Digi-Data First RAID Manufacturer to Offer Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate.JESSUP, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 5, 1998--To clarify the confusion about the system performance of Redundant Array of Independent Disk (RAID) computer mass storage systems, Digi-Data Corp. is the first RAID manufacturer to offer a Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) for its Fibre Channel and 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. RAID controllers A disk controller card that supports one or more RAID configurations. Originally only for SCSI drives, RAID controllers have become very popular for PATA and SATA drives. See RAID. . Under this money-back guarantee, if a Digi-Data RAID controller fails to deliver a superior sustained data transfer rate quoted to the customer, then Digi-Data will refund the purchase price of the RAID controller. Guaranteed Even After System Components Fail The Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) is not limited to merely reading information from RAID disk arrays when all disks are operational; it also applies to writing data to a RAID disk array. In addition, it applies to reading and writing data after any disk has failed, after any disk channel has failed, or after any failed disk has been replaced by a global hot spare disk. Thus, the Digi-Data Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) applies even after the occurrence of the most common RAID system problems. "We are so confident that our RAID controllers provide the highest sustained data transfer rates of all the RAID controllers available on the market, that we support our performance with a money-back guarantee," explained Dr. Tomlinson Rauscher, President of Digi-Data Corporation. "Customers performing evaluation tests of Digi-Data Fibre Channel RAID controllers express surprise at the speed they achieve, because our RAID controllers not only meet, but often exceed, the high sustained data transfer rates they expect." Sustained Data Transfer Rate Confusion abounds in the RAID systems press when comparing performance figures, because numbers cited often refer to the data burst rate of the host I/O bus Same as peripheral bus. (for example 100 MB/second for Fibre Channel) or the burst rate in reading data from a RAID controller's cache memory. However, a more meaningful measure of RAID system performance is the "data transfer rate," which the RAID Advisory Board A Massachusetts-based organization founded in 1992 that was involved with education, standardization and classification of RAID storage systems. See RAID. has defined as "the amount of data per unit time moved through a channel or I/O bus in the course of execution of an I/O (Input/Output) The transfer of data between the CPU and a peripheral device. Every transfer is an output from one device and an input to another. See PC input/output. I/O - Input/Output load." Expanding this definition to encompass the utilization of disks in a RAID system, the "RAID sustained data transfer rate" is the data transfer rate achieved in reading (or writing) a sequential data stream from a disk array over an extended period of time - minutes, hours, days, or longer. Applications With the Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM), users of Digi-Data RAID controllers have the confidence to undertake the most demanding applications, including digital video editing See nonlinear video editing and video editor. and broadcast, digital prepress, continuous data recording, medical imaging, very large data bases, and ISPs. In many of these applications, traditional RAID controllers must be used in groups of two or more in conjunction with high-overhead host computer software striping Interleaving or multiplexing data to increase speed. See disk striping. striping - data striping to achieve the sustained data transfer rate that a single Digi-Data RAID controller achieves with the Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM). Design Features Digi-Data RAID controllers provide Fibre Channel connectivity and a number of superior hardware/firmware design features to achieve industry-leading performance, including 6 disk channels, proprietary parity calculation hardware for zero overhead write operations, and support for 90 disks and 256 MB of cache memory. These features provide more than high performance; they provide high performance with consistency over extended periods of time, which enables Digi-Data to offer its Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM). Z-9500 Delivers Industry Leading Performance The actual sustained data transfer rate that can be achieved with a RAID system depends on several factors, including the RAID system configuration (computer, bus adapter A device that allows one system to connect to and work with another. An adapter is often a simple circuit that converts one set of signals to another; however, the term often refers to devices which are more accurately called "controllers. , and disks), the bus connecting the host computer to the RAID controller, and the size of the I/O commands. With information about a customer's particular system, Digi-Data will quote a Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM). For example, one manufacturer performed a test with a PC, 5 disks, and a Digi-Data Z-9500 Fibre Channel RAID Controller. With that configuration, Digi-Data offers a Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) of 57 MB/second. The manufacturer actually achieved over 60 MB/second using a standard benchmark program. For a similar configuration with the Digi-Data Z-9250 Ultra2 SCSI See Ultra SCSI. RAID 3&5 Controller, Digi-Data offers a Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) of 53 MB/second. Availability Digi-Data's Guaranteed RAID Sustained Data Transfer Rate(TM) is available for its Z-9500 family of Fibre Channel RAID controllers, Z-9200 family of Ultra2 SCSI RAID controllers, and Z-9100 family of Ultra SCSI The designation for various high-speed SCSI interfaces. The original specification was Ultra SCSI, followed by Ultra2, Ultra3, etc. For details, see SCSI. RAID controllers. Details of these products can be found on Digi-Data's web site, www.digidata.com About Digi-Data Digi-Data Corp. is a privately owned manufacturer with headquarters at its 75-acre site in Jessup, Maryland Jessup (pronounced JESS-up) is an unincorporated town and census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland and Anne Arundel County, Maryland. The population was 7,865 at the 2000 census. The center of population of Maryland is located in Jessup [1]. . Established in 1960, the company has been providing mass storage solutions to the market for over 35 years. Since establishing itself as a leader in disk array technology in 1992, Digi-Data has delivered thousands of RAID Controllers to customers worldwide. Digi-Data will be demonstrating its high performance Fibre Channel RAID controllers and making new announcements at Fall COMDEX The former, premier computer trade show in the U.S. Although it grew into an end user event, it was originally created for dealers and distributors (it was the COMputer Dealers EXposition). '98 in Las Vegas Las Vegas (läs vā`gəs), city (1990 pop. 258,295), seat of Clark co., S Nev.; inc. 1911. It is the largest city in Nevada and the center of one of the fastest-growing urban areas in the United States. November 16-20. Digi-Data's booth is L648 in the Las Vegas Convention Center The Las Vegas Convention Center is owned and operated by the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and is located in Clark County, Nevada. It is one of the largest Convention centers in the world. At the end of 2004, the center had 3. . |
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