Byte & Switch (April 2008): Storage Oddities Emerge at Interop,
A handful of odd, intriguing products showcase trends in storage networking
"...OnPATH doesn't like the phrase "patch panel," and it's not too keen on "matrix switch" either, but its Universal Connectivity System (UCS) is among the latest, most futuristic iterations of those technologies. Among other things, it features an internal database of physical-layer interfaces that can help streamline various management tasks...FCoE was also a key feature of OnPath's Interop demonstration, in which it demonstrates its Universal Connectivity System 2900 running in a network with The UCS 2900 provides protocol-agnostic layer 1 connectivity for common data center and network protocols such as Ethernet, Fibre Channel, and Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCOE). 10-Gigabit Ethernet traffic driven through a Fibre Channel test application using Intel® 10-Gigabit XF SR Server Adapters..."
Inc. Technology Online (April 2008): Is Your Network Secure—Physically?
"...You may think you've done everything necessary to protect your network and devices from security threats. But you might be wrong. 'About 80 percent of security breaches are physical in nature,' says Peter Dougherty, president and CEO of OnPATH Technologies, which provides physically secure switches..."
Securities Industry News (March 24, 2008): Server Virtualization: Powerful Tool, Extra Exposure
"...'If you were to have an application server or a file server on that storage device that contains sensitive financial data—trading records, customer data—and you were accidentally to plug in a network connection on the public side of the firewall, that sensitive data could be exposed to hackers or anyone else with access,' says OnPath president and CEO Peter Dougherty. 'It's very simple to expose corporate data in that manner, due to human error. Our products guard against that'..."
Cabling Installation & Maintenance Magazine (March 2008): OnPATH emphasizes importance of data center infrastructure
"...'So much emphasis has been placed on the virtualization of applications, servers, storage, etc., but companies often don't consider that they will hit the wall in terms of the physical network connectivity needed to keep all that virtualized equipment running efficiently,' adds Dougherty. 'Unstructured optical and copper cabling is unreliable, and connector and wiring failures will drive up operating costs by physically limiting the ability to scale and consolidate. Unfortunately, what most people do not realize is that studies have shown that a majority of network downtime is due to cabling problems.'..."
NJ Tech News (March 2008): Virtualizing the Data Center Infrastructure to Maximize Resources and Reduce Costs by Larry Cantwell, CTO
"...Virtualization has become a key buzzword in the industry, and an array of products has emerged to enable the process at the server and storage device level. Fortunately, the value, characteristics, and benefits of virtualization can also be utilized in the physical infrastructure to virtualize, simplify, and automate IT tasks, helping to reduce management expenses and overall total cost of data center ownership..."
Data Center Journal (3/19/08): Get Clean and Green with your Data Center by Peter Dougherty, President & CEO
"...Many enterprise data center environments over-design and over-purchase to ensure full bandwidth availability and continuous uptime. This creates a poor network infrastructure environment. A VIL [Virtualized Infrastructure layer], on the other hand, is more efficient and maximizes existing network servers and server infrastructure. Simply put, data centers that incorporate a VIL are able to do "more" with "less," trimming capital acquisition costs, enabling the sharing of IT equipment and eliminating the need to expand the data center's physical footprint..."
TMCnet (03/06/08): OnPATH Technologies Discusses Why the Data Center Building Boom Could Be a Bust
"...Over the last decade, the pace of IT advancement moved so quickly that the focus was on deploying equipment and applications," Dougherty said. "Today, it has turned to saving money, increasing efficiency and agility, and extending the life of the infrastructure. Every C-level executive and network operations professional should understand how significantly the physical layer of their network impacts overall operations and how smart planning and implementation of a virtualized network infrastructure can benefit them through multiple generations of technology investments..."
Byte & Switch (03/05/08): Data Center Boom Could Be a Bust
"...It's a problem we continually see. Data centers reach the capacity limit of their physical network infrastructure, which is then further exacerbated by planned and unplanned moves, adds, and changes of cables and equipment." said Peter Dougherty, president and CEO of OnPATH Technologies. "Over time, a rat's nest of optical and copper networks is inevitably created and companies face the reality of building a new data center or investing even more resources into a bigger version of the same model..."
Processor Magazine (2/22/08): Surviving The IT Squeeze: How To Keep IT Thriving When Resources Dwindle
“...There is a trend to virtualize the physical infrastructure layer to help simplify and further automate IT tasks associated with equipment moves, adds, and changes, as well as reduce cable count to trim power and cooling needs,” [Peter Dougherty, CEO, OnPATH] says. “Virtualizing the physical infrastructure layer ultimately helps to reduce network management expenses and overall total cost of ownership, which is necessary when IT cutbacks take place...”
Ganthead (2/18/08): Virtualization: The Big Picture
“...And on the storage end—an area that was once left to chance—we’re seeing the physical connectivity of servers to storage along with the infrastructure to support virtualization,” [Larry Cantwell, CTO, OnPATH] adds. “Now we’re exploring the virtualization of the infrastructure, or VIL. The question posed is, how do we take connectivity and optimize it so that we’re getting the most bang for the buck and also supporting the IO demands that will be placed within the network because of server virtualization and storage virtualization?...”
Data Center Journal (12/12/07): 5 Myths about the Physical Layer of the Data Center
"...For many years the physical layer has been ignored. And yet, it's the main source of a lot of management time and network downtime," says Peter Dougherty, President and CEO of OnPATH Technologies. "By virtualizing the physical layer, data centers achieve end-to-end virtualization that will ultimately help reduce operation costs, help provide a real-time infrastructure, and meet green initiatives..."
Byte & Switch (12/11/07): OnPath Explores Data Center Myths
"...Reality: Virtualizing the physical infrastructure layer of the data center and global network can help offset growing data center equipment demands for power..."
American Venture Online (8/8/07) - IntelliPath Closes Series A Funding with $2.0 Million From GKM Ventures & Announces Board of Directors
"...IT organizations of all sizes are looking for ways to do more with less and to do more with what they already have in order improve on application service delivery including performance and availability by leveraging automation, as well as virtualization, to maximize available IT resources including hardware, software, networks and people," said Greg Schulz, founder and senior analyst, The StorageIO Group, an IT industry analyst firm. "With an offering like the IntelliPath UCS 2900, IT organizations can address the error prone manual and time consuming tasks associated with managing the underlying physical infrastructure including add, drops, moves and other physical cabling operations required to support a virtualized data center environment in a cost effective and secure manner..."
SearchStorage.com (4/13/07): Brocade sells off switches
"...The product line consists of physical layer switches that support Fibre Channel (FC), ESCON, ATM and SONET. The switches allow users to move Fibre Channel links without disrupting cabling. The UCS product line has an installed user base, including over one-third of all Fortune 100 companies, as well as federal government agencies..."
Networkworld (4/11/07): Storage start-up purchases Brocade technology. IntelliPath bought physical layer multi-protocol switching technology from Brocade
"...Rather than physically disconnecting the cables and moving them, the switches and servers connect into the 2900 and are moved automatically using the switch. The 2900 also could be used by service providers and large disaster recovery sites to accommodate changes to the WAN infrastructure..."
InformationWeek (4/11/07): Brocade Spinout Takes On 'Rat's Nest' Of Data-Center Cables
"...In any data center, you have a rat's nest of cables," said CEO and president Peter Dougherty in an interview. Companies get returns through labor and time savings and increased utilization, such as making it easier to use test equipment across a network, he said..."
Byte & Switch (4/11/07): Intellipath Dines on Brocade Leftovers
"...This technology enables us to remotely test, monitor and troubleshoot the network paths at all Okinawa sites from the Fort Buckner Technical Control Facility," said Michael Bennett, lead project manager for the 58th Signal Battalion at the U.S Army's Fort Buckner, in a prepared statement. "This saves valuable travel time during testing and results in improved services..."
American Venture Magazine (4/11/07) - Intellipath: New Company, Proven Results
"...With the venture funding, Intellipath plans to introduce the UCS 2900 into the existing install base prior to promoting new software. Dougherty noted the importance of Intellipath's established marketplace: "There are no startups around who can walk in to marquee customers saying you have trusted and relied on our products for all these years...and by the way we are now a standalone company with new technology..."
*OnPATH Technologies was formerly IntelliPath
