Features - Storage Innovations:

NEW SPINNAKER NAS GATEWAY SCALES FROM 1 TO 11,000TB

Spinnaker Networks, a leader in the development of next generation distributed storage systems, has announced the SpinServer 3300G, a NAS gateway that combines the most scalable and highest performance NAS solution from Spinnaker with SAN storage support from industry leading vendors.

The SpinServer 3300G consolidates the file services of any size enterprise by non-disruptively scaling a single file system from 1 terabyte to 11,000 terabytes of capacity and provides cost savings through simplified management and more efficient use of hardware resources. Near linear performance scaling inherent to the Spinnaker architecture delivers the ever-increasing throughput demanded by the file system as it is scaled up in size. The Spinnaker architecture delivered the highest results ever posted on the Standard Performance Evaluation Corp (SPEC) System File Server 3.0 (SFS 3.0) test for NAS server performance, where the SpinServer 3300 recorded 23,363 IOPS in a single node test and 117,538 IOPS in a 6-node cluster test.

The SpinServer 3300G is based on the same architecture as the currently shipping SpinServer 3300, a complete storage solution with integrated storage. Both products support a rich set of functionality, including snapshots, scalable clustering, non-disruptive file and file system movement, server failover, and multi-point mirroring. The products can be seamlessly interconnected in a SpinCluster of up to 512 SpinServers.

"The Spinnaker 3300G marks another milestone for Spinnaker Networks, representing a flexible and manageable approach to connecting NAS gateways to existing storage systems," said Jamie Gruener, Senior Analyst of the Yankee Group. "For customers looking for better storage efficiency and a way to eliminate the islands of management found in traditional NAS, the 3300G needs to be part of the buying considerations."

"Our new SpinServer 3300G delivers the file system scaling that is missing from other NAS gateway products," said Jeff Hornung, Spinnaker Networks' vice president of Marketing. "As customers scale their back-end SAN storage, Spinnaker allows them to scale their front-end NAS capability without increasing the management complexity inherent in other NAS products."

The SpinServer 3300G maximum file system size of 11,000 terabytes eclipses other NAS gateway products. By comparison, Network Appliance supports a maximum file system size of 8 terabytes with its recently announced, top-of-the-line gateway, the FAS960.

The SpinServer 3300G shares a common SAN storage pool between file-level and block-level applications and provides cost saving through simplified management and efficient hardware utilization. Only the SpinServer 3300G can recover stranded capacity across multiple SAN islands and combine it into a global file system with an easy-to-manage single namespace.

When multiple conventional NAS servers are deployed, each must be managed as an independent file server -- driving up the cost and complexity of storage management -- and the processing power is limited to the storage directly attached to each server. The SpinServer architecture eliminates these restrictions with a 2-stage distributed file system, SpinFS, that can span up to 512 SpinServers and allocate up to 11 petabytes of capacity as a global file system with a single namespace. SpinServers also provide near-linear performance scaling in a clustered configuration that utilizes the cumulative processing power of all SpinServers, delivering the high performance needed from enterprise-class NAS. SpinManager, the integrated CLI and Web-based GUI, provides a single point of management for all SpinServers in a cluster.

The SpinServer 3300G provides an open storage platform, freeing customers to deploy disk storage from Spinnaker or other enterprise-class storage vendors. Spinnaker is currently working with leading third-party storage vendors to certify the SpinServer 3300G. Announcements are expected during the first quarter of 2003.

The SpinServer 3300G will be available February 1. End user pricing for a high performance NAS gateway with a rich set of software features is under $50,000.

About Spinnaker Networks

Spinnaker Networks is a leading developer of next generation NAS storage solutions. The Spinnaker SpinServer is based upon a powerful 2-stage distributed storage system and has posted the highest score ever reported on the Standard Performance Evaluation Corporation (SPEC) system file server 3.0 (SFS 3.0) test for NAS server performance for a single file system. Spinnaker products are available as complete storage systems and NAS gateways. The standards-based SpinServer supports NFS, CIFS, NDMP, SNMP and CIM, to provide the most efficient management while ensuring interoperability among diverse computing and storage environments. Founded in December 1999, Spinnaker Networks is a privately held company headquartered in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The company has secured $51 million through two series of funding rounds. For more information, visit www.spinnakernet.com.

Contact: Joy Burd of Spinnaker Networks, 412-968-7792, joy@spinnakernet.com.