The lagging STEK goes native..........
torageTek Delivers 9840 Fibre Channel Tape Drive, the Industry's First Native Fibre Channel Storage Solution
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 24, 2000--StorageTek(TM) (Storage Technology Corp.)(NYSE:STK) today announced the immediate availability of the StorageTek 9840 Fibre Channel (FC) Tape Drive at the Company's annual financial analysts' meeting. The 9840FC is the Fibre Channel version of its industry-leading 9840 tape drive. The 9840 continues to set rate-of-adoption records for high-end storage products with 20,000 SCSI and ESCON drives shipped to date. The 9840FC delivers the high performance, high capacity, reliability and fast access capabilities of the 9840 across traditional enterprise and SAN environments.
The combination of extreme scalability with high performance, high capacity and mainframe-class reliability, has resulted in tremendous demand for the 9840 in supercomputer to traditional mainframe environments, as well as a multitude of open systems UNIX and Windows NT customers. Furthermore, the speed of the 9840FC transforms tape from an auxiliary storage device into a mission-critical tool for holding digital text, video clips, X-rays, check images, e-business data and other important, frequently accessed information.
"The 9840FC allows customers to think differently about their storage needs and requirements," said Nelson Diaz, StorageTek vice president and general manager of client-server tape. "Now it is possible to do with five 9840s what used to be done with 10 to 20 SCSI attached midrange tape drives.
"With fewer drives and faster access, customers can reduce the number of distributed tape libraries they require, re-centralize their resources -- and get better performance," said Diaz. "That puts the total cost of ownership for this sophisticated technology at a price point comparable to older technologies -- a true breakthrough in storage technology."
The 9840FC's ability to integrate into an arbitrated loop or switch environment allows data centers to directly address today's connectivity and distance issues, and better utilize precious server resources. Native Fibre Channel extends the distance limit to 500 meters, as opposed to the 25 meters SCSI allows, simplifying cabling and, ultimately, device sharing. The 9840FC moves data at up to 20 megabytes per second with 2:1 compression, and can approach 40 megabytes per second at 4:1 compression with highly compressible data. Mid-point load improves search time and speed of first access to data, with as low as an eight second response time. Additionally, 9840 cartridges store up to 20 gigabytes native, so more data is being moved faster. The 9840FC's dual-ported design adds reliability with redundant paths, simplifying fail-over issues.
"StorageTek's 9840FC is designed to be integrated into a SAN environment," said Bob Amatruda, senior analyst, tape and removable storage at IDC. "No costly or complex bridges and converters are needed with the 9840's native Fibre Channel interface."
The 9840FC is the first drive to comply with the ANSI FC-Tape standard. The FC-Tape standard addresses interoperability and device behavior and is one of the first steps in building the infrastructure that will aid in the deployment of SANs.
"Los Alamos National Laboratory must quickly archive and retrieve files of up to many terabytes in size for scientific weapons simulations," stated Gary Grider, technical staff member, Storage Solutions Team, Computing & Information and Communications Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory. "Meeting this need for extremely high streaming data transfer rates requires a large number of high-performance tape transports. The StorageTek Fibre Channel 9840 tape transport has achieved rates of up to 38 megabytes/sec in our environment. The Fibre Channel connectivity also provides the flexibility we require."
Pricing and Availability
The 9840FC is available immediately worldwide through StorageTek and StorageTek channels. Pricing starts at $34,400.
About StorageTek
StorageTek is one of the preeminent providers of network storage. The company's strategy is to help customers enable business growth by removing the inhibitors to managing information growth. StorageTek provides "Open, Intelligent and Integrated"(TM) solutions that combine storage products, storage management software and storage services to help customers collect, move, store, share and protect all types of digital content on platforms ranging from laptops to enterprise servers. The company, with headquarters in Louisville, Colo., reported revenue of $2.4 billion in 1999. Information on StorageTek is available on the World Wide Web at www.storagetek.com or phone 800.786.7835.
TRADEMARKS: StorageTek and "Open, Intelligent and Integrated" are trademarks of Storage Technology Corp. All other products or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only, and may be trademarks of their respective owners.
9840 Fibre Channel Quotes
ADIC
"Advances in SAN technology, including the development of drives like the StorageTek 9840FC, are critical for the future of storage management across the enterprise," said Dave Uvelli, ADIC executive director of software marketing. "ADIC, through its membership in the Storage Networking Industry Association and its partnership with StorageTek and other industry leaders, is continuing to provide the next generation of SAN storage management software solutions by building on its industry-leading AMASS software architecture and supporting the innovative product developments of our vendor partners."
Cambex
"We are excited to partner with and support StorageTek in their introduction of the first native Fibre Channel tape drive, the 9840FC," said Peter Kruy, executive vice president of Cambex Corp. (OTC:CBEX). "The 9840 along with our FibreQuik host bus adapters enable the connectivity of heterogeneous servers, making tape a viable addition to the SAN environment."
The FibreQuik PC1000 and MC1000 are full duplex Fibre Channel host bus adapters designed to provide connectivity for IBM AIX, Sun Solaris, Windows NT, and Linux-based servers. Cambex's Dynamic Path Failover and load balancing software for use with the FibreQuik adapters provides superior performance and availability in mission-critical SAN environments.
Computer Associates Inc.
"As market leaders in the storage industry, Computer Associates worked closely with StorageTek throughout the development of the 9840FC native fibre drive. It is a benchmark for the industry," said Michael LaTorraca, CA vice president, development partner programs. "ARCserveIT, utilizing a 9840FC-based tape library such as the L180 simplifies the SAN, introduces enhanced performance, reliability and decreases points of failure on the SAN."
Emulex
"StorageTek is a recognized leader in enterprise storage solutions. Through our partnership, StorageTek has been able to exploit the advantages of our LightPulse architecture, which provides both the performance and flexibility they need to deliver this product," stated Mike Smith, vice president of worldwide marketing for Emulex Corp. "Because the installed base of LP8000s can be upgraded to support the FC-Tape standard, StorageTek's customers can benefit from the capabilities of the 9840 tape drive in new systems as well as existing installations," Smith added.
JNI
"We're very excited to have StorageTek as a strategic partner in the ever-evolving Fibre Channel community," said Scott Ruple, JNI's vice president of marketing. "StorageTek has redefined the Storage Area Network (SAN) with the introduction of its 9840 Fibre Channel Tape Drive. For the first time, a tape drive can be plugged directly into a SAN without the need for a bridge."
Legato Systems Inc.
"As a leader in enterprise storage management in SAN environments, Legato strongly supports the introduction of products that will enable the deployment of SAN technology like StorageTek's 9840 Fibre Channel tape drive," said George Symons, vice president of product marketing and management, Legato Systems. "Legato is committed to test and certify the combination of NetWorker and GEMS SmartMedia and this tape drive to ensure customers' complete interoperability of these industry-leading SAN technologies."
QLogic
"As a leading innovator in high-performance I/O controllers, we are delighted to work with StorageTek and excited about their introduction of the industry's first ANSI-standard Fibre Channel tape drive, the 9840," said Samir Desai, senior product manager, QLogic. "With the integrated QLogic ISP2200 controller, StorageTek's 9840 Fibre Channel tape drive makes tape a logical addition to today's SAN environment."
SGI
"As the first true Fibre Channel tape device, the 9840 is just another example of StorageTek's leadership in the tape industry," stated Patrick Hughes, product manager for Tapes and Automation, Storage Business Unit, SGI. "SGI, as a very early proponent of the SAN infrastructure, has been eagerly waiting for a truly native Fibre Channel tape implementation such as the 9840. The 9840FC fits very well with our company's short- and long-term SAN strategies. A SAN implementation depends in part on the flexibility that Fibre Channel offers. With the proximity and tape device sharing issues being addressed by StorageTek's 9840FC, a true storage area network is closer to becoming reality."
Tivoli
"Tivoli Systems is excited to be working with StorageTek in the area of high-performance SAN management." said Troy Pladson, director of Tivoli Storage Management Solutions. "The collaboration of StorageTek's native fibre-attached tape devices with Tivoli SAN management products will deliver to our mutual customers easily managed, high-performance and highly available SAN solutions across the enterprise."
VERITAS Software Corp.
"VERITAS Software and StorageTek are delivering robust LAN free backup and recovery SAN solutions to our enterprise customers," said Robin Purohit, director of product management, SAN and SRM products, VERITAS Software. "Native Fibre Channel tape represents an important step in the evolution of these SAN solutions. As these products become available, VERITAS Software plans to continue our collaborative efforts with StorageTek to expand the list of jointly qualified SAN solutions by incorporating these new technologies into our testing processes."
Wonder why SUNW wasn't quoted in this piece? |
