StorCentric’s Nexsan Division Adds 2 Unity Unified Storage Systems

StorCentric just added two new enterprise-class Unity unified storage devices to its lineup from its Nexsan data storage division.

The third-generation Unity 3300 and 7900 models offer hybrid and all-flash storage arrays featuring high availability, better performance and larger capacities. The latest devices offer up to a 50% performance increase over the second generation of the Unity product family.

The second-generation Unity lineup included three models, Surya Varanasi, CTO of StorCentric, told Channel Futures. The new lineup now has just two models to cut product SKUs and simplify the offerings for partners, he said.

Faster speeds and more capabilities are the major benefits of the new Unity devices, said Varanasi.

StorCentric’s Surya Varanasi

“We’ve done a lot of tuning and get more performance,” he said.

Capacities can now scale up to 10PB for users.

Veeam-Ready

In addition, the latest Unity unified storage devices are officially certified for use as Veeam-Ready Repository v10 devices. Previously, you could use them with Veeam but they didn’t carry its official certification, he said.

A big plus is that Nexsan Unity customers can also now move their stored data to the cloud on demand. The previous device versions did not offer that capability, said Varanasi. The company added this feature after hearing feedback from customers.

“It was just a matter of other priorities in the past,” as the product was evolving, he said.

Unity products also include StorCentric’s Assureon unbreakable backup services, which provide data protection from malware and hacks. The data is stored on Assureon, which is a locked-down application running on an appliance in a customer’s data center. StorCentric hosts Assureon, which can restore data if someone compromises a customer account.

Previously the Assureon services were only included in Unity purchases by hospitals, health care facilities and other regulatory, compliance-focused industries.

Unity supports applications ranging from backup, virtualization and databases, to file sharing, video editing and more.

Unity unified storage includes a cloud connector module that allows the devices to connect to 18 public cloud offerings. They include Amazon S3 and Google cloud storage.

The new Unity 3300 and 7900 devices are available immediately.

Positive Partner Reaction

Doug Cole, president of LH Computer Services, a Nexsan reseller, said the new unified storage devices broaden his product offerings.

LH Computer Services’ Doug Cole

“This third-generation Unity platform provides increased capacity and performance,” said Cole. “It also provides additional solutions such as unbreakable backup and add-on data migration and cloud connector modules. The unbreakable backup provides a solution for ransomware attacks, which has been a concern for our customers recently. This eliminates that risk.”

Overall, the improvements broaden the products he can offer to his customers, said Cole.

“I’ve been a Nexsan partner for 17 years and depend on them to deliver reliable products,” he said. “I am excited to bring this new Unity platform to my customers.”

Marc Staimer, principal analyst with Dragon Slayer Consulting, called the latest Unity unified storage devices a positive upgrade.

“I see it as an evolutionary upgrade to what they’ve done,” said Staimer. “It’s a better product than the old one, but it doesn’t include huge changes.”

The biggest upgrade is that Nexsan doesn’t charge customers to migrate their data to the cloud, he said. Competitors like Dell EMC charge customers to move their data, he said.

“It makes it more cost-effective if you are putting some or all of your data in the cloud,” said Staimer.

Nexsan has always provided good margins for channel partners, he said.

“They are good at supporting the channel and they don’t conflict with the channel, added Staimer.

StorCentric acquired Nexsan a year ago to broaden its unified storage products. StorCentric, a technology holding company, made a series of acquisitions in 2019 to round out its portfolio. It also acquired NVMe flash storage vendor Vexata, backup software vendor Retrospect and storage vendor Drobo.