NEWS: Mylex Announces Its First Fibre Channel Raid Controller
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DACSF Incorporates Latest Fibre Channel Technology
FREMONT, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 23, 1998--Mylex Corporation (NASDAQ:MYLX - news), the world's leading RAID controller vendor in the non-captive network systems marketplace, today announced OEM availability of the DACSF Fibre Channel-to-SCSI RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) controller, capable of doubling the bandwidth and I/O performance of existing parallel bus controllers.
Utilizing the latest in Fibre Channel technology, the DACSF permits higher bandwidth connectivity over greater distances than is possible with SCSI technology. Fibre Channel provides over 100 MB/sec data transfer rates over a serial link, greatly simplifying cable routing and maintenance, and delivering unmatched performance without sacrificing data reliability.
Similar to Mylex's Ultra SCSI RAID controller, the DACSX, the DACSF is extremely well suited for operation in a clustered environment. With two copper FC-AL (Fibre Channel arbitrated loop) host channels and five wide Ultra SCSI drive channels, the DACSF is the flexible Fibre Channel performance leader.
''Mylex consistently provides leading edge RAID solutions that establish the benchmark in performance, fault tolerance and
quality,'' said Greg Brashier, vice president of marketing at Mylex. ''With the DACSF's innovative Fibre Channel architecture,
Mylex continues to meet the needs of its customers and the IT community with state-of-the-art technology.''
Configuration
The DACSF offers two copper FC-AL (Fibre Channel arbitrated loop) host channels and five wide Ultra SCSI drive channels. Supporting up to 75 drives configured into as many as eight LUNs, the DACSF allows system configurations up to 1.3 terabytes of high performance storage per controller. By utilizing multiple DACSFs, extremely massive systems can easily be created.
For maximum convenience, the DACSF is also field upgradeable with flash EEPROM. It supports RAID 0, 1, 0+1, 3, 5, 10, 30, 50 and JBOD, offering maximum RAID level flexibility customizable to the user's application. In addition, the DACSF has a 64 MB Cache with write-through or write-back options for each logical array, providing versatile performance options.
Performance/Features
The DACSF delivers unparalleled performance and is capable of sustaining disk transfer rates of up to 52 MB/sec and sustained cache transfer rate of 97 MB/sec with a burst transfer rate of up to 100 MB/sec from each host channel. The DACSF has dual loop host channels, providing redundant connections to give extra fault-tolerance to high-availability applications.
The streamlined architecture provides a separate memory for cache, cache look-up tables, and the CPU instruction store to eliminate bus contention for optimum throughput. The DACSF hardware is dual active and dual processor enabled, moving toward cutting edge technologies such as active/active configuration and reserve/release clustering support to further enhance the fault tolerant and data reliability of the DACSF.
The DACSF features M.O.R.E.(tm) technology, for online RAID expansion and RAID migration. It offers Hot Standby Disk Support that maximizes fault tolerance by providing a ready drive to take over if one drive fails. Automatic failed drive detection and transparent disk drive rebuild, automatic error recovery, user definable rebuild priority and variable stripe width create a feature-rich storage management environment. Intelligent UPS monitoring protects unwritten cache data during power disruption. SAF-TE provides fault status management for all instrumented devices in the storage cabinet.
Global Array Manager (GAM)
Mylex's RAID Management Global Array Manager software(tm)(GAM), enables OEM customization of the graphical user interface (GUI) because it is designed around an Advanced Programmable Interface (API). OEMs use GAM to customize tools and utilities and create an interface that has the look and feel of their existing interface.
GAM further allows systems integrators and end users to instantly configure or expand hard disk drive capacity to RAID systems from anywhere in the world without shutting down the server. GAM simplifies installation and alteration of RAID subsystems, allows system administrators to monitor an unlimited number of servers from any remote location. GAM automatically sends notification of critical events to administrators.
Development
Mylex's Fibre Channel technology development takes place at the company's External Products division in Boulder, Colo. This
division of Mylex, which has grown from twelve employees in April 1996, to over forty today, has made possible the introduction of the DACSX active/active SCSI-to-SCSI controllers, and is responsible for new Fibre Channel products. Several other Fibre Channel RAID controllers are scheduled for delivery later in 1998.
Pricing and Availability
The DACSF controller is now shipping to OEMs with pricing in the $4,000.00 range with 64 MB of RAM.
About Mylex
Founded in 1983, Mylex Corporation develops high-performance intelligent hardware and software for moving, storing, protecting and managing data in desktop and networked environments.
Ranked as the No. 1 supplier of RAID controllers in the non-captive network systems disk array market in the 1997, 1996 and 1995 DISK/TREND reports, Mylex produces high-performance RAID controllers, SCSI adapters and complementary computer products for network servers, mass storage systems, workstations and system motherboards. Mylex's Network Power & Light division develops technologies to increase performance and reduce the cost of networking and networked-attached data storage.
Mylex products are sold globally through a network of OEMs, major distributors, VARs and system integrators. Mylex Corporation is headquartered at 34551 Ardenwood Blvd., Fremont, CA. 94555, and can be reached by phone at 510/796-6100 or toll free at 800-77-MYLEX (69539), by fax at 510/745-8016 or on the Internet at mylex.com.
Contact:
Mylex Corporation
Kevin Smith/Eric Herzog, 303/381-4241
Judith Lawrence-Gates, 510/608-2244
ksmith@mylex.com/erich@mylex.com |
