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MTI Technology Announces Commitment to Next-Generation Storage Area Networks
High-Performance, High-Availability, Scalable Solutions Represent Leading Edge Technology for the Next Millennia
ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 13 /PRNewswire/ -- Expanding on its strategy to improve the way data is stored, protected and managed in the enterprise, MTI Technology Corp. (Nasdaq: MTIC - news) today announced its commitment to Storage Area Networks (SAN), the next-generation of storage technology.
As part of its SAN strategy, MTI plans to unveil a series of integrated SAN solutions offering customers increased performance, data availability, data sharing and scalability. These solutions are designed to offer a high degree of cross-platform support, permitting interoperability between a divergent group of hardware systems and operating environments.
With the volume of corporate data more than doubling in size every one to two years, the need for secure, highly available storage has become a technological requirement to effectively manage business in the next century. Decision support systems, data warehousing, global online transaction processing and burgeoning Web-based data repositories demand extremely flexible and cost-effective solutions for massive volumes of corporate information.
The SAN is a newly developed business solution for the enterprise that manages numerous hard disk arrays, tape libraries and other storage devices on a dedicated sub-network that can be shared by all servers and applications. At the heart of MTI's SAN development strategy is the company's commitment to offer a wide range of ''end-to-end'' solutions.
MTI, a worldwide leader in storage management technology, plans to deliver fully integrated SAN solutions featuring certified and pre-tested components in comprehensive configurations that include storage devices, data management software and Fibre Channel network components. As a complete solution, the company plans to offer pre-sales consulting services for system design and development as well as a full range of post-sales service and support.
''The adoption of Storage Area Network solutions will have a tremendous impact on the way businesses manage terabytes of data stored in large enterprise computing systems,'' said Mike Peterson, president of Strategic Research Corp., an industry research firm. ''MTI is well-positioned to lead this market because the company offers several significant layers of value. Most important, the company provides front-end consulting services to help organizations map out their SAN strategy. With the establishment of MTI's professional and technical services and consulting group, the company offers customers an experienced team for system installation, configuration and back- end service and support.''
MTI has integrated Fibre Channel technology -- the backbone of SANs -- into its product offerings. Fibre Channel is an emerging industry standard that is a major advancement in interconnect technology, offering higher throughput and greater connection distances over current SCSI interface technologies. As an enabling technology for SANs, Fibre Channel features superior storage flexibility, enhanced data access, improved scalability and simplified management.
Business Value of Storage Area Networks
Because MTI's SAN storage solutions are platform independent, they offer significant opportunity to reduce network complexity and costs. There are many business application benefits of SANs, including:
•Servers and storage devices from multiple vendors will be able to communicate with ease. For example, with an MTI SAN solution based on Fibre Channel interconnect technology, information services managers will be able to mix and match Windows NT and UNIX servers and consolidate storage device resources so that they are not attached to a specific server or group of servers. This resulting centralization of storage management offers a far more cost-effective option for enterprise computing. •Simplicity and flexibility will reduce costs. Since the server requires only a single redundant connection to the SAN, MTI's new storage solutions can assist network managers in simplifying connectivity to servers. Servers no longer require additional expansion cards to attach to increasing numbers of disk arrays in the network. Flexibility is achieved by enabling any server or application in the network to access data from any device that is connected to the SAN. Since storage can be flexibly shared between servers, there is no downtime associated with backing up and moving data to a different set of storage resources when new servers or storage are added. •Improved scalability offers investment protection. Because MTI SAN-enabled products attach externally to application servers, customers no longer need to be concerned about outgrowing the ''box.'' Vast amounts of storage can be added without replacing existing servers. When the time comes to improve application performance, additional servers can be hooked into the SAN preserving current investments in servers and storage. •Data sharing and data availability will expand information ''drill down'' applications. SANs offer unique capabilities for data and storage movement between servers and archival storage libraries and data warehouses. This increases the competitiveness of the enterprise by providing greater access to stored information and it will increase data sharing among different departments within an organization or between companies involved in business partnering relationships.
''Shifting storage from current direct-connect architectures to its own dedicated network is going to have a dramatic impact on the way businesses store, manage and access information,'' said Kevin J. Liebl, MTI vice president of marketing. ''Since SAN solutions are highly scalable and will work in just about any operating environment, information technology managers can implement systems according to need, with different kinds of storage assigned to specific operations or departments based on requirements for performance and capacity.''
MTI SAN-Enabled Offerings
MTI has introduced a series of Fibre Channel products that the company plans to incorporate into future SANs solutions. The robust family of SAN- compatible products includes RAID arrays, disk subsystems and storage connectivity devices.
The Gladiator 3600 is a Fibre Channel RAID array system designed to meet the needs of mission-critical workgroup to data center applications requiring high-performance, fault-tolerant storage. The modular RAID storage system can scale up to more than a terabyte of data.
The Gladiator 6300 fault-tolerant storage solution is a Fibre Channel storage product designed for high-volume online transaction processing environments, large enterprise-wide database applications and mission-critical business systems that process a high volume of transactions in a short period of time.
The Fibre Channel Multiplexer (FCM) allows customers to seamlessly attach SCSI-based MTI RAID array storage systems to Fibre Channel host systems. It provides a Fibre Channel upgrade path for customers using MTI Gladiator ESS, 3200 and 9300 RAID arrays. The FCM supports a 100MB/second Fibre Channel attachment that is 2.5 to 5 times faster than traditional SCSI connections. In addition, the FCM permits connections between host and array to be extended from normal SCSI limits of 25 meters (82 feet) to 10,000 meters (6.2 miles) allowing storage and servers to be placed in separate buildings for enhanced disaster protection.
MTI also offers a complete line of Fibre Channel Connectivity Products that include Fibre Channel host adapters, hubs and associated copper and optical connection cables. By offering these components, MTI is able to provide a complete end-to-end SAN solution for customers, thus avoiding interoperability and support problems. |
