Sun aims to improve storage efficiency

Sun has launched its latest storage server, the StorageTek 9990 V, running on OpenSolaris and incorporating technology designed to reduce the amount of resources the system requires.

The 9990 V, launched on Tuesday, is based on recently released storage technology from Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), which uses the concept of "dynamic provisioning". When companies introduce new applications to a network, the system will allocate resources, such as memory, to the new application. To save resources, many IT managers might prefer to "dynamically provision", only allocating what is necessary, on the assumption the system will automatically allocate more resources when needed.

Sun is not the only HDS partner to make use of dynamic provisioning. Last week HP launched its own "thin provisioning" products — its name for dynamic provisioning.

The downside with dynamic or thin provisioning is that it can affect performance, but HDS believes that this problem has been solved with dynamic provisioning and that it can cut costs by 10 to 25 percent.