Features - Storage Innovations:

LightSand, HP CREATE 1,000KM SYNCHRONOUS MIRRORING SOLUTION

LightSand, a provider of storage connectivity products, announced that it has successfully deployed a precedent-setting long distance synchronous mirroring system with partners HP and FLE.

"Organizations around the world are recognizing the value of long distance data connectivity for providing advanced capabilities like disaster recovery, business continuity, data replication, data migration, regulatory compliance, asset management and global data availability," said LightSand CEO Philip Black. "Through our work with HP and FLE we have now demonstrated that these functions can be successfully deployed across distances as great as 1,000 kilometers."

A pair of LightSand S-2500 storage extension gateways served as the bridges between two storage area networks. These gateways were linked through DWDM switches that directly drove the long distance connection across 1,000 kilometers of fiber optic cabling.

HP provided the SAN equipment, which consisted of an HP EVA storage system, HP Continuous Access mirroring software, servers and PCs to simulate a large multi-user environment and Brocade switches to form the SAN fabrics. The entire system was integrated and managed by FLE, a French storage systems integrator, with assistance from LightSand and HP. All testing took place at HP Facilities under the supervision of the HP France's Storage Division.

To demonstrate the capabilities of the system, the SAN was configured to provide synchronous mirroring of Microsoft Exchange e-mails bursts to 2,560 recipients and simultaneous Oracle 9i R2 database operations. Despite the high transmission requirements and long distance involved, the connection provided 90 percent of the global application system performance of a similar system that operated locally with no long distance interconnect. The high actual throughput was enabled by the S-2500's extended credit buffering system. This LightSand technology allows the SAN fabric to accommodate the longer transmission time needed to deliver data across a distance of 1,000 kilometers and can even support distances up to 2,000 kilometers.

About LightSand

LightSand develops storage connectivity products that interconnect storage area networks both within the data center and over MAN/WAN networks. LightSand's storage extension gateways connect FICON and Fibre Channel storage area networks over distance using SONET/SDH, DWDM, ATM, IP and dedicated fiber networks. The company's i-Switch technology functions like a Fibre Channel router, enabling the segmentation of SANs into autonomous regions and providing reliable interconnections between heterogeneous SAN fabrics. LightSand is a privately held company with headquarters in Milpitas, Calif. For more information, visit www.lightsand.com.