LenovoEMC Announces Updated LifeLine 4.0 OS

LenovoEMC is announcing their next generation LifeLine 4.0 Operating System for Iomega NAS products which are now part of LenovoEMC. LenovoEMC LifeLine 4.0 OS features a variety of updated capabilities as well as new features. LifeLine 4.0 includes Integrated Virtualization Technology (IVX), Snapshots for the first time, SSD Cache Pools, iSCSI Security, Active Directory Hybrid Authentication as well as additional improvements. The updates focus on management, security and increasing the availability of businesses’ content in order to create a better end-user experience.

LenovoEMC is announcing their next generation LifeLine 4.0 Operating System for Iomega NAS products which are now part of LenovoEMC. LenovoEMC LifeLine 4.0 OS features a variety of updated capabilities as well as new features. LifeLine 4.0 includes Integrated Virtualization Technology (IVX), Snapshots for the first time, SSD Cache Pools, iSCSI Security, Active Directory Hybrid Authentication as well as additional improvements. The updates focus on management, security and increasing the availability of businesses’ content in order to create a better end-user experience.

The updated features and new additions to the LifeLine 4.0 OS are significant. Prior to this generation, LifeLine didn’t include snapshot. Now users can take snapshots on the fly as the device is actively writing to backup storage volume to that given point in time later. LifeLine 4.0 OS also provides Volume Shadow Copy (VSS), which can combine with snapshots, a feature not always offered on competing models. VSS can be used with Microsoft Exchange and SQL. Also featured is SSD caching to create a hot cache pool with SSDs to increase performance by migrating frequently-accessed data. Also related to drives, the new devices will feature support for 4TB drives to increase density and thus overall capacity. LifeLine 4.0 OS also includes Twonky Media Beam designed more for the prosumers interested in mobile access to media.

LifeLine 4.0 OS also includes a couple of unique features. One of them focuses on the user interface. To clean it up and make it even more readable, users can disable features they infrequently or never use. LifeLine 4.0 OS also includes Integrated Virtualization Technology (IVX) to run VMs on the Iomega px rackmount arrays. This enables users to run Windows or Linux VMs right from their NAS although mostly geared towards platforms such as smaller webservers or lightweight thin-clients. IVX support is limited to the rackmount systems primarily since they include more RAM, which the VMs consume when hosted.

LenovoEMC LifeLine 4.0 Specifications

• Snapshots
  • Backup of a storage volume at a point in time
  • Snapshot can be taken while the storage device is actively writing
  • Restore to the source volume and reverting the source volume to its state at the time
  • Volume Shadow Copy (VSS) provider
• SSD Caching (Cache Pools)
  • Pool of solid-state drives designed to automatically increase read and write speeds
  • Automatically caches frequently read and written files on fast SSD storage array
  • Available RAID data protection on SSD cache pool
• IVX (Integrated Virtualization Technology)
  • Run multiple virtual machines (VMs) on the Iomega px12-300r and px12-450r rackmount arrays
  • VMs can run Linux or Windows and have their own private virtualized hardware (network cards, drives, graphics adapters, etc.)
  • Ideal for lightweight Windows Services or dedicated Linux Web Server
• NFS v4
  • Improved security and manageability in networks
  • Windows Single Sign-On authentication to storage resources
• Active Directory Hybrid Authentication
  • Local authentication mode if remote DC is not available
• Active Directory High Availability
  • Connect to multiple Domain Controllers (DCs), access secondary DC if primary is offline
• iSCSI Security
  • Mutual CHAP authentication provides secure connection
• 4TB HDDs
• Twonky Media Server version 7
  • DLNA / UPnP compliant media server
  • Twonky Media Beam from mobile devices

The new LifeLine 4.0 OS is designed to run exclusively on LenovoEMC’s Iomega branded NAS models which offer plenty of flexibility in form factor and capacity range. NAS units can be purchased bare or can include up to 48TB of capacity. The Iomega StorCenter ix series and high performance px series offer 1 to 6 bays, while rackmount arrays come in 6 and 12 bay models. These NAS devices support consumer HDDs or Server Class SATA HDDs.

Availability

LenovoEMC’s LifeLine 4.0 is available now. Existing Iomega ix and px series network storage product users can download LenovoEMC LifeLine 4.0 for free. LenovoEMC network storage devices featuring LifeLine 4.0 are expected to ship in May.

LenovoEMC Product Page