LeftHand Networks announced its eighth generation SAN/iQ storage software. Available on LeftHand Networks' full portfolio of SAN platforms, SAN/iQ 8 extends the advantages of LeftHand Networks' storage solutions in virtualized environments with features that reduce costs, simplify management and deliver new levels of storage efficiency and capacity utilization.

"Virtualization technologies are placing new efficiency requirements on storage, particularly in terms of management, availability and cost," said Mark Peters, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "With its new SAN/iQ 8 storage software, LeftHand Networks is demonstrating that it understands the unique challenges and complexities posed in such environments, by adding dynamic storage management capabilities to its SANs that can extend users' abilities to cost-effectively deploy and control virtualization technologies."

The new generation of LeftHand Networks' SAN/iQ storage software includes the following new features:

• SAN/iQ SmartClone Volumes
• Integrated Performance Manager
• Virtual Connection Manager
• Advanced Programmatic and Scripting Interfaces

"To unleash the potential efficiencies and agility of virtualization, customers need innovative storage solutions that align with their virtualization strategies," said Larry Cormier, vice president of marketing, LeftHand Networks. "Powered by SAN/iQ 8 software, LeftHand Networks' virtualized storage solutions enable customers to truly optimize their virtualized environments and take full advantage of the cost savings and efficiencies without making trade-offs in performance or reliability."

As virtualization adoption extends into desktop environments it will expose the issues and limitations of most traditional storage systems. For example, storing desktop system image data on external storage can be expensive, performance bottlenecks can occur as many desktops boot up within a tight window each morning, and traditional hardware RAID may not provide the level of availability needed.