Iomega Corporation, an EMC company, announced that the line of the StorCenter PX series network storage products has been certified as VMware Ready for use with servers running vSphere 5, creating storage solutions for VMware cloud infrastructure and virtual desktop deployments at SMBs and distributed enterprises.

"Qualifying our top-of-the-line PX series of network storage products for VMware vSphere 5 enables Iomega customers to use the newest and best technology from VMware," said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega Corporation. "It's been our goal at Iomega to bring the cost advantages of VMware cloud infrastructure and virtual desktop deployments to SMBs and distributed enterprises. This is another important milestone in the overall value and capabilities of Iomega network storage solutions for serious business use. Bringing enterprise level applications to SMBs and distributed enterprises as part of rock solid, economical Iomega network storage solutions is what being part of EMC is all about."
 
"Iomega has been instrumental in delivering virtualized storage solutions for SMB customers and has demonstrated a robust solution for SMBs deploying VMware View," said Parag Patel, vice president, Global Strategic Alliances, VMware. "Now with VMware vSphere 5 certification for the Iomega PX series, customers can use the latest VMware technology on the network storage products that opened up the market for small installations."
 
The PX series of network storage products has been tested and certified as VMware Ready with vSphere 5 as both iSCSI and NAS/NFS storage targets.  This certification means that users can take advantage of vSphere features on Iomega network storage platforms designed for SMBs and distributed enterprise locations with up to 250 users.
 
vSphere 5 is the foundation for desktop virtualization, and Iomega's support of SSDs with its StorCenter PX series of network storage products provides a value to customers with small installations.
 
The recently introduced StorCenter PX series network storage product line now listed on the VMware hardware compatibility list includes the desktop models - the four-bay StorCenter px4-300d and the six-bay StorCenter px6-300d - as well as the rackmount models - the StorCenter px4-300r and StorCenter px12-350r.
 
The certifications with both NFS and iSCSI enable users to leverage the flexibility of Iomega network storage and the capabilities of VMware vSphere 5. Certification with iSCSI enables servers running VMware vSphere 5 to use the latest version of VMware VMFS in vSphere 5 on top of block storage to capitalize on benefits such as improved scalability and performance, and reduced space usage by small files. Certification with NFS lets users deploy Iomega's native file-based replication technology for backup or offsite data protection of virtual machines. Both storage options enable customers to utilize advanced VMware vSphere 5 features that require network shared storage. In addition, Iomega network storage devices also support CIFS for storing production data from virtual machines running Microsoft Windows.
 
StorCenter PX Series Network Storage Devices
The StorCenter PX series features four models that are available in diskless, partially populated and fully populated configurations that allow users to grow their network storage capacity. These include the new four- and six-drive desktop StorCenter px4-300d and px6-300d models, with up to 18TB of storage, and the rackmount models - the StorCenter px4-300r and flagship StorCenter px12-350r network storage array -  which offer up to 36TB of storage capacity.  All StorCenter PX series models have SSD capabilities for I/O performance.
 
All of Iomega's StorCenter NAS devices utilize the EMC LifeLine software, a Linux operating environment that incorporates select EMC storage technologies typically available only for enterprise-level customers.