Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has extended its use of thin provisioning technology and is offering software and services designed to reclaim underutilized storage capacity.

On the software side, HDS introduced a feature called Zero Page Reclaim, which analyzes volumes of physical capacity and storage connected to the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform (USP) and returns unused storage blocks back to the storage pool and reclaims storage space.

The company also introduced Automatic Dynamic Rebalancing to improve performance optimization on the USP by automatically rebalancing existing virtual volumes to take advantage of physical storage added later.

In addition, HDS extended its thin provisioning technology – Hitachi Dynamic Provisioning – to the AMS 2000 platform.

On the services side, HDS is now offering a Storage Reclamation Service. The new service assesses a customer’s environment, plans a dynamic provisioned environment, migrates the data, and reclaims unused capacity with Zero Page Reclaim without application disruption, according to Joe Jose, a senior product marketing manager at HDS.

“The assessment service results in an implementation of the Zero Page Reclaim technology and can help defer storage purchases and reduce capital expenditures,” says Jose. “And, if we don’t meet the customer’s expectations for reclaimed capacity they don’t have to pay us for the service.”

The reclamation service is available now. Pricing varies and depends on the size and number of servers in the customer’s data center. Jose says HDS designed the service for users with more than 100TB of storage under management.

Dynamic Provisioning for the AMS 2000 is available as a microcode upgrade.

The Storage Reclamation Service and Dynamic Provisioning support for the AMS2000 are part of a bigger “do more with less” campaign from HDS. The company also launched a promotion called the “Switch it On” program, under which it offers storage virtualization software that can be used to consolidate all externally attached, third-party storage under common management, and includes transparent data movement, dynamic provisioning, and intelligent tiering.

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