Infocomm Indonesia

Having a storage system that can manage and secure your data is nice. After all, in this knowledge economy, even if you are a small business, data is the most valuable asset. But the downside is, most storage solutions are complex, costly and require an IT guy to operate, certainly not business justified.

But how about a storage that you can set up and use as easy as -and with the starting price of- a high-end plasma TV?

Yes, so if you plan to ‘invest’ on plasma TV to impress your customers or just to make your office in vogue, better leave it for another time. First things first, manage and secure your data so you can get the most of it to drive your business: gain new customers, make existing customers happy and make better decisions.

Today, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) launched its new Simple Modular Storage (SMS) product line in Indonesia. The system is a ’simplified’ version of storage systems used by HDS enterprise class customers. Simplified means HDS had taken out all elements that would cause complexity in setting up, operate and maintain. HDS replaced these complexity elements with plug-and-play hardware, wizard-type graphical user interface (GUI) and auto-configuration software. You can even plug it directly into any standard power outlet at home or office as most consumer electronics products. No need for an IT guy.

Another push to the meaning of simplicity is, in a rare event of disk failure, HDS will ship a free drive following automatic online notification from the Simple Modular Storage management console. You then just simply plug it into the plug-and-play disk slot, with no need to remove or return any existing drives. These mean no disruption and prevent accidentally removing the wrong disk drive. Scalability of Hitachi SMS starting from less than 1TB to 9TB.

The price? Starting from US$5.000.

Another useful features typically only available in enterprise class storage systems are Hitachi ShadowImage replication software for full volume backup and recovery; and Hitachi TrueCopy Extended Distance software for asynchronous copy between SMS devices. In other word, if your LAN is ever down, you can continue to work as all changes since the last replication interval are automatically saved to disk. When your LAN is up, it synchronizes your Simple Modular Storage.

While Hitachi SMS will be useful for small business, enterprise with remote or many branch offices can also gain benefit from it. They don’t have to send an IT staff to install, just ship Hitachi SMS and let smart enough local employee to set-it up. Talking about Indonesia market acceptance, I think Hitachi’s announcement is in the right moment.

SMB implementing enterprise resources planning (ERP) definitely are looking for a cost effective storage system. Traction in SMB business intelligence would also spur demand for storage. I think the challenge for HDS -as storage specialist- would be competition with computer manufacturer that usually bundles server offering with storage. I would suggest HDS work closer with server resellers to make sure Hitachi SMS is included in their server offering for customers.

Post to: delicious, Digg, ma.gnolia, Stumbleupon