Key enhancements include 2x higher capacity models and enhanced snapshot control with new integrated support for IBM storwize V7000 arrays

Riverbed Technology, the leader in application performance infrastructure, announced Riverbed Granite 2.6, with new features that support more branches, bigger data sets, and additional enterprise-class storage solutions, including IBM Storwize V7000.  Riverbed Granite is a branch converged infrastructure solution, unique on the market, which centralises branch data in the data centre while delivering local performance to branch users.  With Granite, in businesses can restore operations a matter of minutes vs. days, centrally protect and secure data, and significantly lower the TCO of branch and remote offices.  InfoWorld has recognised Granite as a unique solution to a widespread problem with back-to-back Technology of the Year Awards in 2013 and 2014.

“Organisations have an average of 55 branches for every data centre and therefore managing business data across the globe is next to impossible. Organisations need better ways to protect data in remote places, faster ways to recover branches after disasters, and lower-cost ways to manage these critical operations,” said John Martin, senior vice president and general manager, Storage Delivery at Riverbed. “Granite is a unique and powerful solution to this universal problem, centralising data for higher security, instant disaster recovery, and dramatically lower TCO. With our new Granite 2.6 release, we now support more branches with double the capacity and bigger data sets, resulting in even lower costs and higher security.”

What’s new in Granite 2.6
Enhanced snapshot support for enterprise-class storage solutions. New snapshot integration capabilities in Riverbed Granite 2.6 provide application-consistent data protection with a greater number of data centre storage arrays. A snapshot records the state of a storage device at a particular point in time, accelerating recovery for branch servers and data and minimizing the impact of outages or data failures.

· IBM Storwize V7000 Snapshot Support Integrated support for IBM Storwize V7000 arrays enables configuration and coordination of branch data snapshots in the data centre. IBM customers now get seamless end-to-end data protection for applications running in branch offices and can use existing datacentre backup solutions like IBM Tivoli Storage Manager and Symantec NetBackup.
· Snapshot Handoff Framework – The snapshot handoff framework introduces a script-execution interface used to orchestrate snapshot operations for storage arrays for which Granite-integrated snapshot control is not currently available.
Higher capacity Virtual Granite Core models. The new Virtual Granite Core 1500 (VGC-1500) series delivers greater capacity for Virtual Granite

Core deployments, scaling to support more branches and larger datasets. The VGC-1500 series, enabled with Granite 2.6 software, includes two new model licenses:

· VGC-1500-L supporting 30 branches and up to 20TB
· VGC-1500-M supporting 30 branches and up to 35TB

Granite is an integral part of the Riverbed Application Performance Platform, a set of integrated solutions that give companies the flexibility to host applications and data in the locations that best serve the business while ensuring the flawless delivery of those apps to better leverage global resources, radically reduce the cost of running their business, and maximize employee productivity.

Availability
Granite 2.6 and the VGC-1500 Series are available immediately.