Procom Gives Users More Network Storage Space
ACTION ITEMS
Procom Technology last week introduced a pair of aggressively priced servers aimed at data warehouse environments requiring lots of storage capacity and high availability.
The NetForce 2000 and 2200 network-attached storage systems, which Procom previewed at the FOSE '99 government IT show in Washington, D.C., are Procom's first high-end data servers.
The new products put Procom into competition with the likes of Network Appliance and Auspex in this segment of the storage market, according to Farid Neema, president of Peripheral Concepts, a market research and consulting firm in Santa Barbara, Calif.
The 10-bay NetForce 2000 stores up to 180G bytes of data; the 2200 has a larger disk and supports up to 900G bytes. Both models can be attached to Windows NT or Unix networks and allow users to share data across both network types. The devices attach to networks via 10/ 100Base-T or Fibre Channel interfaces.
The servers support RAID levels 0, 1, 3, 5 and 10. The 2200 is available in an active-active RAID architecture, in which RAID controllers back each other up in the event of a failure. Pricing for the new NetForce systems starts at $35,000.
Neema says the new NetForce models are attractively priced given their availability features. He points to the servers' online expansion capabilities, which enable users to add drive capacity without taking the systems offline.
In April, Procom will unveil the 2500 and 2600 data servers, which will provide even more capacity. They will handle from 900G bytes to 1.8 terabytes of data. Pricing for these models will start at $100,000.
Procom has also upgraded its product line by introducing a rack-mountable version of its entry-level NetForce 100R data server for NT networks. The server boasts 24G to 80G bytes of net disk capacity. The 100R features a 10/100Base-T interface, and pricing starts at $5,700.
Procom also announced the DataForce 250 and 275, the latest versions of its CD-ROM workgroup servers. The servers, which attach to networks via 10/100Base-T, hold 250 and 275 CDs, respectively. Pricing starts at $8,592.