Fujitsu Asia Launches CentricStor Virtual Tape Appliance

Singapore, November 18, 2004

Fujitsu Asia Pte Ltd, a leading regional IT and communications solutions provider, today announced the launch of CentricStor, the world’s first self-contained virtual tape appliance designed to support major system platforms, tape automation platforms and tape devices in heterogeneous environments.

Developed by Fujitsu Siemens Computers, the leading European IT provider, CentricStor (www.centricstor.com) is a fail-save disaster protection solution that provides disk-to-disk-to-tape backup (D2D2T) with integrated Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) functions.

CentricStor offers platform-independent data protection and consolidation of all tape storage resources with seamless integration in mainframe and open-system environments. The integrated ILM functionality improves quality of service to simplify administration and automate tape processing.

Supporting all market-leading backup applications, major tape automation systems and tape drive technologies, CentricStor is designed using the principle of tape virtualization and thus eliminates bottlenecks that could otherwise occur while backing up large amounts of business-critical data. In addition, tape virtualization makes it unnecessary to adapt proven backup scenarios, and upgrades to the latest drive technologies can occur without affecting host systems and applications.

“CentricStor is a unique product that clearly demonstrates Fujitsu’s technological prowess. It epitomizes Fujitsu’s innovative culture to continuously strive and re-invent to meet its customers’ needs and augment their competitiveness in the marketplace,” said Norikazu Karasuda, Group CEO of Fujitsu Asia.

“Being the one and only storage product in the world that is capable to consolidate the entire range of magnetic tape systems with seamless integration in open and main-frame environments, CentricStor accentuates Fujitsu’s leadership position in providing strategic storage solutions. Fujitsu Asia will offer enterprises in the region with large data centers, a key benefit and a strong advantage that customers will definitely appreciate when they work with CentricStor,” he added.

Dr Helmut Beck, Vice President of Storage at Fujitsu Siemens Computers, said, “We intend to make CentricStor the global market-leading product in data protection and Nearline storage consolidation. After successfully introducing CentricStor in Europe, Japan and the United States respectively, the next step towards this goal is to introduce it to customers in South East Asia.”

Fujitsu Asia will release CentricStor for Southeast Asian markets including Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam. The virtual tape appliance is available in Singapore following this announcement.