Nexenta, the global leader in Software-Defined Storage (#softwaredefinedstorage) (SDS), today announced that its NexentaConnect for VMware Virtual SAN has been upgraded to offer day one support for VMware Virtual SAN 6. Nexenta’s SDS solution, which simplifies and streamlines the provisioning of file services utilizing VMware Virtual SAN, now offers twice the performance - boosting users ability to create a hyper-converged solution without paying for expensive external storage arrays.

Launched in March 2014, VMware Virtual SAN was created for VMware vSphere environments as the first policy-driven storage product to automate manual storage tasks. This latest release, launched in conjunction with VMware vSphere 6, offers numerous benefits that NexentaConnect takes advantage of:

• All-Flash Architecture
• New Virtual SAN high performance snapshots and clones
• Rack Awareness for greater resiliency
• Expanded scalability in blade environments through direct-attached JBODs
• 2x greater scale with 64 node cluster support
• 2x-4x more IOPS making VMware Virtual SAN and NexentaConnect more suitable for high performance apps which require consistent
response times 


Sitting on top of VMware Virtual SAN, NexentaConnect for VMware Virtual SAN operates with and augments VMware Virtual SAN by adding enterprise-class Windows and UNIX based file services without the need for any additional hardware purchases. NexentaConnect for Virtual SAN completes hyper-converged VMware Virtual SAN deployments by utilizing local storage in servers to deliver high performance NFS and SMB file services to virtual machines and virtual desktops, all managed through a single VMware vCenter Server console. 

“Through its latest support for VMware Virtual SAN 6, Nexenta continues to define the latest trends in storage and address the needs of today’s SDS market,” said Simon Robinson, Research Vice President at 451 Research. “Nexenta’s latest integration efforts with VMware offers a smart answer to today’s complex storage challenges, empowering an enterprise to quickly get to its virtualization goals.”

Gaetan Castelein, Senior Director, Storage Product Management & Marketing, VMware, said, “Nexenta supports our vision of software-defined storage through which VMware plans to bring to storage the same efficiency that VMware vSphere brought to compute. VMware Virtual SAN is at the core of VMware’s strategy for storage. NexentaConnect for VMware Virtual SAN complements VMware Virtual SAN, creating a hyper-converged unified storage solution for the data center of the future."

Thomas Cornely, Chief Product Officer, Nexenta said, “Today’s announcement enables joint customers of NexentaConnect for VMware Virtual SAN and VMware Virtual SAN 6 to receive support from day one, enabling streamlined management of file services, recovery nodes and compatibility to VMware EVO: RAIL, which combines compute, networking and storage resources in an all-in-one hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, and ultimately doubles the performance.”