EMC, Dell push disk-based storage arrays
By Deni Connor and Ashlee Vance
Network World, 03/17/03
Network managers using cumbersome, slow-to-retrieve tape-based storage to protect their data now will be able to back up, archive and restore it faster with inexpensive disk-based storage arrays that EMC and Dell jointly announced last week.
EMC has opted to put low-cost Advanced Technology Attachment (ATA) drives into its Clariion storage systems as an option alongside current Fibre Channel drives. The new ATA drives could attract users who want to substitute disk-based storage system for tasks that slower tape drives handle. EMC and Dell will make the drives available in the Clariion CX400 and CX600 midrange storage arrays.
EMC has long promoted the use of disk-based storage to help keep data readily available and increase back-up and restore speeds. Many companies, however, still use tape because of its low cost. This latest move by EMC and Dell toward ATA drives could give ATA a boost in this battle between disk and tape, analysts say.
"EMC is traditionally a very cautious, conservative company," says Tony Prigmore, a senior analyst at Enterprise Storage Group. "Now what you are seeing is very rapid adoption of a technology you wouldn't expect the incumbent [storage vendor] to be first to market with. No one expected EMC to do this that fast."
ATA drives, commonly used in PCs and servers, allow back-up operations at as much as eight times the speed of tape-based media at a cost that approaches that of tape. But they are not as reliable or as fast as SCSI or Fibre Channel alternatives, experts say.
Enterprise Storage Group says 1G byte of ATA disk space will cost $1.44 compared with 99 cents for Linear-Tape Open I tape drives. By contrast, 1G byte of Fibre Channel storage averages $63, more than 40 times as much as ATA.
Using ATA drives for backing up data and tape for archiving data is not new. Vendors of network-attached storage (NAS) and storage systems such as ATTO Technology, Avamar Technologies, Network Appliance, Quantum and StorageTek ship ATA-based arrays for backing up data. EMC uses ATA disks in its Centera array for storing data that doesn't change over time, such as digital images. What differentiates Dell's and EMC's ATA drives from these products is that CX arrays can attach to either a storage-area network or to the network as NAS devices.
The new ATA enclosure is priced starting at $21,000 with a 1.25-terabyte capacity. For new CX customers, the price is $127,000 for the CX array with 10 terabytes of capacity.
In addition to the disk announcement, EMC says it will offer new storage software for its Clariion and Symmetrix storage systems that lets customers migrate and distribute data between storage arrays. Called EMC SAN Copy, the software can be used to transfer large chunks of data from one system to another at as fast as 4 terabyte/hour.
The software could be used, for example, to move information from a production system to a test system for application tuning, for large backups, or for shifting information from an older system to a new one. It costs $18,000.
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