Features - Storage Innovations:

INFORTREND SHIPS HIGH-CAPACITY SERIAL ATA RAID SUBSYSTEMS

RAID storage expert Infortrend announced it is now shipping dual host models of its EonStor Serial ATA (SATA) RAID subsystems in both Fibre Channel (A16F) and SCSI (A16U) host versions. The first of several, versatile high-capacity RAID storage enclosures, the new 16-bay EonStor SATA subsystem can support up to four terabytes of data using sixteen 250-GB drives.

The EonStor Fibre-to-SATA RAID subsystem offers powerful performance, with over 250 MB per second RAID 5 sustained reads and 160 MB per second sustained writes. The EonStor product line is built around Infortrend's RAID controller architecture, featuring its own custom ASIC, and supports up to 1 GB per second bandwidth, or 2 GB per second for redundant controller designs.

"Infortrend is one of very few companies with significant experience in developing both redundant RAID controllers and ATA-based RAID subsystems," stated Tony Prigmore, senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group. "Consequently, Infortrend's SATA product line is positioned very well to serve the growing demand for less-expensive entry-level and midrange RAID solutions in the networked storage market."

"We have worked closely with Infortrend in the development of their new Serial ATA RAID product line," said Jim Gilbreath, director of marketing for Marvell's Storage Networking Business Unit. "We believe products like the EonStor Serial ATA RAID subsystems bring an attractive mix of price, performance, and capacity to the market."

Each controller supports up to 1 GB cache memory, has an IBM PowerPC 750Cxe processor with both level one and 256 KB of level two internal cache, one Ethernet LAN port, and two RS232 ports for out-of-band management and uninterruptible power supply (UPS) support. The EonStor SATA subsystems can also support the use of parallel ATA hard disk drives through the use of optional dongle boards.

"In addition to outstanding performance, the EonStor line offers the highest storage density in a 3U enclosure, while providing a modular, cable-free design," said Thomas Bayens, director of marketing for Infortrend. "Dependability is a key consideration for storage; every active component is fully redundant and hot-swappable, offering no single point of failure."

Infortrend RAID controllers and subsystems offer unparalleled flexibility with up to 1024 LUNs for host connection; 64 TB capacity per logical drive (LD); multiple logical drive configurations-each with a different RAID level; online expansion for adding, copying and replacing drives; configurable optimization mode; background LD initialization and multi-host support. Broad RAID level support includes 0, 1(0+1), 3, 5, 10, 30, 50, JBOD and NRAID.

Key features of the EonStor subsystem line include:

• Highest storage density (16 bays) in 3U space
• Modular, cable-free design
• Two Ultra 160 SCSI ports or tw0 2 GB-per-second-Fibre Channel SFP ports per controller
• Sixteen drive trays for SATA or parallel ATA hard disk drives
• Fully redundant, hot-swappable active components
• Dual cooling modules, with two fans in each
• Dual power supplies with separate switches and power cords
• Dual controller boxes for active-active operation (redundant models)
• Swappable Li-ION battery backup unit (BBU); supports up to 72 hours
• Environmental monitoring with SES and ISEMS interface protocols

Providing network-wide RAID management, Java-based RAIDWatch offers centralized issue notification and enables administration of all RAID arrays from a single screen for Windows, Linux and Solaris operating systems. Out-of-band support for these and other operating systems such as Mac OS X, Unix and its variants is available via web browser using an onboard Ethernet port. Event notification can be provided via email, broadcast and SNMP traps.

The EonStor RAID subsystem has been designed for maximum storage density while minimizing the dollar per gigabyte ratio for end users, without compromising the overall usability, reliability and accessibility of the subsystem. The enclosure provides simplified access to all hot-swappable active components and drive trays.