Dot Hill Announces Improved Performance and Security in VMware Virtual Server Environments

LONGMONT, Colo., Feb. 13, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a leading provider of SAN storage solutions, today announced that the most recent version of its firmware for AssuredSAN™ 3000 storage systems will include VMware™ vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) support and Site Recovery Manager (SRM) support, to ensure improved performance and data security within VMware virtual server environments.

VAAI includes three separate capabilities: block zeroing, full copy, and hardware assisted locking. The AssuredSAN 3000 fully supports these functions with the new firmware and can now speed provisioning of new virtual machines, accelerate cloning and reduce the use of the CPU for storage vMotion functions.

SRM is VMware's flagship product for data protection and disaster recovery across geographic sites. SRM is integrated with array-based replication to provide an efficient mechanism for maintaining replicas of virtual machines on multiple sites. The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series, with built-in AssuredRemote™ technology, provides the critical replication element of the overall SRM solution, enabling customers to implement a comprehensive disaster recovery plan for their mission-critical virtual machines.

The VAAI support on the Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series is certified by VMware on vSphere 4.1 and 5.  The SRM support on the Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series is certified by VMware on vSphere 5. These new features are available through a free software upgrade to the AssuredSAN array and are enabled by a free software plug-in to the VMware ESX servers.

"Customers using VMware virtualization require high performance and high availability network storage solutions. Dot Hill's AssuredSAN 3000 series provides a unique combination of high speed and five 9's of availability," said Jim Jonez, senior director of marketing, Dot Hill. "The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 array with VAAI and SRM support improves storage efficiency with added security for VMware users."

Specifically, customers choosing the Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 array enjoy significant advantages over users of competitive offerings such as advanced data management, remote replication, snapshots, volume copy, energy-saving drive-spin-down and Dot Hill's patented EcoStor™ green features. Dual redundant RAID controllers, dual power supplies and dual fans bring uptime figures to five 9's of availability. The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series provides the highest levels of data protection for today's virtualized environments and leverages VMware's virtual file system and Storage VMotion technologies to perform proactive, non-disruptive storage migration, eliminate virtual machine I/O bottlenecks and free up valuable storage capacity, maximizing IT investments. 

"While users appreciate that they can free up server and IO resources to support virtualized production workloads by moving IO-intensive processes from their ESX hosts to their storage arrays, the actual level of benefit they'll realize from VAAI will to a large degree depend on the underlying storage. Flexible, scalable, high performance storage systems with VAAI integration will logically allow customers to gain more efficiencies, increase consolidation, and therefore reap greater returns on their VMware investments," states Mark Peters, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group.

Dot Hill's new firmware release featuring VAAI and SRM support will be available within 30 days. The firmware upgrade is free to existing Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 customers and can be accessed through Dot Hill support.

Dot Hill will be exhibiting the VMware Ready storage arrays at the VMware Partner Exchange in Las Vegas, from February 13th through February 15th.

The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series

The Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3000 Series offers support for 8Gb Fibre Channel storage area networks (SANs), dual interface 8Gb Fibre Channel/1Gb iSCSI and 6Gb SAS – attached JBODs, along with optional Dot Hill AssuredRemote data management software for remote replication. Advanced data management, such as AssuredCopy™ and Dot Hill's volume copy technology enable the creation of independent data volume copies for additional data protection. 

The AssuredSAN 3000 Series incorporates a number of eco-friendly features such as drive-spin-down capability and 595-watt 80 PLUS-rated (greater than 80 percent energy efficiency) power supplies for reduced operating costs. Additionally, the arrays feature Dot Hill's patented EcoStor™ "green" battery-free alternative for cache memory, which leverages a combination of super capacitors and flash memory that outlasts traditional batteries nearly fivefold. Business benefits include lower maintenance and disposal costs and reduced server and application down time due to scheduled battery replacement and maintenance.

About Dot Hill

Leveraging its proprietary Assured family of storage solutions, Dot Hill solves many of today's most challenging storage problems – helping IT to improve performance, increase availability, simplify operations, and reduce costs. Dot Hill's solutions combine breakthrough virtualization software with the industry's most flexible and extensive hardware platform and automated management to deliver best-in-class SAN solutions. Headquartered in Longmont, Colo., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in China, Germany, India, Israel, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

For more information, visit us at www.dothill.com.

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Statements contained in this press release regarding matters that are not historical facts are "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. Because such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such statements include statements regarding: any improvement to Dot Hill's financial results or increases in product orders due to the availability of Dot Hill's new version of firmware for its AssuredSAN 3000 storage arrays, and; the performance or benefits of any Dot Hill product in any particular environment. The risks that contribute to the uncertain nature of the forward-looking statements include, among other things: changing customer preferences; unforeseen technological, intellectual property, personnel or engineering issues; and the additional risks set forth in the Forms 10-K and 10-Q most recently filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission by Dot Hill. All forward-looking statements contained in this press release speak only as of the date on which they were made. Dot Hill undertakes no obligation to update such statements to reflect events that occur or circumstances that exist after the date on which they were made. The Enterprise Strategy Group is independent from Dot Hill, and Dot Hill is not responsible or liable for any statements made by The Enterprise Strategy Group.

Contact:
Steve Sturgeon
Lutz PR
858-472-5669 
[email protected]

Company Contact:
Ruth Macdonald
Marketing Communications Manager
303-845-3364
[email protected]

SOURCE Dot Hill Systems Corp.