Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Son of SAN - Storage Networking Technologies -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Douglas Nordgren who wrote (1791)	2/6/2000 12:59:00 AM
From: Douglas Nordgren	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

Vendors move to cut server out of data backup By John S. McCright, PC Week February 3, 2000 8:16 AM PT URL: zdnet.com Organizations looking to reduce traffic on their LAN and free up more processing cycles on their servers are seeing more options for so-called serverless backup. A group of hardware and software vendors led by Vixel Corp. on Wednesday announced completion of a project that will enable IT managers to back up a NAS (network attached storage) device to a tape library on a SAN (storage area network) without sending the data over the LAN or through a server. Separately, Advanced Digital Information Corp. on Tuesday began shipping a new Fibre Channel router that enables movement of data directly from disk drives to tape libraries across the SAN with limited server intervention. By transferring some of the bandwidth and intelligence required for backup to the SAN, IT departments can free up the LAN for critical transactional data, observers said. A who's who list Vixel, of Bothell, Wash., which makes Fibre Channel switches used in SANs, was joined in its serverless backup initiative by NAS filer maker Network Appliance Inc.; tape library makers Quantum/ATL Products Inc. and Spectra Logic Inc.; and backup software developers Legato Systems Inc. and Veritas Software Corp. The group certified an IT architecture that starts with a Network Appliance NAS filer equipped with a new QLogic Corp. Fibre Channel host bus adapter. The adapter, which is installed in an existing PCI slot, enables the filer to attach to a Vixel switch. The switch, in turn, connects to a SAN with Quantum or Spectra Logic libraries on it. The companies modified their hardware or software to work with the others and have certified interoperability, but initially they will not offer the package as a bundle. There is no formal process for other vendors to get their switches, filers or software certified as part of the solution, said officials, who didn't rule out the possibility that that could take place. Single drive doesn't hack it While limited to the vendors involved, this type of NAS-to-SAN connection is necessary, said David Hill, an analyst at Aberdeen Group Inc. in Boston. Dedicating an entire tape library to a small NAS filer could be a waste of resources, Hill said. For larger NAS filers, the SAN connection relieves companies of a different kind of burden. "NAS filers used to be 50GB and now they're up to a terabyte, and a single tape drive doesn't do the trick anymore," Hill said. For its part, Advanced Digital Information is pursuing a different route in taking the server, to some extent, out of the backup picture. The company's new FCR 250 router seeks to nearly eliminate server CPU cycles used for backup by sending out software agents. The agents, which follow extended copy commands, allow the router to move data directly from disk drives to tape libraries across the SAN with limited server intervention. ADIC is also adding the extended copy command capability to its tape libraries. This Spring, the company will offer its Scalar 100 technology as a standalone box that will enable those tape libraries to act as NAS devices that could perform serverless backup, said officials in Redmond, Wash. While the FCR 250 is available now, priced beginning at about $9,000, no applications are on the market yet that can take advantage of the extended copy capability. Developers including Legato and Veritas are expected to add extended copy command capabilities to their storage management applications later this year after the Storage Networking Industry Association approves a standard for the command. Vixel is at vixel.com. ADIC is at adic.com.

To: Douglas Nordgren who wrote (1791)	2/6/2000 10:04:00 AM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

OT? INTC may use the Strong arm for Iband? Could the same one day activity happen to ANCRs I band offering someday? ARM shares soar as profits double Company proposes 5-for-1 share split By Barbara Kollmeyer, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 12:01 PM ET Jan 31, 2000 NewsWatch LONDON (CBS.MW) -- Shares of U.K. microchip maker ARM Holdings surged 8.2 percent Monday after the group said pretax profits doubled in the fourth quarter. It also announced plans for a 5-for-1 stock split. Today on CBS MarketWatch Stocks see late-day gains Sprint profits dip Silicon Stocks: Amazon.com lifts Net stocks IPOs: Full plate ahead The Fed's other shadow More top stories... CBS MarketWatch Columns Updated: 02/01/2000 4:23:24 PM ET In the fourth quarter, ended Dec. 31, ARM Holdings' pretax profits jumped 119 percent to 6.6 billion pounds ($10.7 million) from 3 million pounds ($4.9 million) in the same period of 1998. Revenues rose 52 percent to 18.9 million pounds against 12.5 million pounds in 1998. In London, shares in ARM Holdings (armhy) rose 275 pence to 3,650. In early New York trading, shares were up 16 1/4, or 10.2 percent, to 175. Earnings per fully diluted share were 4.3 pence (20.8 cents per U.S.-listed share) in the fourth quarter, vs. 0.9 pence, or 4.5 cents, in 1998. The company said its board of directors will propose the share split at its general meeting on April 18. Licensing is key The company said royalty revenues were a major factor in boosting operating margins from 18 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in 1999 as a whole. In the fourth quarter, royalties constituted 23 percent of total revenue, up from 17 percent in the same period of 1998. But Jonathan Brooks, chief financial officer with ARM Holdings, told CBS.MarketWatch.com that the company still views licensing revenue as its major revenue stream. U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings "We want to continue driving the licensing business rather than sitting back and watching the royalties come in," he said. Licensing revenue is a one-off payment that comes at the time the company signs a license, while royalties come through every time a chip is sold with an ARM microprocessor. ARM Holdings designs, licenses and markets microprocessors for devices that require low power, such as mobile phones and hand-held computers, as well as set-top boxes. The company said shipping volumes for its products surged from 51 million units in 1998 to around 175 million units in 1999. ARM collaborates with such big names as Ericsson (ericy), Intel (intcw), Lucent (lu) and Texas Instruments (txn).