EMC boosts entry-level storage

EMC has targeted small businesses and remote workers with the release of the Celerra NX4, which it claims is an affordable unified, entry-level storage system.

The vendor said that the new design enables it to be deployed in NAS (Network Attached Storage), miSCSI and Fibre Channel SAN (Storage Area Network) environments, with a claim that it can be powered up and configured in 15 minutes.

Charles King, Principal Analyst at Pund-IT, said that the Celerra NX4 built on the success of the Celerra NS20 and NS40 systems and would succeed in controlling costs as well as ensureing business reliability and data protection.

"Companies of all sizes are looking for ways to simplify their IT environments and get the most value from their storage and IT staffing investments," he said.

One of the world's largest glassmakers Guardian Industries said that the product offered simplified management that wouldn't stretch its staff IT resources.

EMC said there was fifty per cent year-over-year product growth for the Celerra product line in 2008.

The Celerra NX4 will support Microsoft, Unix, Linux and VMware ESX server operating environments. It will also support applications such as Microsoft Exchange, SQL Server, Oracle and VMware.