Deliver Joint Solution Package for zSeries and S/390 Linux
INNOVATION Data Processing and Sistina Software along with Mainline,
the top IBM solution provider in North America, collaborate on a Package
Solution offering for Linux on IBM Mainframes
Little Falls, NJ January 23, 2003-INNOVATION Data Processing, a leading
worldwide provider of enterprise storage management solutions announces
today a teaming agreement with Sistina Software (the premier storage
infrastructure company for enterprise level Linux data sharing solutions)
and Mainline Information Systems, Inc. (an IBM Premier Business Partner
and the top IBM solution provider in North America) to offer a Linux
System Solution Package for the IBM zSeries and S/390 platforms.
This teaming effort brings together a comprehensive product suite that
combines the quality and stability of the SuSE Linux operating system,
with the powerful Sistina Global File System (GFS) and INNOVATION's
robust FDR/UPSTREAM storage management suite, to provide customers with
an all in one solution for building their Linux systems infrastructure.
Too often, the arduous task of selecting hardware and software products
concludes with a lingering uncertainty regarding interoperability and
potential incompatibility between the individual components. The resolution
to this dilemma is for vendors to collaborate and work together to ensure
that a joint solution composed of their combined offerings will meet
and exceed the expectations of their customers. The teaming agreement
being announced today strives to meet this goal.
INNOVATION believes that it is the responsibility of all vendors to
ensure that system integrity is maintained across all supported platforms
and product sets, and that those systems and their respective data files
are properly protected with an effective backup/restore and disaster
recovery solution. This is especially important for those organizations
looking to roll out new Linux workloads or execute cost effective server
consolidation strategies on the IBM eServer family of computers. The
INNOVATION contribution to the joint Solution Package for zSeries and
S/390 Linux is FDR/UPSTREAM, a member of the INNOVATION Fast Dump Restore
(FDR) family of products. FDR/UPSTREAM which now includes S/390 Linux
Rescuer for full system disaster recovery, as well as non-disruptive
online database backup agents for S/390 Linux Oracle and DB2, is a high
performance enterprise-wide solution for protecting corporate data distributed
across a variety of open system platforms including Linux on IBM Mainframes.
"Enterprise interest in Linux is reaching critical mass. We see
increasing numbers of large commercial customers defining a role for
Linux in general and specifically Linux on an IBM mainframe class eServer
in their IT plans", said Thomas J Meehan, CTO and Vice President
of INNOVATION Data Processing. Adding, "INNOVATION is extremely
proud to be part of this unique collaborative effort. An alliance that
is significant in that it will instill customers' with confidence that
their Linux business applications can now roll out on an IBM zSeries
or S/390 eServer, that has an underpinning system infrastructure, complete
with full backup/restore and system disaster recovery capabilities,
which has been thoroughly tested and is jointly supported by companies
partnering to work together as a team."
Sistina Software Inc. brings to this alliance the Sistina Global File
System, the industry's first, most-advanced Linux-based cluster file
system for the IBM S/390 and zSeries platform. Built on solid IBM technology
and supported on the SuSE Linux Enterprise Server distribution, Sistina
GFS enables diverse Linux partitions on mainframes to access and manage
hundreds of storage nodes as a single entity, greatly improving performance,
reliability and the day-to-day management of complex storage environments.
Through this alliance, Sistina GFS for the IBM Linux Mainframe, combined
with the INNOVATION FDR/UPSTREAM product suite, will provide customers
with a high performance backup and recovery solution for clusters of
Linux servers running on the mainframe.
"With the emergence of Linux as a standard enterprise platform,
we are also noticing a strong demand for server consolidation and high
availability within the mainframe environment," said Joaquín
Ruiz, Vice President of Marketing and Product Management of Sistina
Software. "We are pleased to be working closely with INNOVATION
and Mainline in order to provide the mechanism that unites hundreds
of virtual machines and delivers powerful data-sharing capabilities,
ultimately providing a complete IBM Linux Mainframe solution to our
joint customer base."
Mainline Information Systems brings to this relationship a wealth of
experience in the IBM eServer arena. Mainline not only offers the entire
portfolio of IBM hardware and software products, but has a professional
services division that provides assessment, design, installation, implementation,
as well as application development, migration and porting.
Mainline also supplies the z/VM operating system, IBM middleware, the
SuSE Linux Enterprise Server distribution and provides a comprehensive
24 x7 Linux support offering for the zSeries platform, all levels of
Linux software support (including patches, fixes and new releases),
along with problem ownership and management to resolution.
"The Linux frontier brings with it exciting and wonderful changes
to the way we currently do business. We are thrilled to be part of the
trend of vendors collaborating in an effort to ensure that our customers
receive the highest quality solutions with the finest of products",
said Rick Kearney, CEO of Mainline Information Systems, Inc.
"Deploying this type of industrial strength solution, on top of
the SuSE Linux distribution that is running on IBM's most powerful eServer,
will provide our customers with the strongest foundation possible for
building their e-business infrastructure", adds Mr. Kearney.
"SuSE Linux is excited to be the base technology for this exciting
agreement," said Holger Dyroff, General Manager Americas, SuSE
Linux. "With SuSE's technological expertise, combined with the
stability and functionality of our software and services partners, enterprise
customers will have proven solutions for delivery of their mission
critical applications."
About INNOVATION Data Processing
INNOVATION Data Processing, with a worldwide customer base and 30 years
experience in backup, restore, hierarchical storage management and disaster
recovery is internationally recognized for its inventiveness in this
market segment. Headquartered in Little Falls, NJ, INNOVATION is a leader
in enterprise storage management with industry leading products; FDR
(Fast Dump Restore), ABR, FDRPAS, FASTCPK, FDRSOS, FDRINSTANT, FDR/UPSTREAM,
FDR/UPSTREAM/SOS, FATS/FATAR and IAM.
INNOVATION FDR/UPSTREAM is a complete storage management solution for
the protection of corporate data distributed across heterogeneous platforms.
Employing an IBM zSeries or S/390 eServer, FDR/UPSTREAM is a high performance
enterprise-wide business continuance backup solution for corporate data
distributed on MS Windows, Novell, UNIX, Linux on Intel servers as well
as for workstations and Linux on IBM Mainframes. The "Director",
a platform independent Java GUI insures FDR/UPSTREAM can easily backup
and restore Linux system images, database and application file systems
from virtually anywhere in an enterprise while providing additional
robust features such as file transfer, file migration, disaster recovery
and tape vaulting with centrally administered profile policy management.
FDR/UPSTREAM database agents provide non-disruptive online backup capability,
giving organizations maximum protection for their data without the bottom
line impact of having to bring databases down to protect them with a
backup. FDR/UPSTREAM 3.2.1 enhancements, in addition to "S/390
Linux Rescuer", add support for file-level backup/restore of FIFO
and device files, expanding the capability of UPSTREAM to protect all
existing Linux file types including hard links, symbolic links, owners,
single file systems, Reiser file systems as well as ext2, ext3, XFS
and remote NFS attachments. UPSTREAM, with no additional setup or special
consideration will transparently incorporate in every backup metadata
on each file system, including file system demarcation points. Now even
easier to use, a single specification can backup an entire system with
record setting performance. While on zSeries IBM eServers FDR/UPSTREAM
employs HiperSockets to even further accelerate backup/restore throughput.
For additional information, visit
www.innovationdp.fdr.com.
About Sistina
Sistina, the premier storage infrastructure software company, delivers
data-sharing solutions for enterprise and technical computing customers.
Based on Sistina's file system and volume management software, Sistina
provides customers, such as InfoSpace, NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center
and Fermilab, with high performance, scalable, robust storage solutions.
Sistina supports multiple server, OS, storage and networking technologies
enabling customers to manage low-TCO, highly integrated environments.
Sistina's technology is ideally suited for customers deploying large
database, file-serving, scientific and web applications. For additional
information, visit www.sistina.com.
Sistina Global File System (GFS) is the leading enterprise-class clustered
file system on Linux, enabling data-sharing solutions for organizations
requiring high-performance, scalable and robust storage solutions. Those
customers, who are rolling out zSeries Linux based solutions for the
first time, will be able to lay down a solid storage foundation regardless
of the server complement or storage layout. Customers who are currently
utilizing Sistina's cluster file system software in their existing enterprise,
will not have to change their storage infrastructure as they consolidate
outboard servers to the Linux zSeries platform.
About Mainline Information Systems
Mainline Information Systems was founded in 1989 as a computer consulting
firm. Since then, it has become a global provider of information technology
and e-business solutions. Mainline Information Systems is an IBM Premier
Business Partner. In addition to its United States offices, Mainline
Global Systems has offices in China and Korea. Corporate offices are
located at 1700 Summit Lake Drive, Tallahassee, Florida 32311. The Company
can be reached by phone at 850.219.5000, and on the Internet at www.mainline.com.
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