Carolyn F., nStor owned Borg for just about 1 yr before selling it to QLGC. Here is what nStor said when they bought it. New interfaces, like Iband can use this Adaptive raid stuff?
Lake Mary, Florida, April 23, 1998 -- nStor Corporation, Inc., a leading manufacturer of RAID and information storage solutions, today announced it has strengthened its disk array product offerings with the acquisition of Borg Adaptive Technologies, Inc. Located in Boulder, Colorado, Borg Adaptive Technologies is the developer of Adaptive RAID, a patented next-generation RAID technology that offers complete fault tolerance and data protection, along with the highest performance possible by dynamically determining the optimal RAID level and eliminating write penalties. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
The real power of Adaptive RAID is its ability to improve disk array performance while simplifying RAID administration and setup. Complete RAID functionality is provided, without the time-consuming configuration and maintenance complexities that have always existed with first generation RAID technologies. The user no longer has to decide on RAID levels or stripe sizes for optimal performance; Adaptive RAID provides maximum performance by making intelligent adaptations to changes in the I/O workload and patterns. This also has the effect of virtually eliminating many of the RAID-5 write penalties associated with today's existing RAID technology, which can significantly improve disk array performance anywhere from 30% to 100% depending on the actual I/O workload. To further simplify installation, RAID protection can be implemented on existing JBODs (Just a Bunch of Disks) using ``live data" without downing the server. An enhanced ?degraded mode' performance feature significantly improves array performance by as much as 30% during failed disk and rebuild operations.
``The RAID technology initially introduced in 1988 was specifically designed to improve the performance and fault tolerance of disk-based storage subsystems," said Steven Paulhus, director of marketing for nStor Corporation, Inc. ``However, many of the initial shortcomings and limitations of this ?first-generation' technology, such as the inability to adapt to I/O workload, complex system configuration, cumbersome disk capacity expansion, and RAID-5 write penalties, still exist. As a next-generation RAID technology, Adaptive RAID addresses these problems by providing an intelligent data management solution to existing limitations without expensive hardware that has traditionally been used to mask some of these problems. In essence, nStor's goal is to offer fault tolerant storage products that perform as well as, or better than, raw unprotected disk storage and to eliminate the need for disk array users to understand the various levels of RAID and their tradeoffs."
R. Daniel Smith, president and CEO of nStor Corporation commented, ``With this acquisition, nStor continues to position itself as a dominant player and leading-edge technology provider in the RAID marketplace. This technology is not only powerful, but very flexible in terms of implementation. We are actively pursuing a variety of implementations utilizing this new technology, including single and shared server storage applications, storage area networking (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) solutions."
nStor also announced the formation of a new engineering facility, based in Boulder, Colorado. The Boulder Development Center (BDC) will oversee the design and implementation of nStor's line of next-generation RAID products utilizing this new technology. The BDC facility will operate under the leadership of David Stallmo, former president of Borg Adaptive Technologies.
``We evaluated a number of leading storage vendors in the marketplace and nStor emerged as the clear choice," said David Stallmo. ``Not only did nStor have an outstanding reputation for manufacturing state-of-the art, high-quality data storage products, they also had the necessary vision to understand the flexibility and power of this next generation RAID technology."
Adaptive RAID also eliminates many of the RAID limitations currently associated with adding disks drives to an array. Additional disk drives can easily be added to increase storage capacity without downing the server, regardless of operating system environment. To maximize array capacity and allow users to add additional disk capacities without regard to prior disk capacity purchases, the Adaptive technology allows disks of varying sizes to be configured into an array without sacrificing disk capacity or performance. Current RAID technology limits the individual capacity of each disk in an array to the smallest disk capacity in the array, thereby wasting array capacity if all disks are not the same capacity.
``Software functionality is the easiest way to differentiate products. The Borg acquisition quickly provides RAID algorithm development experience which would otherwise take years to develop," said Thomas Lahive, Senior Storage Analyst with Dataquest.
nStor transferred Borg and Boulder to QLGC. Didn't cost so much.
If there is any promise in this technology QLGC has the resources to back the development and the customer list who might want to add ease of use features and then integrate in with the ANCR line too. Then maybe NSO wanted all this to happen. No wonder they inked this deal...
nStor Signs Agreements With SAN Partners HP, Ancor and QLogic to Supply Key Components for nStor SAN Solutions
Another presentation of ARaid from NSO site......
Introducing AdaptiveRAID Made Easy!
Storage needs grow, and IT professionals demand the higher levels of fault-tolerance and performance that only RAID technology can give them. But if you've ever tried to configure, manage, and maintain multiple RAID storage systems, you know the complexities involved. System administrators must be RAID experts to gain maximum protection with minimal performance degradation. Major changes such as choosing a new RAID level to respond to a shift in overall I/O patterns require a complete backup and restore, resulting in costly server downtime for your company. Even with today's on-line RAID level migration capabilities, changing levels exposes your data to great risk in the event of a drive loss during rebuild. And what happens when storage needs expand but your disk drives are no longer available in the same capacities? Either you must add higher capacity drives and only utilize the capacities matching that of the older drives, or you must replace all your existing drives with new drives, all of equal capacity. Both alternatives become very expensive.
Now, nStor offers you RAID Made Easy! With revolutionary AdaptiveRAID technology, nStor conquers these traditional obstacles of the RAID environment:
Inflexible RAID levels and stripe depths
Bottlenecks when systems can't adapt to I/O workload
Complex system configuration and performance tuning
Penalized performance during RAID-5 write transactions
Limited disk utilization in mixed capacity environments
Using patented technology, AdaptiveRAID for Microsoft Windows NT constantly responds to your unique network environment, performing the complex balancing act between data protection and network performance. And, when your network and storage needs grow, AdaptiveRAID handles new configurations and even mixed capacity drives seamlessly. It's truly RAID Made Easy with AdaptiveRAID from nStor.
nStor's patented AdaptiveRAID technology adapts to your unique network environment to give you RAID Made Easy! Look at these features of AdaptiveRAID software for NT:
Feature
Benefit
Eliminates traditional complex RAID configurations AdaptiveRAID provides RAID functionality with little user configuration. The user no longer has to decide what RAID levels or stripe sizes to use.
Dynamically adapts to network I/O patterns Since every environment is unique, AdaptiveRAID responds to network patterns to improve array performance. Hours of performance tuning by IT professionals are a thing of the past.
Reduces RAID 5 write penalties dramatically Now users can enjoy a RAID-5 level of data protection without the same performance penalties?even during write operations!
Dynamic capacity expansion AdaptiveRAID promotes maximum data availability by allowing additional disks to be added to the array without costly server downtime.
Maximum disk utilization in mixed capacity arrays Need to scale storage? Identical capacity drives no longer available? With other systems, you'd need to replace all your drives to get full disk utilization. With AdaptiveRAID, add two or more drives of a larger capacity and use the entire combination!
Technology independent ? supports Ultra, Ultra2 (LVD), and Fibre Channel technologies. AdaptiveRAID isn't tied to one hardware technology so it allows for maximum flexibility.
Microsoft Windows NT platform Compatibility with the most popular operating system ensures AdaptiveRAID is applicable to many business environments. |
