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Promise’s VTrak 15200 is a compact, 3U rackmount-optimized storage system that can be populated with up to fifteen low cost Serial ATA Drives (SATA) or Parallel ATA (PATA) drives. The VTrak 15200 system combines cost-effective ATA RAID storage with a dual-port hardware-based iSCSI host interface that delivers up to 200 MB/sec throughput for cost-effective server clustering and SAN storage for mid-range enterprise, medium and small businesses.

"By reducing the cost and eliminating many of the challenges traditionally associated with delivering fabric storage, iSCSI holds tremendous potential for the future of SANs," said Roger Cox, chief analyst for Server Storage and RAID, Gartner Dataquest. "Low cost storage will be a cornerstone of the iSCSI network topology and critical to the success of the technology, making products that compete in this segment eagerly awaited.

A Storage Area Network (SAN) connects servers to a centralized pool of storage devices enabling multiple servers to flexibly allocate storage across the network. By using multiple servers networked to a VTrak 15200 array in a SAN architecture, the continuous operation of the network can be improved by redundant server failover protection known as clustering. If one server fails in a system, the redundant server in the SAN will continue to serve the users in the network. Because the servers on the network can share the VTrak 15200 system storage, capacity can be flexibly allocated and capacity utilization is increased, maximizing the value of the storage media. To bring the key benefits of SANs to smaller businesses, Promise’s VTrak 15200 RAID storage system combines iSCSI Ethernet-based SAN technology with cost-effective SATA RAID storage for an affordable solution with SAN functionality.

“Protecting data and reducing down time with data redundancy and redundant business application servers are critical for any size business, but traditional Fibre Channel based SAN systems are simply too expensive and complex for small to medium-sized businesses to deploy. Now by combining the accessibility of low cost Ethernet-based iSCSI SAN switches and iSCSI SATA RAID VTrak 15200, a new class of users can gain the benefits of SAN storage, even with one or two storage systems and a handful of servers,” said Sam Sirisena, senior vice president of sales, marketing and business development worldwide, Promise Technology, Inc. “Promise’s VTrak 15200 RAID system brings key enterprise-class storage system features and SAN flexibility to the high-volume small to medium business market worldwide.”

iSCSI leverages existing IP networks to facilitate and extend SANs by using TCP/IP to transport SCSI commands and data between host and SAN nodes. To eliminate CPU overhead and deliver iSCSI over Gigabit Ethernet at near wire speed performance, the VTrak 15200 RAID storage system dual-port iSCSI host interface features a hardware-accelerated TCP offload engine (TOE) from QLogic, widely recognized as the premier solution for this technology.

“Promise’s ATA storage offers the ultimate solution for cost-effective high capacity storage while iSCSI delivers the benefits of network storage in an easy-to-connect, easy-to-manage solution,” said Frank Berry, vice president of marketing, QLogic Corp. “The VTrak 15200 RAID storage system uses the QLogic iSCSI TOE ISP4010 Controller to connect these complementary technologies for an exceptional entry-level SAN solution.”

Efficient SAN storage requires high performance storage systems. The VTrak 15200 system combines Promise’s proven RAID engine with a powerful Intel® IOP321 I/O processor based on Intel XScale® technology to deliver throughput performance of up to 200 MB/sec and up to 20,000 I/Os per second using the data protection capabilities of RAID.

“By utilizing the capabilities and performance of the Intel XScale technology-based processor, Promise has delivered a storage solution that should satisfy the demanding needs of this emerging market segment,” said Michael Ludgate, director of marketing for the Storage Components Division, Intel Corp.

“Many of our customers are looking for cost effective, competitive alternatives to Fibre Channel systems,” said John Dooley, vice president of sales and marketing for RAID, Inc. “We look forward to the widespread availability of the Promise VTrak 15200 RAID storage system so customers can experience the benefits of iSCSI technology in SAN environments.”

http://www.promise.com/product/produ...121&familyId=6

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