Fusion-io Delivers Hybrid Storage Managed by Business Priorities with New ioControl 3.0 Software Update

LONDON, Oct. 15, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- IP Expo trade show stand D56 – Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO) today announced Fusion ioControl 3.0 hybrid storage solution (formerly NexGen Storage), which features significant software updates that enable Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to manage shared storage according to business priorities with simplicity at scale. Fusion ioControl hybrid storage provides an ideal entry point for SMEs seeking to add flash memory acceleration to their infrastructure. Uniquely combining intelligent software to leverage industry-leading Fusion ioMemory flash products for performance and disk drives for capacity, Fusion ioControl enables SMEs to provision, prioritize and control shared storage resources.

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"No one wants to wait for data, especially if they're an attorney working on a case," said James Gunnarson, KMK Law System Administrator. "Fusion ioControl significantly accelerates the systems we use to host our law firm's applications, helping keep our staff efficient and our clients happy. Some data sets can become very large, so the ability to offload non-essential data to disk storage, with flash memory providing performance where it's most needed, gives us all the power of flash without any waste." 

With the unique ability to control performance according to business priorities, Fusion ioControl 3.0 delivers powerful Quality of Service (QoS) capabilities with application-level intelligence that ensures performance priority is always given to active data. Extending the intelligence of the ioControl QoS management platform, Fusion ioControl 3.0 differentiates between active data and data stored previously that has since changed in snapshots, replication, and clones. Fusion ioControl QoS maximizes system efficiency by ensuring that active data stays on flash while redundant copies are automatically migrated to disk without requiring any administrator interaction.

"Flash storage is becoming an essential element in datacenters as we increasingly expect all information to be available in milliseconds - whether it's email, analytics, or video, and whether it's coming from Minneapolis, Munich or Mumbai," said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "The options for, and intricacies of adding flash can be especially overwhelming for busy IT professionals in small to medium enterprise datacenters that need to balance the inevitable performance demands with their invariably limited resources. Fusion ioControl 3.0 features the innovative and compelling ability to deliver intelligent, automated, parameter-driven control of flash in a hybrid system to ensure that the right applications - and the businesses they support - get the right performance at the right time."

Fusion ioControl 3.0 introduces new enhancements to Dynamic Data Placement with priority-driven caching, which adapts to changing business conditions by adjusting how quickly application data moves from disk into flash memory according to the priorities of individual enterprises. Combined with the raw performance achieved with Fusion ioMemory flash, priority-driven caching enables 3x more workloads to be consolidated into a smaller footprint while ensuring critical workloads get the resources they require. Comparative ioControl testing results conducted by an independent third party are available in the white paper, "SSD to PCIe, the Evolution of Hybrid Caching."

"Flash memory offers powerful performance for enterprises, but every flash solution is not created equal, and one size does not fit all," said John Spiers, Fusion-io General Manager of ioControl Solutions. "Fusion ioControl features a revolutionary design that eliminates legacy SAN data bottlenecks to deliver a direct data path from the network to memory-attached flash on the PCIe bus. Going beyond just pure performance to enable SMEs to manage IT by business priorities, this unique architecture enables true QoS for enterprise applications by intelligently allocating Fusion-io flash resources on demand to meet the needs of individual enterprises."

Fusion ioControl 3.0 also introduces a new policy-based user interface that simplifies performance management with a natural, search-driven architecture. The new ioControl user interface administers the system by business policies rather than legacy paradigms, such as tree view. The navigability of the ioControl user interface is further enhanced with intuitive search engine features that make it easy to access and update settings and priorities. This simplicity enables IT professionals to manage more storage on the same resources as business needs grow, with the ability to know exactly how each application will perform.

Fusion ioControl is being showcased in stand D56 at the IP Expo London trade show from October 16-17, and in stand S221 at VMworld Barcelona from October 15-17. Fusion-io will also be hosting web seminars for SMEs interested in learning more about ioControl, with details and registration available online.

Fusion ioControl is now available from Fusion-io resellers in North America and Europe. For more information, visit www.fusionio.com/iocontrol.

About Fusion-io

Fusion-io delivers the world's data faster. Our Fusion ioMemory platform and software defined storage solutions accelerate virtualization, databases, cloud computing, big data and performance applications. From e-commerce retailers to the world's social media leaders and Fortune Global 500 companies, our customers are improving the performance and efficiency of their data centers with Fusion-io technology to accelerate the critical applications of the information economy.

Note on Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, including statements concerning the potential benefits of the Fusion ioControl storage solution. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions regarding future events and business performance and involve certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those contained, anticipated, or implied in any forward-looking statement, including, but not limited to, the risk that users of Fusion-io's products may not realize the expected benefits, and such other risks set forth in the registration statements and reports that Fusion-io files with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which are available on the Investor Relations section of our website at www.fusionio.com.  You should not rely upon forward-looking statements as predictions of future events.  Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee that the future results, levels of activity, performance or events and circumstances reflected in the forward-looking statements will be achieved or will occur.  Fusion-io undertakes no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement for any reason after the date of this press release.

Fusion-io, ioControl, ioMemory and the Fusion-io logo are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Fusion-io, Inc. in the United States and other countries.  All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

SOURCE Fusion-io