PHOENIX, April 5, 2004 — Today at Storage Networking World (SNW) Spring 2004, Microsoft Corp. announced a new feature pack for Windows® Storage Server 2003, part of Windows Server System (TM) . The solution allows customers to consolidate Microsoft®
Exchange Server 2003 data on Windows Storage Server 2003-based network attached storage (NAS) devices, allowing improved manageability, data protection and cost savings. Microsoft today also announced new storage innovations to provide simpler and more economical management of Fibre Channel and Microsoft Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) storage area networks (SANs) in Windows.
“Customers tell us they are looking for ways to improve the efficiency of their IT infrastructure through networked storage on the Windows platform,” said Zane Adam, director of product management and marketing for storage at Microsoft. “These announcements reflect how we are meeting customers’ need to reduce storage costs with consolidated, simplified management of Exchange Server data on Windows Storage Server and how we are helping make SANs more manageable and cost-effective for organizations of all sizes.”
Extending Windows Storage Server Manageability, Simple Integration and Cost-Efficiency
Windows Storage Server 2003 with support for Exchange Server 2003 maximizes customer networked storage assets and simplifies the management of messaging infrastructure. By enabling storage consolidation of files and Exchange Server 2003 data, the solution enables small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as enterprise branch offices and departments, to reduce storage costs and ensure business continuity. The feature pack has been released to manufacturing and will be available to customers from a broad network of NAS vendors in the coming months.
Improving SAN Management Within Windows Server 2003
As part of its vision to help customers easily deploy and manage Fibre Channel SANs from Windows, Microsoft today announced new developments to enhance Windows Server (TM) 2003 when used as a host to a Fibre Channel SAN. These innovations augment the existing services and drivers in Windows Server 2003 designed specifically to support higher-performance SANs and fabric management capabilities.
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Fibre Channel Information Tool dynamically gathers component SAN information, providing customers with critical configuration data needed to troubleshoot multivendor environments. This tool will be available for download free of charge at http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/ in May. Emulex Corp., LSI Logic Corp. and QLogic Corp. will demonstrate this product at SNW Spring 2004.
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Storage tracing support within Windows Server 2003 consolidates the various tracing and logging mechanisms used by storage drivers on SANs. The feature will be available as part of Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003. Adaptec Inc., Emulex, Intel Corp., LSI Logic and QLogic have already committed to support this new capability in their storage drivers.
Microsoft Continuing Its Investment in iSCSI
Released in June 2003, the Microsoft Internet Small Computer System Interface architecture makes it possible for Windows customers to take advantage of standard network infrastructure for block-based storage without having to invest in additional hardware. To date, more than 18 leading storage hardware vendors have qualified their iSCSI products for use with Windows under the iSCSI Designed for Windows Logo Program. Building on this progress, Microsoft today announced new iSCSI developments:
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Microsoft iSCSI architecture is now supported with Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition. iSCSI hardware vendors can begin qualification of their iSCSI hardware products for Windows Server 2003 Datacenter Edition, allowing for greater choice of iSCSI solutions for customers. To date, 13 iSCSI vendors have completed datacenter device qualification testing. A list of qualified iSCSi devices can be found online at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/storage/iscsi.mspx .
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Native iSCSI support is provided for Microsoft Multipath I/O. Support has been improved for multipath failover and load balancing between the Microsoft iSCSI Initiator and iSCSI targets. Native Microsoft MPIO support will be included in Microsoft iSCSI Software Initiator version 2.0, available at the end of 2004. Customers and partners can sign up for the beta by visiting http://beta.microsoft.com/ and using the following guest ID: iSCSI (case sensitive).
About Windows Server System
Microsoft Windows Server System is an integrated and interoperable server infrastructure that reduces IT complexity to enable IT professionals to deliver innovative solutions that meet the changing needs of business. With Windows Server 2003 at the foundation, Windows Server System is engineered from the ground up for XML Web services based on Microsoft .NET technologies to connect information, people, systems and devices. Based on a common software architecture that spans all facets of IT from design, development and deployment through ongoing management and usage, Windows Server System provides comprehensive IT infrastructure for operations (security, systems management, networked storage), applications (data management and analysis, e-business), and information work (messaging, communications and collaboration). More information on Microsoft Windows Server System can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/windowsserversystem/ .
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.
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