StoneFly Supports Citrix XenServer for Centralized Server and Storage Virtualization
HAYWARD, Calif. – Aug. 25, 2008 – StoneFly, Inc., a leading supplier of integrated IP storage area network (SAN) systems and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory, Inc. (DNF), today announced that all of its IP SAN configurations have completed Citrix Ready™ compatibility verification testing for use with server virtualization solutions from Citrix Systems, Inc., the global leader in Application Delivery Infrastructure.
StoneFly’s High-Availability Storage Concentrator (HSC), Integrated Storage Concentrator (ISC) and OptiSAN Storage Concentrator product lines have been optimized for Citrix® XenServer™ server solutions, which are designed for virtualizing application workloads across any number of servers in the datacenter.
“Efficient, highly available storage is a vital component in every virtualization scenario, and is often underestimated,” said David Roussain, group VP of product marketing, Virtualization and Management Division, Citrix Systems. “With Citrix XenServer virtualization, StoneFly’s customers can increase server and storage utilization, while reducing expenditures on equipment, power, cooling, and datacenter space. StoneFly is a great addition to our growing list of ecosystem partners.”
The compatibility bolsters StoneFly’s existing support for fast integration of networked storage with virtual servers — available via StoneFusion, the company’s IP-based, block-level provisioning platform. StoneFly pioneered storage virtualization over five years ago with StoneFusion, which centralizes storage management, control and monitoring of logical storage volumes.
According to Bahman Jalali, director of product management for StoneFly, the certification comes as market demand has risen dramatically for consolidated server and storage resources, amidst a growing need to provision storage and server resources centrally. “Now, we can leverage our relationship with Citrix to build upon our mature storage virtualization platform while also providing our customers with a higher level of XenServer expertise,” he said.
XenServer compatibility allows StoneFly to further simplify IP SAN deployment for its customers: StoneFly’s support for network boot technologies (both software and hardware initiator based) in diskless virtual server environments saves IT administration time, and streamlines operations. Customers can also reduce datacenter costs and consolidate resources by using IP SANs to facilitate the use of diskless servers and virtual servers.
By taking advantage of the strength within the Citrix channel, StoneFly’s reseller network will also benefit from today’s announcement, according to Ken Friend, channel and OEM director for StoneFly. “We are looking forward to our continued work with Citrix XenServer teams via our joint channel partners as we help solution providers strengthen their understanding of how they can benefit from combining IP SANs with XenServer deployments,” said Friend. “To that end, our internal support and professional service teams have been refining their expertise in Xen virtualization practices in order to optimize our capabilities in this fast-growing area.”
StoneFly is planning further enhancements over the coming months to its integration with Xen® environments to build upon the seamless storage/server experience that it is providing to customers.
About Citrix Ready
Citrix has a rich and extensive eco-system of industry partners building a wide range of products designed to complement and add value to Citrix application delivery solutions. The Citrix Ready designation is awarded to third party products that have successfully met verification criteria set by Citrix. The Citrix Ready initiative makes it simple for customers and Citrix channels to identify the best third party products and solutions that can be used with confidence in Citrix environments. The Citrix Ready designation offers customers and prospects a level of confidence in the quality of solutions Citrix and our partners offer to the marketplace. To learn more about Citrix Ready, please visit www.citrixready.com .
About StoneFly, Inc. and Dynamic Network Factory, Inc.
StoneFly, Inc., headquartered in San Diego, was founded in April 2000 to deliver upon the vision of simple and affordable storage optimization and disaster recovery protection through IP SAN solutions. StoneFly is a subsidiary of Dynamic Network Factory, Inc. (DNF), a leading maker of high-performance network attached storage, storage area networks, RAID and iSCSI systems. For more information on StoneFly, please visitwww.stonefly.com or www.iscsi.com .
Founded in 1989, Dynamic Network Factory, Inc. (DNF) is a privately held company based in Silicon Valley (Hayward, Ca.). DNF started as a U.S. subsidiary of the publicly traded Japanese IT conglomerate, CSK Electronics, in 1989. In 1998, the company refined its strategy and began to focus the hardware group on storage solutions. Within a year, DNF’s rapid growth resulted in its emergence as an independent, privately held spin-off. In 2006, DNF completed its acquisition of StoneFly (re-incorporated as StoneFly, Inc.), an iSCSI storage pioneer and developer of complete, turnkey IP SAN solutions. Since its inception, DNF has designed custom solutions for organizations of all sizes and built products for many major computer manufacturers. Today, DNF consists of seven business divisions including StoneFly, DNF Security, DNF Professional Services, DNF Medical, DNF Defense, DNF Systems and DNF Storage. DNF has thousands of customers ranging from consumers and small-to-medium businesses, to government agencies, universities, hospitals, financial institutions and Fortune 500 companies. For more information, visit www.DNFCorp.com .
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StoneFly, StoneFusion, StoneFly Reflection, StoneFly Snapshot and Storage Concentrator are trademarks or registered trademarks and the property of StoneFly, Inc. Citrix®, Xen®, Citrix Ready™ and XenServer™ are trademarks of Citrix Systems, Inc. and/or one or more of its subsidiaries, and may be registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and in other countries. All other company and product names contained herein are property of their respective owners.