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

To: J Fieb who wrote (2262)	9/18/2000 12:25:15 PM
From: J Fieb	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

I/o Is a happening space.... Sun spins an Ultrasparc II for embedded apps Bernard Cole MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF. - Sun Microsystems Inc. is rolling out an embedded version of its 64-bit Ultrasparc II that it expects to have in production by November, targeting rack-mounted servers, line cards, telecommunications switches and network routers. The IIe device also will be aimed at chronically I/O-bound applications such as storage-area networks and RAID controllers, where the I/O processor of choice often is Intel's outdated 32-bit 960 family. Sun is homing in on an increasingly active space in the embedded market, one where 64-bit architectures from MIPS Technologies Inc., PowerPC vendors Motorola and IBM, and others are gaining design wins. The Ultrasparc IIe offers a 64-bit word width, internal buses that support 144-bit-wide data and 64-bit-wide instruction transfers, 64-bit I/O and a 128-bit-wide memory to CPU bus. The Ultrasparc II architecture will support 600-Mbyte/ second sustained, and 1.6 Gbyte/s peak, I/O bandwidth. Also incorporated in hardware are features to accelerate certain operations in an operating system that deal with I/O, such as block load/store. Instruction-set extensions are optimized for a range of networked multimedia applications. Sun sees blue sky ahead for the IIe, said Craig O'Sullivan, the Ultrasparc IIe senior product manager. The high end of the embedded market is growing so fast that the device will succeed, he said, both with internal customers at Sun and in the commercial marketplace. "We see the market for high-end embedded 32- and 64-bit processors reaching $3.12 billion annually within two years," O'Sullivan said. "Networking and communications, the segments for which the IIe is well suited, are predicted to be $1.4 billion annually and [are] growing at 22 percent a year." Emerging applications include "embedded servers," or dedicated modules embedded within the server farms maintained by Internet and application service providers. Placed at critical choke points, a 64-bit CPU could relieve I/O problems in areas such as e-mail and Web page caching, O'Sullivan said. But Sun faces competition in the rack-mounted server market. Network Appliance Inc.'s NetCache, for example, uses a 64-bit Alpha and a proprietary real-time OS. Another player, Cobalt Microserver Inc., uses a 64-bit MIPS RISC chip and a customized version of Linux. Beyond servers, O'Sullivan sees opportunities for the CPU as an adjunct processor in central-office switches. He added, "And switched-fabric alternatives such as gigabit/second Infiniband will need all the help that the IIe could provide." No matter how high the performance requirements, those applications fall into the embedded arena, because developers must keep an eye on Mips per watt and Mips per dollar as well as performance metrics. Sun engineers have integrated on-chip functions such as a 256-kbyte Level 2 cache, a 32-bit industry-standard 66-MHz PCI bus and an SDRAM controller. Fabricated with an 0.18-micron, six-layer aluminum CMOS process at manufacturing partner Texas Instruments Inc., the embedded version will operate at 1.5 volts in the core and 3.3 V at the external I/O. The device, packaged in a 370-pin ceramic pin grid array, draws 8 W maximum at 400 MHz and 1.5 V. Built-in power-management functions keep consumption at no more than 3 W in sleep mode, allowing the CPU to meet U.S. government Energy Star requirements. The 400-MHz version will be priced at about $145 each in 50,000-unit annual volumes and the 500-MHz version, $225. The IIe will support Wind River RTOS products as well as the Sun Solaris operating system. Sun eventually expects to move to flip-chip packages. eetimes.com Copyright ® 2000 CMP Media Inc.

To: J Fieb who wrote (2262)	9/18/2000 4:22:05 PM
From: Gus	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 4808

The change in the buffer allocation method is specific to Brocade at this point so only a Brocade switch to Brocade switch could effectively take advantage of this capability. While Brocade is correct that only its own switches can currently take advantage of this feature, CNT and Inrange both have buffered switch architectures that allow ESCON and Fibre Channel to extend up to 100 kilometers. The technology is fairly straightforward and has been available for some time. Aside from CNT, Inrange, and McDATA, I believe Xiotech and Gadzoox recently demoed their own buffered switch technique. Here's the May 8, 2000 press release from MCDT and CMNT. The UltraNet Open Systems Gateway and the McDATA Director provide an affordable wide area network solution to extending SANs by allowing multiple remote data centers to share information across thousands of miles using ATM over public carrier networks. The Gateway provides access to high availability applications and increases disaster recovery capabilities such as real-time duplication of data to mirror websites, and backup and restore of SANs. The McDATA ED-5000 Director – providing 99.999% availability – provides unmatched SAN backbone reliability. cnt.com Here's the 9/11/2000 announcement from Gadzoox and Xiotech. The combination of the Capellix switch, XIOtech's MAGNITUDE SAN with its new XIOtech REDI SAN Links Replicator software, and Finisar's FLX-2000 Optical Links Extender now delivers synchronous remote data replication at distances of up to 120 kilometers -- an unprecedented distance in an industry long restricted by geographic limitations in SAN configurations. The ability to access and replicate data at these distances enables information-technology professionals and users to protect their data and benefit from the use of SAN technology. siliconinvestor.com