Alacritech, Hitachi Data Systems, and Nishan Systems First to Validate Wire-Speed Gigabit iSCSI Performance.Business Editors/High-Tech Writers SAN JOSE San Jose, city, United States San Jose (sănəzā`, săn hōzā`), city (1990 pop. 782,248), seat of Santa Clara co., W central Calif.; founded 1777, inc. 1850. , Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 28, 2002 IP Storage Networking Innovators Prove iSCSI Ready for Customer Deployment Alacritech, the innovator and leading provider of TCP/IP TCP/IP in full Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol Standard Internet communications protocols that allow digital computers to communicate over long distances. acceleration solutions that enable fast and efficient servers and storage systems, and Nishan Systems, the world's first supplier of native IP storage solutions, today announced that they have achieved wire-speed iSCSI (Internet SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. ) throughput on a single Gigabit Ethernet An Ethernet standard that transmits at 1 Gbps. Used mostly to connect high-end workstations and servers as well as for network backbones, Gigabit Ethernet transmits full duplex from point to point using switches and half duplex in a shared environment (CSMA/CD) using a hub. connection. While most industry predictions estimate that high-speed iSCSI products will be released by the end of 2002, Alacritech, Nishan, and Hitachi Data Systems See HDS. (NYSE NYSE See: New York Stock Exchange :HIT) have beat that timetable by a year, shipping in 2001 full wire-speed iSCSI products in proven SAN configurations. In a breakthrough demonstration of iSCSI performance, a server with an Alacritech Gigabit Ethernet Server and Storage Accelerator was connected to a Nishan IP Storage switch via a single Gigabit Ethernet link. The Nishan IP Storage switch was connected, in turn, to a Hitachi Freedom Storage(TM) system. Alacritech's Server and Storage Accelerator maximized the sustained rate of iSCSI data at over 219 megabytes per second (unit) megabytes per second - (MBps, MB/s) Millions of bytes per second. A unit of data rate. 1 MB/s = 1,000,000 bytes per second (not 1,048,576). with less than eight percent CPU CPU in full central processing unit Principal component of a digital computer, composed of a control unit, an instruction-decoding unit, and an arithmetic-logic unit. utilization, while the Nishan IP Storage switch provided wire-speed conversion from iSCSI to the Fibre Channel storage system. Benefits of iSCSI and Open Systems The most compelling business benefit of the iSCSI transport protocol is its ability to leverage existing IP infrastructures and IT staff knowledge when shifting from direct-attached storage Direct-attached storage (DAS) refers to a digital storage system directly attached to a server or workstation, without a storage network in between. It is a retronym, mainly used to differentiate non-networked storage from SAN and NAS. to the more cost-effective and manageable storage area networks (SANs). iSCSI instantly transforms a shared or dedicated IP network into a SAN, clearly demonstrating the convergence of storage and networking. The open, standards-based approach to IP Storage now gives customers a highly interoperable solution for implementing mass storage. "iSCSI promises to let users operate SAN, NAS (1) See network access server. (2) (Network Attached Storage) A specialized file server that connects to the network. A NAS device contains a slimmed-down operating system and a file system and processes only I/O requests by supporting the popular , LAN (Local Area Network) A communications network that serves users within a confined geographical area. The "clients" are the user's workstations typically running Windows, although Mac and Linux clients are also used. , and wide-area networks Wide-area networks Communication networks that are regional, nationwide, or worldwide in geographic area, with a minimum distance typical of that between major metropolitan areas. Smaller networks include metropolitan and local-area networks. as a single, integrated network A network that supports both data and voice and/or different networking protocols. See converged network and new public network. . This option will help IT managers chose storage, server, and networking technologies that are more easily managed, scalable, and cost effective," said Nick Allen Nick Allen (born Artemus Ward Allen on September 14, 1888 in Norton, Kansas; died October 16, 1939 in Hines, Illinois) was a catcher in Major League Baseball. Teams
New iSCSI Performance Benchmark Set "We are extremely pleased with the results we achieved with Nishan Systems and Hitachi Data Systems in demonstrating the ability to deliver Fibre Channel performance and efficiency through iSCSI," said Larry Boucher, chairman and CEO (1) (Chief Executive Officer) The highest individual in command of an organization. Typically the president of the company, the CEO reports to the Chairman of the Board. , Alacritech. "Other companies demonstrating their iSCSI solutions now have a demanding performance benchmark to reach." Alacritech's Server and Storage Accelerator uses patented, standards-compliant SLIC SLIC Subscriber Line Interface Circuit SLIC Scottish Library and Information Council SLIC System Licensed Internal Code SLIC Subscriber Line Interface Card SLIC Session Layer Interface Card (Alacritech, Inc. (session-layer interface card) Technology to address network processing bottlenecks. This new product category of integrated storage network interface cards (IS-NICs) optimizes the performance of NAS appliances, iSCSI storage devices, and servers with TCP/IP offload functionality. Just as graphics accelerators moved the graphical processing from the host processor to the graphics adapter, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet accelerators using SLIC Technology remove the burden of TCP/IP and iSCSI networking protocol processing from the host processor. iSCSI Interoperability with HDS (Hitachi Data Systems, Santa Clara, CA, www.hds.com) A leading provider of high-end storage hardware, software and services. Part of the Information Systems & Telecommunications Division of Hitachi Ltd. Fibre Channel Storage "Hitachi Data Systems is committed to providing open, interoperable storage networking solutions, including those focused on iSCSI," said Hu Yoshida, chief technical officer, Hitachi Data Systems. "We are pleased to work with Alacritech and Nishan Systems on this breakthrough announcement of iSCSI performance and capability, demonstrating to our customers that they can make use of IP Storage technologies in demanding enterprise environments." Hitachi Freedom Storage(TM), with its switch-based architecture is uniquely designed to meet the performance demands of high-speed storage networks. This architecture is fundamental to the company's SAN solutions, with products renowned for their unparalleled availability, connectivity, performance, and scalability. Hitachi's Freedom Data Networks(TM) leverage SAN technology and enable customers to consolidate servers and storage, increase data availability, centralize storage management, and back up data without affecting network performance. High-performance iSCSI Solutions Available Now "From the start, Nishan Systems has pioneered the highest performing solutions in the IP Storage market. Today's iSCSI performance announcement confirms our commitment to wire-speed solutions, and proves our ability to extend that performance to the end systems with partners such as Alacritech and HDS," said Aamer Latif, president and CEO, Nishan Systems. "Wire-speed iSCSI operation was predicted to be available at the end of 2002, so we and Alacritech are especially proud to have reached that goal within the first week of the year. As an industry, we now can say that iSCSI is here and ready for customer deployment." Nishan IP Storage switches support Fibre Channel switching, Gigabit Ethernet switching, and wire-speed conversion between Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet. Each interface can be configured to support iSCSI end systems, Fibre Channel end systems, or Fibre Channel SANs. The multiprotocol switches also support, via iSCSI or iFCP, remote storage links of any distance across high-speed IP networks. They can be used to connect existing Fibre Channel SANs through a standard E_Port interface or to build an IP SAN fabric that integrates Fibre Channel and iSCSI devices with data center, metro-area, or wide-area IP networks. Additional Details Additional information can be found in the paper, Achieving Peak Wire-Speed iSCSI Throughput, published at www.alacritech.com and www.NishanSystems.com. About Alacritech, Inc. Alacritech was founded by Larry Boucher, creator of the SCSI interface, to deliver upon his vision of eliminating the server bottleneck. Today, Alacritech, Inc. is the innovator of accelerator solutions that enable fast and efficient servers and storage systems. Alacritech's complete line of high-performance server and storage accelerators is based on the company's patented SLIC Technology to optimize the performance of servers, network-attached storage (NAS) and iSCSI storage devices. SLIC Technology is the first fully compatible and scalable technology to offload network protocol processing, primarily TCP/IP, from software on the host system to silicon on the adapter. Based in San Jose, Calif., Alacritech is privately held. Alacritech is a voting member of the Storage Networking Industry Association An association of producers and consumers of storage networking products, whose goal is to further storage networking technology and applications. The Storage Networking Industry Association, or SNIA (SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association, San Francisco, CA, www.snia.org) An organization devoted to the advancement of mission critical storage systems. Founded in 1997, its goal is to determine the standards that must be developed to allow hosts and storage systems to interact via ) and a founding member of the SNIA IP Storage Forum. For more information about Alacritech and its products, please visit the company's Web site at www.alacritech.com. About Hitachi Data Systems Hitachi Data Systems is a leading supplier of storage hardware, software, solutions and services. As a wholly owned subsidiary Wholly Owned Subsidiary A subsidiary whose parent company owns 100% of its common stock. Notes: In other words, the parent company owns the company outright and there are no minority owners. of Hitachi, Ltd. (NYSE:HIT), Japan's largest electronics company, HDS is committed to providing the technological infrastructure for the world's most information-intensive corporations. With 2,600 employees, Hitachi Data Systems does business in the public and private sectors in 170 countries on six continents, including the rapidly emerging economies in Southeast Asia and Eastern Europe. Its customers include more than 50 percent of Fortune 100 companies, and all of the major Storage Service Providers (SSPs). For more information, please visit the HDS Web site at www.hds.com. About Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi, Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, is one of the world's leading global electronics companies, with fiscal 2000 (ended March 31, 2001) consolidated sales of 8,417 billion yen ($67.9 billion(a)). The company manufactures and markets a wide range of products, including computers, semiconductors, consumer products and power and industrial equipment. For more information on Hitachi, Ltd., please visit Hitachi's Web site at http://global.hitachi.com. (a) At an exchange rate of 124 yen to the dollar. About Nishan Systems Nishan Systems, the world's first supplier of native IP Storage solutions, builds open storage networking products based on IP and Ethernet, the international networking standards. Nishan's Multiprotocol Storage framework supports iSCSI, iFCP, FCIP (Fibre Channel over IP) A protocol for tunneling Fibre Channel data across an IP network. Fibre Channel was designed for local storage area networks (SANs), but FCIP extends the distance to remote locations via any IP network. See Fibre Channel, iFCP and IP storage. , iSNS, Fibre Channel, SCSI, and all types of Network-Attached Storage (NAS) interfaces. The highly reliable and manageable IP Storage fabric extends seamlessly from the data center to the metro area and beyond. Nishan's products are fully compatible with the millions of LAN, MAN, and WAN routers and switches already installed and mastered by IT professionals. Nishan Systems has been named to top company rankings in Computerworld, Red Herring Red Herring A preliminary registration statement that must be filed with the SEC describing a new issue of stock (IPO) and the prospects of the issuing company. Notes: Magazine, and the San Francisco Chronicle The San Francisco Chronicle was founded in 1865 as The Daily Dramatic Chronicle by teenage brothers Charles de Young and Michael H. de Young.[2] The paper grew along with San Francisco to become the largest circulation newspaper on the West Coast of the , and Nishan's IP Storage switches recently received the InfoWorld Readers' Choice Award for best new storage products. Nishan Systems, a full voting member of the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), is based in San Jose, Calif., and can be reached at www.NishanSystems.com, and at 408/519-3700. Note to Editors: Alacritech, the Alacritech logo, SLIC Technology, and the SLIC Technology logo are registered trademarks of Alacritech, Inc. Hitachi Data Systems is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark and service mark of Hitachi, Ltd. Hitachi Freedom Storage and Hitachi Freedom Data Networks are registered trademarks of Hitachi Data Systems. Nishan Systems, the Nishan Systems logo, Blended Fabric and MultiService Interface, are trademarks of Nishan Systems, Inc. SoIP is a registered trademark of Nishan Systems, Inc. Other marks are the property of their respective owners. |
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