Raidtec's 2 gigabit per second FibreArray 2104 promises to deliver four times the performance of 1Gb fibre channel products, maintain compatibility with current 1 Gbps fibre channel devices, and scale up to 34 TB.

by Wayne Kawamoto [May 20, 2002]

Raidtec Corporation announced the release of its 2 Gbps end-to-end fibre channel host independent SAN storage array, the FibreArray 2104. The FibreArray 2104 promises to deliver four times the performance of 1Gb fibre channel products and protect customers' existing SAN investments by maintaining compatibility with current 1 Gbps Fibre channel devices. The company says that its FibreArray 2104 will achieve high availability, performance and capacity for a range of ISP, ASP, and Internet applications, as well as enterprise applications that include corporate database/data mining, on-line transaction processing, imaging, graphics, audio/video editing, and pre-press.

According to the company, the key advantages of its FibreArray 2104 include:

Performance
The FibreArray 2104 is designed to offer enhanced performance for mid-range to Enterprise SANs and its four-channel 2Gb architecture should achieve higher I/O capability and greater throughput than 1Gb solutions.

Scalability
The product is designed to support up to 192 of the latest 18 to 180GB dual loop fibre channel drives at rotational speeds up to 15,000 rpm. This may make the FibreArray storage system suitable for SANs that need to start relatively small but will grow to meet large enterprise requirements.

Fabric switch support
The product is designed to allow for scalable configurations from single server storage area switch (SAS) to enterprise storage area network (SAN).

Capacity
The product is designed to offer scalability from 300GB to 34 Terabytes per controller from a single system.

Data integrity
The RAID Off-Load Engine (ROLE) architecture of the FibreArray 2104 should provide high-speed memory caching, hardware assisted RAID 5 parity generation and cache coherency. Configuration on disk (COD) is included where a backup of the array configuration is stored on disk for added data integrity.

Interoperability and backward compatibility
Cross testing and certification should ensure interoperability with leading storage infrastructure providers, including host bus adapter, disk drive, hub, switch, software and server manufacturers. FibreArray 2104 is designed to be fully backward compatible and co-exist with 1Gb storage arrays and components, without performance degradation.

"Raidtec is committed to working with ISPs to transform their existing, separate storage entities into single, cost-effective converged storage infrastructures," said Noel May, CTO Raidtec Corporation. "This will create reliable storage area networks for future, feature-rich, centralized management and an early return on investment,"

"2 Gbps fibre channel devices deliver several times the performance with significantly improved ROI and lower cost of ownership, while protecting existing SAN investments by maintaining seamless compatibility with 1Gb fibre channel devices," said Jim Schaper, CEO Raidtec Corporation. "The presence of 2Gb-ready SANs are expected to fuel continued high growth in the SAN marketplace."

"2 Gbps fibre channel is here because the throughput-intensive applications available, such as web caching and video production, are stretching the limits of today's 1Gb fibre channel," added May. "2 Gigabit SAN infrastructure devices such as switches and host bus adapters (HBAs) are already shipping from leading vendors. Now, Raidtec's FibreArray 2104 and related management software allow customers to take full advantage of this massive uplift in performance and scalability, at very aggressive prices."

Availability and pricing
The FibreArray 2104 will be available for delivery in Q2 2002.

It will be priced at $21,400 for the base unit, and $53,000 for the base unit with 2 TB of storage.

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