Security Products and iSCSI Arrays Set for SNW Unveiling

Computerworld - Storage Networking World will feature the unveiling of a dozen or more products, including data protection technology, IP storage arrays and big, cheap disk systems based on Serial ATA technology.

At the conference in Orlando this week, users can see new Internet SCSI technology, which is in demand because it's less expensive and easier to use than Fibre Channel storage-area networks (SAN), said Josh Howard, an enterprise storage specialist at IT reseller CDW Corp. in Vernon Hills, Ill.

Vendors expected to unveil iSCSI products at the conference include Intransa Inc. and JMR Electronics Inc.

San Jose-based Intransa plans to demonstrate a 10 Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI IP2000 SAN that will offer more than twice the throughput of Fibre Channel technology. The product is slated to ship in mid-2006.

Larry Newman, senior network engineer at ARG Services Inc., a subsidiary of Air Routing Group Inc. in Houston, has installed two 4TB iSCSI SANs from Intransa. The arrays cost the company about $240,000, which is less than the $300,000 it would have cost for a single Fibre Channel array SAN from EMC Corp., he said.

Newman said the iSCSI system provides 1Gbit/sec. data-transfer rates and offers some disaster recovery capability by replicating data between the two iSCSI arrays, which are one and a half miles apart. The replication takes place using wireless routing technology from Cisco Systems Inc.

Chatsworth, Calif.-based JMR is unveiling an array it developed with LSI Logic Corp., Intel Corp. and LeftHand Networks Inc. An 8TB box will sell for $13,500. The array ships on Nov. 1.

Disk-to-Disk Option

Tony Prigmore, an analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group Inc. in Milford, Mass., expects users to evaluate disk-to-disk backup systems at the conference. Such systems can either replace tape systems or act as a liaison between servers and tape backup.

CDW recently began the task of replacing its tape libraries by installing two EMC Clariion disk libraries with 61TB of capacity, said Doug Zelinka, manager of IT infrastructure. The disk-to-disk technology has boosted Zelinka's backup data-transfer rates almost tenfold—to 3,200MB/min. from the 350MB/min. rate of the tape drives, he said.

The disk backups not only reduce CDW's backup window but also help with data restores in an area of the country that is plagued by power outages, according to Zelinka.

Zelinka is still concerned about systems reliability in light of the number of disasters over the past year or so. Therefore, he is exploring ways to replicate data to a new CDW distribution facility in Las Vegas.

Several vendors, including EMC, Availl Inc. and STORServer Inc., plan to bring out continuous data-protection products at the conference, co-sponsored by Computerworld and the Storage Networking Industry Association. In addition, Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC will introduce RecoveryPoint, a software product that allows administrators to recover data from any point in time and place markers on data in order to recover from a specific time, such as just before an application upgrade.