Stratus Technologies’ high-availability (HA) Stratus Avance Software 3.0 now includes support for Intel Xeon E5 “Sandy Bridge” processor-powered servers.  This is an exciting development for companies that use Intel Xeon E5 servers manufactured by HP, IBM, Dell and Intel, as Avance software proactively detects and prevents downtime and ensures that their applications run without interruption.

Avance software is the only HA solution that automatically detects, isolates and handles faults, keeping applications running despite system interruptions. Avance software constantly monitors system heartbeat and the health of drives, fans, power supplies and other system components to predict faults and performance degradation. This system management dashboard gives the IT administrator detailed configurations and alert information as well as guidance on resolving issues.

This next generation of Avance can support up to 24 virtual machines (VM) on a single licensed HA server platform, a 50 percent increase over its predecessor. The improvement in VM density can lower operational, maintenance and management costs by enabling more consolidation of servers and applications.

This is also an important development for our channel partners. Frank Vincentelli, chief technology officer at Integrated IT Systems, a computing services firm and Stratus4Uptime channel partner, feels the development is critical to maintaining healthy relationships with customers. “Adding IT talent is expensive and application downtime is disruptive, and our clients very much want to minimize both,” he said.

Avance 3.0 software is an organization’s best protection against unplanned downtime and data loss for their most important applications. Avance proves that HA can be simple to achieve and manage, and affordable to implement in organizations of any size.  No other HA solution offers more.

Some additional features of the newest release include:

• Support for Intel Modular Server (IMS) systems, built on Intel Multi-Flex technology, to create a HA blade platform between two IMS chassis
• Faster snapshotting to reduce VM back-up time and downtime exposure
• System manageability enhancements that improve the user experience

Complete product details are available here.

The other day, I was taking care of my end of year appointments, one of course was seeing my eye doctor.  I was overdue which is especially important since I am a diabetic and need my eyes checked each year.  Because my ophthalmologist is so busy, getting an appointment is nearly impossible. I had to miss my company holiday party because I had to book this appointment three months in advance. I did try to reschedule it but that would have had to be in February of next year.

Once at my appointment, I learned my ophthalmologist office is transitioning to EHR and they had my folder to check me in and do my exam. After they finished, they placed  a bright yellow paper on top of the papers in the file “ALERT, Patient is now in EHR system”.  So I sat there, missing my holiday party and thinking that if that system wasn’t available, could they still see me after they purge all the manila folders and my paper records?

Was there a backup, and would I be sitting here next year in the same predicament, but with a doctor unable to access my records if the server went down? And since the office is so busy, how much downtime would severely impact their schedule and patients? Would they have the time cushion to back fill the missed appointments, and if not, would I have to reschedule for February, miss my insurance claim for the year costing me more out of pocket, have to take additional time off from work, and of course – miss another holiday party?

Bah Humbug!

Stratus® ftServer® systems are designed to use industry-standard hardware components and to support off-the-shelf operating systems so that they appear as standard x86 servers to third-party management tools. By adhering to industry-standard protocols, Stratus provides a suite of tools to manage ftServer systems both locally and remotely and to integrate them with a wide variety of third party management tools.

More importantly, this management capability is augmented by the fault-tolerant architecture of the ftServer system itself and the robust Service and Proactive Availability Management that back it up. This combination insures that ftServer systems seamlessly integrate within existing management frameworks and that they provide the highest levels of uptime and ease of management.

This session describes the tools available for monitoring and managing ftServer systems in a variety of scenarios ranging from local or remote configuration of a single server to integration with an enterprise management software suite controlling a large-scale heterogeneous server infrastructure.

Stratus^® ftServer^® systems are designed to use industry-standard hardware components and to support off-the-shelf operating systems so that they appear as standard x86 servers to third-party management tools. By adhering to industry-standard protocols, Stratus provides a suite of tools to manage ftServer systems both locally and remotely and to integrate them with a wide variety of third party management tools.

More importantly, this management capability is augmented by the fault-tolerant architecture of the ftServer system itself and the robust Service and Proactive Availability Management that back it up. This combination insures that ftServer systems seamlessly integrate within existing management frameworks and that they provide the highest levels of uptime and ease of management.

This session describes the tools available for monitoring and managing ftServer systems in a variety of scenarios ranging from local or remote configuration of a single server to integration with an enterprise management software suite controlling a large-scale heterogeneous server infrastructure.

Date: Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Time: 10:00AM ET

Speaker: Dan Fallon is a Consulting Product Manager for Stratus Technologies, Inc. He has over twenty years of experience managing a variety of hardware and software products in the computer industry. Dan is currently responsible for the Operating System and Storage product portfolio for the Stratus ftServer line of fault-tolerant servers.

Register for the WebEx here!