoox Releases SAN Appliance

The complexity of SANs may turn away some administrators, but today, Gadzoox Networks Inc. is introducing a product to simplify SAN installation and management, a SAN appliance.

The Axxess SAN Appliance combines a Gadzoox Fibre Channel switch with an NT server into a single unit. SANSymphony, storage virtualization management software from DataCore Software Corp, runs on the server to perform SAN management duties.

Adminstrators use the Axxess appliance as a bridge between servers and storage devices, connecting them together with Fibre Channel. Users can perform a variety of SAN management tasks directly through the server. “It gives you volume allocations on the server – you don’t need any proprietary software,” says Rajan Vardarjan, channel development manager at Gadzoox.

Vardarjan says that Gadzoox is targeting the mid-to-upper market with the Axxess appliance, hoping to aid administrators with new SAN implementations. The Axxess comes in two flavors: the 2000 model, with an 11 port switch, and the 3000, with a 32 port switch.

Later this year, Compaq Computer Corp. plans to release storage virtualization appliances using its proprietary VersaStor technology. While the Compaq product may perform a similar duty to Axxess, Vardarjan says that Axxess will be attractive to a broader range of users, since it uses standard hardware. “You don’t need any special [Host Bus Adapters] on the server,” he says. - Christopher McConnell

About the Author

Scott Bekker is editor in chief of Redmond Channel Partner magazine.

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