LeftHand Throws Storage A CurveLeftHand Throws Storage A Curve

To build a storage network, IT executives have been able to use network-attached storage devices that share files over IP, or rely on a Fibre Channel network that moves and stores blocks of data. Now, there's an option that promises both.

LeftHand Networks Inc. this week will ship storage that can handle blocks of data, such as a Fibre Channel storage area network, as well as files stored on an NAS device. The Network Storage Module 100 leverages LeftHand's Advanced Ethernet Block Storage, a proprietary protocol that lets the storage device support blocks of data even though it communicates over an IP network. At the same time, it supports file access through the Common Internet File System and HTTP protocols.

In the product's first iteration, customers can pick only one type of storage: blocks of data or files. LeftHand next year expects to let customers support both at the same time; early next year, customers will be able to use replicating software between blocks of data and files. Information as files on the IP network can be shared with information as data blocks on a Fibre Channel storage area network. Each module will come with dual redundant power supplies, hot-swappable disk drives, and dual 866-MHz Pentium III processors.

Jeffrey Pelot, director of technical services at the Denver Health and Hospital Authority, oversees a Fibre Channel SAN based on EMC Clariion, a mix of 130 Windows, Unix, and Compaq OpenVMS servers with direct-attached Dell PowerVault storage. The daily backup system leverages Tivoli Storage Manager and a Linear Tape Open-based tape library from IBM, the latest standard by HP, IBM, and Seagate Technology. The module "moves data over the IP network in case of a disaster, segregates it between modules, and sends it out across the campus," says Pelot, who began testing LeftHand's system last month.

The storage module will be available in versions that can store 160, 320, or 500 Gbytes of data. Pricing is from $19,200 to $57,500, based on volume.