Features - Storage Innovations:

NEW iSCSI EXPANSION TECH ENABLES BROAD SCALING FOR IP STO

iStor Networks Inc, an innovative provider of wire-speed, high-availability network storage solutions, has announced a patent-pending technology for IP storage that aggregates the capacity of as many as eight independent IP storage systems into a single system by using inexpensive iSCSI links. The groundbreaking technology expands the number of serial ATA (SATA) disk drives in the same storage domain from 16 to 128; this will enable IP storage systems to scale from entry- to enterprise-level -- with more than 30 terabytes of data storage -- while spreading out the cost of controllers for a better cost/capacity ratio and a much lower total cost of ownership.

"The new iStor technology delivers an essential expansion capability at an affordable price," said Michael Karp, senior storage analyst at Enterprise Management Associates, a Boulder, Colo.-based technology analyst firm. "It will help bring serial ATA into prime time -- and IP storage along with it."

The iStor technology effectively overcomes a critical SATA limitation that has been a major roadblock to the scaling of IP storage. Although there are still only 16 SATA drives per controller, this new technology, which aggregates multiple Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI ports, allows for relatively inexpensive "expansion" controllers to be connected to robust, fully redundant "command" controllers using standard Ethernet switches. As a result, all drives are logically connected and can be managed as a single entity.

With this technology, OEMs of target IP storage networking products can offer cost-effective entry-level solutions by limiting the number of front-end iSCSI ports and back-end SATA connections, as well as much higher-end solutions by utilizing all eight 1-GbE iSCSI front ends.

"Our OEM customers will be able to provide a wider range of iSCSI solutions for primary storage, fixed content storage, content addressable storage, disk-to-disk backup, and other IP-based storage applications," said Peter Cmaylo, iStor's vice president of business development. "At the same time, they will greatly reduce the need for additional engineering development that would directly impact product cost."

According to Cmaylo, iStor will soon deploy its new iSCSI Expansion Technology in scalable iSCSI command and expansion network storage server blades.