Joe W., Digital studios should be the first to want the 2G spec. WIll be interesting to see if the bandwidth is high enough to run uncompressed HD around the studio and do away with the old analog switchers....
Leitch Technology Inc. Implements Ciprico NETarray 1000 for Video Server Applications
High performing, scalable storage solution is key component of high-quality digital video servers from one of the leading global suppliers of video server solutions.
MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 14, 2000-- Ciprico Inc. (Nasdaq:CPCI - news) announced that Leitch Technology, Inc. has selected the NETarray 1000 RAID solution provided by Ciprico as the storage component for all of Leitch's VR Technology(TM) line of broadcast video server solutions.
The NETarray revolutionizes the means by which storage is managed, being the first and only RAID product to provide storage management by way of a built in web server. The NETarray is managed by using standard Internet tools such as a web browser. Event notification is provided using standard SMTP email or SNMP, and firmware can be upgraded using FTP. Because these tools are available on all platforms, this makes the NETarray a truly platform independent solution. The built in web server was the key feature Leitch was looking to include with their video server application.
Bill Hartman, Ciprico Vice-President of Business Development and Marketing, ``Ciprico is thrilled to have the NETarray 1000 serving as the storage component for the Leitch Technology video servers. With the industry's high demands on performance, customers look for a solution that can provide continuous playback in a 24x7 production setting. The NETarray was specifically designed with reliability as a supporting feature of the solution.''
Leitch Technology, a leading provider of high-quality digital video and audio solutions to the broadcasting, telecommunications, cable and Internet industries, sells video server packages to television networks and affiliates, cable networks, news organizations and sports channels. The NETarray allows Leitch to include a robust solution into mission critical areas with a high level of fault tolerance because all active components are duplicated and hot-swappable. As a result, programming will never stop.
``Ciprico has exceeded our expectations as we are achieving higher performance than we ever anticipated. We are now able to move program data around much more efficiently,'' said Nathan Simmons, Director of Marketing for the Video Server Division of Leitch Technology. ``As we move into areas of high-definition, digital cinema and streaming media, more bandwidth requirements will be needed along with remote diagnostics and monitoring. We are looking forward to Ciprico's expertise to help expand the foundations for these technologies in the future.''
Ciprico's experience with Fibre Channel disk arrays is the basis for the NETarray's extraordinary design. Its unique attributes offer performance, reliability and availability features demanded in today's enterprising computing environments.
``When you look at the components of the NETarray from an overview to the very small details, you see a package that was extremely well thought out and put together,'' said Simmons. ``Ciprico has the best value for the criteria of fault tolerance, robustness and diagnostics.''
In addition to reliability and performance, storage density is critical to the broadcast industry. As a result, Ciprico provides industry leading packaging that can be scaled to support up to 100 disk drives and 20 raid controllers in a single 36U equipment rack.
``Being selected by a leader in the digital video server market is a testimony to Ciprico products. Leitch Technology, Inc. is confident that the NETarray is the best storage solution in the market to be part of their digital video servers,'' added Hartman.
About Ciprico
Ciprico designs, manufactures and markets high-performance, direct-attached and networked storage solutions, including intelligent hardware, software and professional services. Ciprico storage solutions are designed for visual computing applications ranging from high-speed data capture, through processing and analysis, to real-time playback at sustained performance levels. Ciprico is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota. More information about Ciprico is available on the World Wide Web at www.ciprico.com.
About Leitch
Leitch Technology Corporation (TSE:LTV, Nasdaq:LVID), provides leading-edge solutions to store, switch, distribute, convert, and otherwise process high-quality audio and video signals. Applications for Leitch products span the broadcast, telco, cable, post-production, Internet, and business-to-business markets. Leitch is headquartered in Toronto, ON Canada, with other key offices in Virginia, California, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Japan, Hong Kong and Australia. More information about Leitch is available on the World Wide Web at www.leitch.com
EMC muslces in on NTAP...
EMC readies midrange NAS 'Chameleon'
By Sonia R. Lelii, eWEEK
EMC Corp. (NYSE:EMC - news) is muscling its way into the midrange network- attached storage arena, grabbing up a popular NAS software maker and using that technology to develop products that target the customers of NAS leader Network Appliance Inc.
Sources close to EMC, of Hopkinton, Mass., said the storage giant is planning to release later this year a fault-tolerant NAS product, code-named Chameleon, that is based on the company's Clariion midrange storage system.
Chameleon, designed to augment EMC's high-end NAS products, will incorporate CrosStor Software Inc.'s popular namesake NAS operating system, which EMC acquired earlier this month when it purchased the South Plainfield, N.J., company for $300 million.
EMC officials declined to comment on the planned Chameleon product or the connection between the CrosStor acquisition and the new NAS product.
"We can't confirm or deny if [the CrosStor purchase] is related to that launch," said Paul Ross, EMC's manager of Enterprise Storage Networking product marketing.
Analysts praised EMC's decision to acquire CrosStor, which produces one of the few robust NAS operating systems available through OEM agreements.
"EMC just wiped out 90 percent of the competition in this space because a lot of companies used CrosStor, except for Compaq [Computer Corp.] and Dell [Computer Corp.], who use [a Windows] NT-based NAS," said Steve Duplessie, an analyst at Storage Enterprise Group, in Milford, Mass. "It was an excellent defensive and offensive maneuver."
Others said the move doesn't bode well for some of CrosStor's OEM customers, such as Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:HWP - news), Connex Inc. and MTI Technology Corp. (Nasdaq:MTIC - news), which have storage products of their own that compete with EMC offerings.
Although EMC officials said they will honor CrosStor OEM agreements, analysts said that companies such as HP and Connex will probably re-evaluate their relationship with CrosStor now that it is linked to the storage heavyweight. Eighty percent of EMC's sales come from end users.
"You are really going to think twice about that relationship because EMC tends to go directly to its customer base," said John Webster, an analyst at Illuminata Inc., in Nashua, N.H. "There is no question they have been after [Network Appliance] for quite some time."
Officials at HP, of Palo Alto, Calif., said they are unsure where their relationship stands with CrosStor now that it belongs to EMC.
Meanwhile, Network Appliance customers such as Web-based accounting tools vendor NetLedger Inc., of San Mateo, Calif., were unfazed by EMC's CrosStor purchase. NetLedger forged tight relationships with the company, largely because of its clustering technology and price.
"I think EMC is a formidable competitor. It's just that we found they are more expensive. And we are not talking about 15 percent more—I mean 50 to 60 percent more," said Andrew Daniels, NetLedger's chief operations architect. "You get some great functionality with EMC, if you have the capital to burn."
Chameleon is expected to be a Clariion-based NAS device that scales up to 2.88 terabytes with no single point of failure.
EMC customer David Knight, founder and chief technology officer at Middlewire Inc., of Sunnyvale, Calif., said that EMC grew out of the mainframe world, which does not tolerate downtime, while Network Appliance is more commodity-based.
"There is only one level for EMC, and that is platinum. I literally have never seen an EMC product break. I can't say that about other vendors," Knight said. "If they can bring that to the NAS world, they have got a winner." |
