Storage:

Dot Hill Introduces SANnet Axis

Dot Hill Systems Corp, a leading provider of carrier-class information storage and storage area network (SAN) solutions unveiled its new SANnet Axis, a family of innovative, self-contained appliances that add affordable intelligence to existing storage and network infrastructures.

The result is an accelerated return on investment (ROI), superior utilization of resources, simplified storage management, greater sharing of storage, Internet Protocol (IP) network access to information, and secure information protection.

"Bringing intelligence to network storage allows an individual administrator to manage vastly increased amounts of data," said Michael Peterson, president of Strategic Research. "Powerful products such as SANnet Axis deliver on the promise of storage virtualization to consolidate and simplify network storage management and improve enterprise storage utilization."

SANnet Axis is a family of products available in several task-optimized models. These products are very compact, requiring just one unit (1.75 inches high) of rack space once installed. SANnet Axis is designed for use in continuous computing environments, so it includes no moving parts other than redundant cooling fans and a CD-ROM drive for software updates.

As the first Dot Hill product offering that combines comprehensive advanced data center functionality with appliance-level simplicity, the SANnet Axis simplifies complex storage practices with its rich storage resource management (SRM) suite, powerful logical volume manager (LVM) and advanced storage routing features. SANnet Axis' capabilities -- such as point-in-time images, storage volume copies, real-time mirroring, serverless backup, remote replication and disaster recovery -- introduce new information protection and business continuance alternatives to existing storage pools from any storage vendor including EMC, Sun, Compaq, and Hitachi Data Systems.

According to Jim Lambert, Dot Hill's chief executive officer, "SANnet Axis represents a new, expanded business direction for Dot Hill which complements the company's existing line of SANnet storage solutions. The move to develop innovative appliances such as SANnet Axis is a direct response to customers who prefer to leverage, rather than replace, their existing storage infrastructures to support new enterprise applications."

In development for nearly a year, the SANnet Axis has been at beta sites for the past two months. Dot Hill works directly with beta site customers such as CASPUR, a prominent research consortium in Italy and Interactive Telesis, a voice services provider operating a state-of-the-art hosting facility in San Diego.

Andrei Maslennikov, CASPUR lead systems engineer said, "Because CASPUR is an inter-university computing consortium, distance and interoperability are challenges we face every day. We have been working closely with Dot Hill to test the Internet Protocol (IP) functionality of SANnet Axis. In one test, we simulated a total network outage between SANnet Axis and a server during a data transfer. No information was lost and the operation completed successfully when the network connection was restored after a few minutes. We are convinced SANnet Axis is a viable solution for asymmetric storage access of unreliable networks, such as a wide area network (WAN) or the Internet."

"Our voice application services require the utmost reliability and availability so we use a clustered server environment to protect applications. SANnet Axis also uses high-availability (HA) clustering to protect and provide SAN access over IP. We think it is a pretty slick product," said Dennis Wenger, director of information technology, Interactive Telesis.

Every SANnet Axis provides a rich set of standard features, including SRM, LVM, virtualization, storage-to-IP network routing, point-in-time volume imaging ("snapshots"), a Web-enabled graphical user interface (GUI) and strong client-server security. All functions are performed directly by SANnet Axis -- requiring no special assistance from storage, networks or servers -- to preserve application performance.

Several advanced SANnet Axis features are available as options. These include disaster recovery, remote replication, real-time mirroring, serverless backup, high availability clustering, volume copies, file services, network attached storage (NAS) and more. All SANnet Axis features are factory installed and available for activation and deployment when the user needs them. Plus, SANnet Axis supports a risk-free trial period, so the options may be tested before purchase.

SANnet Axis Remote

A SANnet Axis Remote model consists of a matched pair of units that protect information stored on direct-attached storage (DAS), NAS and SAN systems using remote replication over IP or fibre channel (FC). System administrators select the local volumes they wish to protect and SANnet Axis Remote automatically protects their stored information by maintaining copies at another location, regardless of distance. SANnet Axis Remote pairs communicate over any existing or new FC or IP links, including Local Area Networks (LAN), Metropolitan Area Networks (MAN), WAN and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) across the Internet.

SANnet Axis HA

The SANnet Axis HA model uses an active-active clustered pair of SANnet Axis HA units to enhance NAS and SAN functionality. SANnet Axis HA connects directly to NAS and SAN networks using Ethernet and Fibre Channel links, without disrupting storage, network or server operations. Once installed, users select the desired amounts of NAS and SAN storage they prefer to manage using SANnet Axis HA. The rest of the NAS and SAN storage can remain available for use with its own native features, if desired.

SANnet Axis Basic

The entry-level member of the family, SANnet Axis Basic is a single appliance that consolidates SCSI and Ethernet storage and transforms it into modern enterprise-class networked storage using Gigabit Ethernet. Administrators choose how to present the storage to servers -- as SAN-style block volumes (standard), NAS-style file volumes (optional), or a combination of both accessible over IP. SANnet Axis Basic makes an ideal platform for introducing point-in-time imaging, serverless backup and volume copies to DAS environments.

Pricing and Availability

SANnet Axis base pricing varies by model. Suggested U.S. retail pricing is as follows: SANnet Axis Remote is $39,995 each, sold in matched pairs; SANnet Axis HA is $29,995 each, sold in redundant pairs; SANnet Axis Basic is $19,995 each, sold separately. The suggested US retail pricing of SANnet Axis advanced options vary by function, ranging from $2,000 to $10,000.

SANnet Axis solutions are available now to members of Dot Hill's SANnet Early Access Program. General availability is planned for Q4 2001. Interested parties should contact Dot Hill at 760-872-2783 x833 for details on participating in the SANnet Early Access Program.

Contact Dot Hill Systems Corp, Carlsbad, Leslie Cole, 760-476-3823, leslie.cole@dothill.com.