Intelligent Storage: Nor-Tech Adopts Ciprico's RAIDCore, Creating Unbeatable Server And HPC Products

Ciprico Inc., a leading provider of intelligent storage software, solutions and appliances, has been selected to provide their RAIDCore 5000 Series software-based RAID controllers for Northern Computer Technologies Inc. (Nor-Tech), the second largest custom system builder in the United States. The RAIDCore controllers are currently being integrated into Nor-Tech server designs and Northern Computer Technologies Inc. (HPC) clusters.

Nor-Tech's emphasis on affordable server technologies and unique, mobile HPC clusters, combined with Ciprico's cost-effective and feature-rich RAIDCore 5000 deliver unmatched performance for compute intensive applications in the HPC and server markets. RAIDCore's utilization of the host motherboard's processing power coupled with its ability to create virtual arrays of up to 32 drives with any configuration of 4, 8, 12 or 16 port boards using the company's unique controller spanning technology, allow the system to deliver in excess of 1GB/s transfer rate to and from drives with low latency and without hardware cache bottlenecks.

The Ciprico team assisted Nor-tech by porting the RAIDCore stack over to their CentOS Linux operating system, illustrating RAIDCore's tremendous portability. "Following successful integration testing, we believe that Ciprico's RAIDCore solution offers a compelling price performance advantage over competitive offerings," said Dominic Daninger, vice president of engineering for Nor-Tech. "The success of our RAIDCore testing in server designs has compelled us to look for additional projects to integrate with the RAIDCore line of RC5000 products. We are actively seeking new ways to partner with Ciprico in our HPC projects, as well as Nor-Tech's Intel or AMD based Voyageur servers."

"We are delighted with RAIDCore's successful integration with Nor-Tech's server products. It is a testament to the flexibility and robustness of our software RAID controller in high-performance computing environments," added Andy Mills, senior vice president of marketing and development at Ciprico. "Multicore processing in HPC environments is just one example of how modern compute servers enable software RAID to easily outperform traditional hardware RAID adapters."

The RC5000 series of software RAID controllers provide support for the latest serial attached SCSI (SAS) and serial ATA II (SATA II) specifications, as well as supporting both the traditional PCI-X and newer PCI Express bus standards. RAIDCore's advanced algorithms also provide mixed drive size support without loss of disk capacity.

About Ciprico
Ciprico Inc. is a leading provider of intelligent storage software, solutions and appliances for enterprise class IT servers, professional workstations and digital media workflows. More information about Ciprico is available at www.ciprico.com.

About Nor-Tech
Nor-Tech manufactures computer systems, servers and high-performance clusters, which it offers though a large network of resellers across the USA. The exclusive manufacturer of Voyageur PC, Nor-Tech is recognized as the 2nd largest custom system builder in the country, producing thousands of PCs and Servers each month at its 60,000 sq. ft. facility in Burnsville, MN. Nor-Tech enjoys partnerships with industry leaders and is currently listed as an AMD Platinum Solutions Provider, Intel Premier Provider and Microsoft Gold Certified Partner. Nor-Tech has also been honored with Microsoft's Most Valuable System Builder Partner award which is bestowed upon only one system builder in the entire country each year! Listed in Entrepreneur Magazine's HOT 100 list of fastest growing companies three years in a row, Nor-Tech has grown to over 70 employees and continues to extend its reach. For more information, please visit www.nor-tech.com.

SOURCE: Ciprico Inc.