Fujitsu vShape Integrates Latest Storage Cluster Technologies

Fujitsu announces the integration of NetApp clustered Data ONTAP into its proven vShape reference architecture. This integrates Fujitsu’s x86 PRIMERGY servers, Brocade’s switches and NetApp’s storage systems to provide enterprises with a scale-out shared infrastructure that is more flexible and better able to expand to cope with near unlimited data growth.

In a move that makes the Fujitsu reference architecture more scalable and even easier for customers to manage, Fujitsu has synchronized all elements for defined software package sizes, and Fujitsu vShape is validated by all three vendors as a single solution. For customers, the benefit is the peace of mind and convenience of an architecture with proven scalability, all managed via a single point of contact.

It is this flexibility that makes Fujitsu’s latest vShape solution ideal for the enterprise, in contrast to offerings from other vendors, which depend on local hardware or servers in order to scale to meet ever-increasing storage demands.

The fully virtualized Fujitsu vShape solution is a dedicated enterprise-class appliance that is specifically designed to cope with even as-yet-unknown infrastructure demands. This ensures that Information and Communication Technology systems are flexible enough to support businesses by coping with future use cases, as well as directly addressing the continued headache of managing rapid data growth. As a result, vShape allows enterprises to scale out within a single storage system, providing virtualized shared infrastructures that are designed for non-disruptive operations throughout a system’s lifetime.

Customers choosing Fujitsu vShape also minimize system downtime thanks to NetApp clustered Data ONTAP. The self-healing system allows tasks such as storage maintenance, hardware lifecycle operations and software upgrades to be completed on a running system by freeing up one node for maintenance. As a result, customers save time and money by being able to consolidate and share the same infrastructure for workloads with varying requirements in terms of performance, capacity and security.

By adopting a completely virtualized IT infrastructure like Fujitsu vShape businesses are empowered to decide how they want to store information now and in the future – either holding data on-premise or via a cloud set-up. The latest enhancements to vShape also allow companies to decouple their IT from application lifecycles and switch to an ‘operating concept’ instead of a dedicated hardware stack. As a result, enterprises gain a flexible way to deal with inevitable data growth and data management challenges, and can avoid vendor lock-in.

Supporting quotes
According to Bernhard Brandwitte, Vice President Storage Business at Fujitsu: “Every business has unique, constantly changing and evolving IT requirements, but they all have one thing in common, which is the exploding and exponential growth of their data. Although nobody can predict the future, choosing Fujitsu vShape allows enterprises to plan for it, by putting in place a flexible foundation. As a totally virtualized IT environment, vShape guarantees the flexibility to keep up with even unknown levels of future storage requirements.”

Manfred Reitner, Senior Vice President & General Manager EMEA, NetApp comments: “vShape is now available for the first time with NetApp clustered Data ONTAP, delivering seamless scale-out operations and consistent data management for converged infrastructures. Enterprises can drive significant value as cDOT helps eliminate planned downtime and enables them to service their infrastructure without disrupting access to user data and applications. In combination with other best-of-breed technologies for computer and network, Fujitsu with vShape offers a strategic all-in-one approach for customers’ datacenter and cloud requirements.”

Marcus Jewell, Vice President of Brocade, EMEA says: “Fujitsu’s new vShape solution, including Brocade’s Ethernet switching and now with NetApp clustered Data ONTAP, further expands Fujitsu’s ability to provide an open virtualization solution that is simple to scale and manage for customers. They want solutions which are simple to deploy, and also meet their need for enterprise-level scalability and reliability. Brocade’s Ethernet switches, supported by Fujitsu and designed into vShape, allow customers to scale by buying only what they need today, and then easily scaling user ports and adding higher level services as their infrastructure and network requirements evolve.”

Pricing and availability
vShape, including PRIMERGY servers, NetApp storage, Brocade switches and virtualization software from VMware or Microsoft is available through Fujitsu and channel partners. Pricing varies according to region and specifications.

Online resources
- vShape Case studies: http://www.go-vshape.com/en/best-practices
- About NetApp ONTAP 8 storage platform: http://www.netapp.com/us/products/platform-os/data-ontap-8/unified-architecture.aspx
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