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Vicom Systems, provider of transparent wire-speed data services for systems and storage, today announced the introduction of FlexDM(TM) Data Migration Services. These new services simplify the process of upgrading storage systems by enabling customers to migrate data from old to new systems without affecting computing services or application availability. Delivered through service partnerships with storage vendors and independent resellers, FlexDM services have been packaged for a variety of enterprise data migration needs from turnkey project delivery to migration assistance options for in-house projects.

Designed for mid-range to high-end SAN arrays, FlexDM migrations are powered by a purpose-built appliance that installs and migrates data without requiring changes to systems or SAN. With FlexDM, migrations can either be performed in the background while systems remain online or accomplished quickly at high speed during offline maintenance periods.

"Our ability to migrate SAN data without affecting service availability has been received extremely well by enterprise customers," said Samuel Tam, CEO of Vicom. "Combined with the speed and labor-saving advantages of our technology, we've been able to land a number of large migration projects above 100 terabytes. For example, we recently completed a 385-server, 160-terabyte migration for a major DOD contractor that we delivered in less than four weeks," Tam said.

Services

FlexDM migration options are designed to meet a variety of enterprise migration service needs. Under a turnkey service option, Vicom manages the entire project from migration to server remediation with a money-back guarantee of on-time completion. For large-scale projects, FlexDM Data Center Migration Services allow in-house IT staffs to tailor services, depending on specific needs. These include online and offline data migration with local or remote management, server remediation, LUN management, and onsite services. A Vicom migration specialist oversees each project service from start to finish.

FlexDM Technology Advantage

As compared to conventional professional services and in-house migrations that rely on manual methods, FlexDM services are made possible by patented, virtualization technology and software automation that simplifies and accelerates the migration process.

Using Vicom's In-Band Port Virtualization(TM) technology, the FlexDM migration appliance is installed without interrupting system operation or requiring changes to servers or SAN. Next, discovery and automation software map and verify the SAN configuration, which is then used to generate a plan for the migration. Automation of these steps offer a huge advantage over host-based methods by eliminating the labor and time spent in troubleshooting manual errors. Upon customer approval of the plan, it is downloaded into the appliance which then automatically manages the migration.

FlexDM migrations are 3-5 times faster than conventional, server-powered migrations. At maximum rated speed, the FlexDM appliance can migrate data as fast as 7 TB/hr without affecting the performance of attached hosts. For a typical midrange storage system, migrations are performed offline at 600 GB to 1.2 TB/hr or online at 100 GB to 200 GB/hr operating in the background. Higher rates are possible, subject to storage system performance capabilities.