Isilon Delivers First and Only Unified Scale-Out Storage Platform for the Enterprise

SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 31 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- From VMWorld 2010, Isilon® (Nasdaq: ISLN) today announced it has integrated the iSCSI protocol into its OneFS® operating system, delivering the industry's first and only unified scale-out storage platform for the enterprise. With Isilon scale-out storage, users can consolidate file- and block-based applications onto a single, shared pool of storage, simplifying data management to increase resource utilization and efficiency for virtualized and non-virtualized environments.  

"Until now, enterprises have been forced to either deploy separate systems for separate applications, or attempt to consolidate on complex architectures that handicap growth and inflate costs," said Sam Grocott, vice president of marketing, Isilon. "At Isilon, we believe there's a better, simpler way and with our new unified, scale-out storage platform, we're delivering. Our innovative data storage and management solutions meet the needs of today's virtualized enterprise data center by scaling storage in-line with virtual server demands to minimize costs and maximize efficiency."  

"The adoption of virtualization and the need to consistently reduce costs are currently significant factors in enterprise IT strategy, making data storage solutions that simplify management, consolidate applications and minimize expenses key to IT efficiency going forward," said Pushan Rinnen, Research Director, Gartner. "Unified scale-out storage is a compelling solution for both virtualization and general-purpose IT, as it enables simplified data management, file- and block-level access, and keeps costs in-line with business needs."

"With Isilon, we have the flexibility to support our VMware environment via both NFS and iSCSI, so we can power our block databases and NFS-based VMs all from one, simple solution," said John Welter, vice president of technology, North West Group. "The ability to consolidate everything onto a single point of management has allowed us to boost application performance, while simultaneously reducing costs."

Isilon's new iSCSI functionality integrates with Isilon's suite of enterprise-class data management and protection software applications, providing a simple yet powerful scale-out solution that supports industry standard file-based protocols, including CIFS, NFS, HTTP and FTP, as well as the block-based iSCSI protocol, in a single, shared pool of storage. With Isilon, enterprises can easily configure, manage, clone, thin provision, snapshot, tier, replicate and secure LUNs, eliminating the cost and complexity of traditional scale-up SAN and NAS to drive increased application performance and business agility.

By delivering both file and block-level data access from a single, scale-out solution, Isilon eliminates the data fragmentation and low resource utilization common with traditional SAN and NAS in virtualized environments, enabling enterprise businesses to maximize the benefits of server virtualization.

"With Isilon, we've been able to shed the complexity of our previous SAN and consolidate our Exchange and SQL databases, CommVault backups, and all our corporate file shares onto a single, easy-to-use operating system," said Eric Bass, Director of IT, Cypress E&P. "Now I don't have to worry about storage and can instead focus on what really matters – managing data to move our business forward."

"Isilon's simplicity has long been its most compelling differentiator, as it provides scaling of performance, capacity and application consolidation all in a single operating system," said Donnie Downs, CEO, Plan B Technologies. "By adding iSCSI functionality to its platform, Isilon is now an even more compelling solution for a broad range of mainstream enterprise applications, regardless of data type."  

Pricing and Availability

Isilon's iSCSI functionality is available immediately and is free for existing Isilon customers. Isilon's iSCSI functionality seamlessly integrates with Isilon's entire suite of enterprise-class data management and protection software applications including SmartPools™, InsightIQ™, SmartConnect™, SmartQuotas™, SnapshotIQ™, and SyncIQ™.

About Isilon

As a global leader in scale-out storage, Isilon delivers powerful yet simple solutions for enterprises that want to manage their data, not their storage. Isilon's products are simple to install, manage and scale, at any size. And, unlike traditional enterprise storage, Isilon stays simple no matter how much storage is added, how much performance is required or how business needs change in the future. We're challenging enterprises to think differently about their storage, because when they do, they'll recognize there's a better, simpler way. Learn what we mean at http://www.isilon.com.

The names of companies mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.

Safe Harbor for Forward Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 concerning our delivery of new enterprise products and features, our value proposition and competitive advantages. These statements are not guarantees of future performance, but are based on management's expectations as of the date of this press release and assumptions that are inherently subject to uncertainties, risks and changes in circumstances that are difficult to predict. Forward-looking statements involve risks, uncertainties, and assumptions. If the risks or uncertainties ever materialize, or the assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied by our forward-looking statements.  

Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated in forward-looking statements include the following: risks associated with anticipated growth in file-based content; competitive factors, including changes in the competitive environment, pricing pressures, sales cycle time and increased competition; our ability to build and expand our direct sales operations and reseller distribution channels; our ability to build sales backlogs and improve sales linearity; general economic and industry conditions, including expenditure trends for storage-related products; new product introductions and our ability to develop and deliver innovative products; our ability to provide high-quality service and support offerings; our reliance on a limited number of suppliers and our ability to forecast demand for our products and potential shortages or price fluctuations in our supply chain; risks associated with international operations; and macro-economic conditions. These and other important risk factors and assumptions are detailed in documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30 2010, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for 2009 and other reports and filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and could cause actual results to vary from expectations. The Company makes no commitment to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

SOURCE Isilon