DataCore Software, a provider of storage virtualization software, announced the availability of SANsymphony-V, a storage virtualization software solution that enables IT organizations to eliminate storage-related barriers preventing them from realizing the financial and operational goals of their virtualization initiatives.

Two years in development, SANsymphony-V software enables datacenters to use existing equipment and conventional storage devices to achieve the robust and responsive shared storage environment necessary to support highly dynamic virtual IT environments. This contrasts sharply with the expensive “rip and replace” approaches being proposed to support desktop and server virtualization projects.

The new software helps to cost-effectively avoid the many performance problems caused by I/O bottlenecks and the lost business suffered from downtime that make customers very hesitant to virtualize crucial business applications, such as mail and databases systems. SANsymphony-V uses adaptive caching and performance boosting techniques perfected over the past 10 years to absorb wildly variable workloads while simultaneously removing storage as a single point of failure and disruption. SANsymphony-V offers an open software platform from which to provision, share, reconfigure, migrate, replicate, expand, and upgrade storage without slowdowns or downtime.

“Unanticipated storage hardware investments and inefficient storage use are often the most critical factors that bring server consolidation and desktop virtualization projects to a screeching halt,” said Richard Villars, VP of storage and IT executive strategies at IDC. “Storage virtualization software solutions like DataCore’s SANsymphony-V allow IT teams to maximize the use of existing storage assets while also dramatically reducing administrative burdens. They frequently play the key role in ensuring the success of organizations’ server and desktop virtualization efforts.” DataCore designed SANsymphony-V to meet the needs of midmarket end-users and solution-providers, especially those familiar with Windows Server administration eager to adapt their IT operations to accommodate the many variables that server and desktop virtualization introduce.

While some vendors in the virtualization field recommend that customers lock themselves into specific storage hardware configurations and exotic purpose-built appliances, SANsymphony-V frees customers from hardware vendor lock-in by decoupling the virtual infrastructure from the underlying disks. It also optimizes the I/O response obtained from standard storage devices that would have otherwise needed to be replaced. Then when they need to expand capacity, they can choose the best deal at the time from a number of competitive suppliers rather than be limited to one specific vendor’s hardware.

SANsymphony-V software may be purchased through DataCore-authorized solution providers across the globe. With the new release comes a simple licensing and pricing structure based on instances of the software (generally 2 copies for high-availability) and managed disk capacity. Five different models and price points are available to meet needs from large to small.