Sun Microsystems Unveil Autumn Data Storage Line
This week Sun Microsystems, in an effort to give their financial situation a boost, have announced a new line of data storage systems, and the Californian based company hopes that they will establish them in the growing market.
Sun unveiled three “storage appliances”, which they say are industrial strength computers primarily designed for large corporations and other organisations that need to store and retrieve large amounts of data. These storage systems represent the first real use of the company’s open source software with solid state memory drives, as well as the more commonplace rotating disks.
The development and use of solid-state memory is a huge step forwarded for the storage industry, according to Gene Ruth, who is an analyst for the Burton Group, a technology advisory service.
Solid-state drives are quite simply a variation on the “flash” memory that you would find in mobile phones and MP3 players, and give the user more speed and flexibility, not to mention, using far less energy than standard mechanical disk drives. Sun claim that these characteristics, and the use of low-cost components rather than more advanced hardware, means that customers will be able to save money from purchasing the new products.
It is only recently that solid-state drives have used in large storage systems because in the past they were too expensive, and caused technical problems. However, analysts say that because the price of solid-state drives has dropped, and companies like Sun have optimised the software’s performance, they are becoming more popular.
Sun has named the new product line “Amber Road”, and it hopes that they will give the company a bigger foothold in the, now highly competitive, storage market. Estimates say that the market is already worth a huge $40bn in sales.
The traditional disk and tae storage products account for just 17 percent of Sun’s revenue, and the company has struggled to make money over the last few quarters, however, the company has seen one of its product lines, that uses its own open source software, grow significantly in the past year.
“The open-storage line is one of a number of product bright spots for us,” said Executive Vice President John Fowler.
Along with Sun, there are a few other companies that are developing systems that use solid-state technology, including IBM, Dell and EMC. Gene Ruth believes that Sun’s software that maximises its systems technology, will give them the edge over the competition.
John Webster, from the Illuminata consulting group agrees that Suns software “really adds value to the hardware.”
“The potential for the product is very good,” but he warned tat Sun will have a tough battle ahead when its competitors bring out their new products.
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