Tivoli smoothes file sharing

Aiming to help federal agencies get the most out of the storage-area networks

(SAN) they build, Tivoli Systems Inc. announced availability of its SANergy

File Sharing 2.1 software. SANergy enables the sharing of application and

other types of files among heterogeneous servers and workstations connected

to a SAN.

SANergy works by setting up a single pool of storage resources that

can be accessed simultaneously by computers running different operating

systems, including Microsoft Corp.'s Windows 2000 and Windows NT, IBM Corp.'s

AIX, Apple Computer Corp.'s Mac OS, Sun Microsystem Inc.'s Solaris, Compaq

Computer Corp.'s Tru64 Unix and Silicon Graphics Inc.'s Iirix.

There are other software products available that allow file sharing

among mixed operating systems, but they typically build the shared storage

pool on top of a proprietary file system. SANergy is different in that it

stores files in standard Microsoft NT File System format or in Sun's Solaris

file format.

That enables IT shops to leverage their existing skills in those file

systems instead of learning new tools or migrating data to a new file system

infrastructure.

Tivoli acquired the core technology of the SANergy product last year

when the company purchased a division of software developer Mercury Com-puter

Systems Inc.