Roundup: Verizon, Power Assure, Fusion-io, IBM, HP

Here’s our review of today’s noteworthy links for the data center industry:

Verizon enables 100G on its network.  Verizon (VZ) announced it will upgrade its IP network infrastructure in select U.S. markets, deploying Cisco's CRS-3 Carrier Routing System platform. Beginning in the first half of 2012 the CRS-3 routers will extend Verizon's next-generation 100G capabilities by terminating high-speed connections closer to the 'edge' to enable growth where traffic demand is the greatest. The CRS platform also plays a key role in Verizon’s network evolution strategy to IPv6, by providing the flexibility to support the anticipated wave of IPv6 services while continuing to expand and sustain IPv4 services. “We’re constantly seeking to improve the Verizon IP network to support traffic growth, improve performance and increase functionality,” said Ihab Tarazi, vice president of global IP and transport planning and technology for Verizon. “Upgrading the network using Cisco’s CRS-3 platform provides better scale and expanded capabilities that support traffic growth areas such as broadband access and content delivery.”

ViaWest selects HP  3PAR.  HP announced that ViaWest has selected HP 3PAR Utility Storage, based on HP Converged Infrastructure, to stay ahead of competition as a cloud services provider. HP 3PAR Utility Storage will power the ViaWest KINECTed Storage solution, a new managed cloud-storage service for customers seeking more efficient data center strategies. "At a time when exponential data growth is placing unrealistic demands on our clients’ legacy systems, tighter IT budgets have prevented companies from investing in the latest storage solution functionalities," said Jim Thompson, vice president, Product Management, ViaWest. "The functionality and scalability of HP 3PAR systems has helped ViaWest to meet the needs of those clients and deliver reliable, flexible and affordable cloud storage services."

Power Assure and ABB collaborate. Power Assure and ABB announced that ABB will integrate Power Assure EM/4 data center energy management software in the ABB Decathlon Data Center Enterprise Management (DCEM) product and services offering. Together the two software services will deliver real-time monitoring, analytics and automation, allowing IT to make appropriate adjustments in response to facility-side energy demands. "By integrating Power Assure EM/4 software solutions, ABB can offer our customers a new level of automated control over their operations," said Eric Olson, ABB product manager for Decathlon. "Decathlon links IT capacity with cooling and power capacity to move processing where it needs to be to reduce costs, ensure business continuity and improve quality of service." ABB is an investor in Power Assure.

Fusion-io and IBM selected by Front-safe.  Fusion-io (FIO) announced that backup and archiving solutions provider Front-safe has integrated Fusion ioMemory-based IBM High IOPS Adapters into its Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) cloud solution to power performance improvements. The TSM cloud solution offered by Front-safe provides automated backup and recovery, with reporting and dynamic invoicing. "Conventional SSDs did not provide us the capacity we needed. We chose the Fusion-io powered IBM High IOPS Adapter because it gave us the highest performance with our existing hardware," said Geirr Halvorsen, Front-safe Senior Systems Engineer. "The savings were enormous. We are now able to fully utilize the processors in our TSM servers. This allows us to cut our server footprint, and accompanying floor space, power and cooling costs, by two-thirds.  At the same time, we’ve increased the speed of database backups and tasks like inventory expiration jobs, which makes our servers more responsive. Our customers have noticed the difference."