Hewlett-Packard Co. (HP) and Brocade Communications Systems Inc. will together develop products that use HP’s VersaStor virtualization technology to make it easier to manage SANs (storage area networks), HP said last month. The companies have reached a development agreement to combine HP’s VersaStor technology with switches from Brocade’s SilkWorm product family. Brocade, of San Jose, sells switches that connect servers and storage devices in SANs. HP VersaStor in combination with the company’s OpenView CASA (continuous access storage appliance) software and Brocade’s switches will allow network traffic to be intelligently directed according to a user’s needs, according to HP.
Ellacoya attracts big bucks
Ellacoya Networks Inc. announced an additional US$14 million in venture funding to maintain production of its IP Service Control System (SCS). The new round of funding includes first-time investors Flagship Ventures and Atlas Ventures, as well as returning investors Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners and The Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Ellacoya’s SCS is network monitoring gear that measures network usage and manages bandwidth so customers get the level of service for which they are paying. The company says it has 13 paying customers for SCS and that 15 more have it in trials. Ellacoya is faring better than another start-up in the same field, Celox Networks Inc., which folded in December.
SAP unveils NetWeaver middleware
SAP AG Thursday took the wraps off its new integration and application server middleware, called NetWeaver, that is to become the platform on which all SAP business software will run. Based on Web services and aimed at easing users’ integration headaches, NetWeaver can link disparate applications and data sources, allowing companies to make use of their existing IT investments and personnel skills while exploiting the power of Web services, SAP says. It’s designed with heterogeneous IT systems in mind. NetWeaver is interoperable with Microsoft .Net and IBM WebSphere platforms, SAP says. Users can provision Web services that have been developed in Java or SAP’s own development language, ABAP, for example.