Data Migrations: Seven10 and EMC Revolutionize the Industry Paradigm

*The following is a guest blog post by Bobby Moulton, President & CEO of Seven10 Storage Software, a leading developer of cloud-based information lifecycle management (ILM) and data migration software.

An assertive headline is essential for a bold undertaking that forever changes how data is moved from old storage to new.  A few years ago, Seven10 set out to transform how users, vendors, and application providers consider file and storage migrations.  It started with a customer challenge: move critical data off proprietary hardware over to new storage without interrupting the patient care process – and resulted in the Storfirst simple, trusted,  data migration platform.

Seven10 searched the industry and was surprised at the lack of innovation.  Where was the automation?  Where was the vision?  Where was the hands-off, ‘we make it so easy you can do it yourself’ innovation?  It seemed that some were busy developing next-generation SaaS, Big Data, IoT, or cloud based offerings because they weren’t working on a data migration solution.

Seven10 Storfirst was Born.
So Seven10 stepped up to the plate.  We focused on customer-driven migrations that were highly automated, supremely reliable, and ridiculously cost effective.  We tossed the PS-lead blue-print and created a new 100% software-driven model.

From day one, Seven10’s Storfirst software seamlessly transitions data from the widest range of legacy storage environments, including EMC Centera, NetApp StorageGrid, HP MAS, IBM GMAS, Oracle SAMFS – as well as any existing NAS platform, cloud gateway or file system.  In addition to data migration capabilities, Storfirst is the only solution offering a standard SMB/CIFS or NFS presentation layer for immediate access into EMC platforms such as ECS.

Why Migrate Data to EMC ECS?
EMC’s Elastic Cloud Storage (ECS) software-defined cloud storage platform combines the cost advantages of commodity infrastructure with the reliability, availability and serviceability of traditional storage arrays.  ECS delivers protocol support for Object and HDFS – all within a single storage platform. Seven10’s Storfirst Gateway allows EMC customers to quickly decommission legacy storage devices while simultaneously modernizing their infrastructure with the adoption of ECS.

How Seven10 Storfirst Gateway Works:
Seven10 offers migration PLUS go-forward data management – all without breaking the bank or interrupting day-to-day operations.  Seven10 changed the paradigm from a resource intensive, PS-led effort, to a repeatable, software-driven five-step migration process:

1. Inventory - Storfirst “ingests” existing file system as read-only and configures new storage or storage tiers under a single managed share.

2. Sync – While providing uninterrupted access to legacy data and writing to new storage, Storfirst copies all legacy data onto new storage or storage tiers.

3. Verify – Using an MD5 hashing algorithm for data verification, Storfirst delivers zero risk of data loss migration.

4. Audit – Storfirst provides a detailed logging capability in order to conduct a file-by-file comparison on the new storage to ensure all data has been copied without any loss.

5. Decommission – Once the migration is complete, the application communicates to the new storage platform while the legacy storage is decommissioned and removed from the environment.

Thanks to the longstanding Technology Connect Select Partnership of EMC and Seven10, organizations retire and/or refresh their storage architecture with software-driven, secure data migrations that guarantee zero data loss.  Storfirst meets compliance regulations by enforcing policies such as: encryption, file-locking, lifespan, auditing, and tiering.  Industries from healthcare to financial services and from manufacturing to government now have the answer to the data migration challenge.

Seven10 and EMC Ease Customer Stress with Safe, Trusted, Proven Migration Solutions

For Allegiance Health, Storfirst seamlessly migrates critical files to ECS.  Due to long-term reliability concerns with the existing NetApp StorageGRID, Allegiance selected Storfirst to migrate millions of electronic records off NetApp and over to ECS.  This all-in-one solution includes optimum storage with a built-in migration path and a 100% auditable transition to ECS – all while delivering Allegiance uninterrupted access to their patient files.

“The combined offering from EMC and Seven10 provides Allegiance Health with an easy and safe migration solution for moving and protecting our critical patient data.  Seven10’s Storfirst migration and management software is very robust, allowing us to quickly and easily adopt the EMC cloud storage platform,” said Allegiance Health’s Information Systems Vice President and Chief Information Officer Aaron Wootton.

It’s clear, the question is not if companies migrate their data, but rather how they complete the migration.  Understanding the features, advantages and benefits of the options is essential.  Through a well-defined, proven, best-of-breed technology partnership with real-world applications, Seven10 and EMC redefine the industry paradigm.

Author information

Bobby Moulton

President & CEO of Seven10 Storage Software

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