JMR Electronics In Collaboration With Intel Corporation Enters Rapidly Growing IP SAN Storage Market
JMR Electronics, today announced the Z-IPSAN storage product based on IP SAN technology. IP SANs (IP-based Storage Area Networks) utilize a powerful technology called iSCSI that allows SANs to be implemented on common inexpensive Gigabit Ethernet instead of expensive Fibre Channel networks.
IP SAN technology greatly reduces the cost of implementing a SAN and provides far more scalability and ease of use than Fibre Channel-based solutions. Designed to work with existing servers, Ethernet switches, network interface cards and storage arrays, IP SANs make installation and addition of storage inexpensive and easy.
According to Robert Gray, IDC's vice president of worldwide storage systems research, "The iSCSI movement is a classic disruptive technology. This protocol for storage networks, which uses traditional data networks, initially meets the needs of smaller, economically pressed IT organizations looking for value and seamless integration with existing infrastructure and staff. They are over served by traditional, specialized storage network technology. The iSCSI and Ethernet technology evolution road map positions it to eventually challenge the incumbent Fibre Channel technology." (Doc #30089, September 2003)
Z-IPSAN – JMR's Newest Product Offering.
The Z-IPSAN is a new storage product from JMR Electronics featuring IP SAN technology. The Z-IPSAN exploits the benefits of IP SAN technology in an affordable, scalable, easy-to-use storage product.
"The Z-IPSAN with IP SAN technology provides customers with high-end, affordable storage solutions and management software features that have traditionally not been available at affordable prices," said Josef Rabinovitz, JMR's president. "We are excited to offer our dealer partners a feature-rich IP-SAN product unlike any other product on the market with unlimited storage capabilities at an exceptional value."
Z-IPSAN Hardware
The Z-IPSAN features 16 hot swap SATA drives and 8TB of storage per 3U enclosure, with the ability to add additional capacity through multiple units. The flexibility to add additional enclosures adds value by enabling organizations to "pay as they grow."
This storage product also features support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and 50 for optimized performance and fault tolerance, as well as the choice between dual Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI and optional Fibre Channel connectivity for greater networking flexibility. The Z-IPSAN includes hot swappable, redundant power supplies and fans ensuring a high degree of reliability.
The capacity, performance, and manageability of the Z-IPSAN make it the ideal product for businesses, enterprise workgroups or departmental environments of government and education organizations. With the Z-IPSAN, organizations like these can easily augment their existing infrastructure in terms of both additional storage space and high-speed data retrieval.
Z-IPSAN Software
The Z-IPSAN offers powerful, easy-to-use software management tools as well. The base management software for the Z-IPSAN is an easy-to-use graphical Java-based interface. Additional software features include:
- Thin Provisioning — One of the biggest challenges IT has when deploying servers is upgrading system drive capacity as the system outgrows its internal storage. With Thin Provisioning, an IT administrator can provision all the storage a server will need throughout its planned life right up front, regardless of how much physical storage is available on the Z-IPSAN. As the Z-IPSAN uses up physical disk space, it will alert the IT administrator to add additional space in the SAN, which is seamlessly done and eliminates server down time.
- Clustering Software — Allows automatic clustering and virtualization between multiple Z-IPSANs. This provides not only extensive system scalability, but data replication between Z-IPSAN's as well. In the event an entire Z-IPSAN goes down, an organization's data is still available on the network with no downtime involved.
- Automated Snapshot — Includes snapshot capabilities to instantaneously backup a volume of data at any size. This feature also gives the IT administrator the ability to take snapshots automatically at timed intervals.
- Data Replication for Disaster Recovery — Provides the ability to backup data to another Z-IPSAN that resides apart from the main system. The physical separation could be between buildings, campuses, states or even countries. This enables an organization to have true disaster recovery protection in the event of a catastrophic event.
- Native iSCSI Connectivity
- 16 Hot Swap SATA Drives
- Standard with up to 8TB of Storage Per 3U Enclosure
- Expandable to multiple terabytes by adding additional units
- Dual Gigabit Ethernet ISCSI/EBSD (10/100/1000)
- Optional 2GB Fibre Channel Network Interface
- Support for RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and 50
- Easy-to-Use, Complete Management Software Solutions
- Hot Swappable, Redundant Power Supplies, Fans and Drives
The Z-IPSAN includes 3-year warranty, replacement parts and technical support as part of the standard configuration. In addition, through our dealer partners' 5x9 and 7x24 on-site options are available as well.
Availability
The Z-IPSAN is available only through JMR's dealer partners. For one in your area e-mail JMR at ussales@jmr.com.
About JMR Electronics
As one of the first manufacturers to develop a complete family of Fibre Channel and SATA storage solutions, JMR offers a wide array of scalable storage systems to handle both bandwidth- and I/O-intensive environments. The company's FORTRA family is an advanced, modular storage technology incorporating patented technologies with solutions spanning from 4-, 6-, 8- 10- and 15-bay desktop JBODs to 15- and 16-bay Fibre-to-Fibre and SATA RAID solutions. JMR also manufactures the widest selection of SCSI solutions, as well as custom OEM products in its USA-based ISO 9001:2000 facilities. JMR was also the first to launch a full SATA Raid solution for the Back-up to Disk and Secondary storage markets. Additional information on JMR and its product offerings can be found at www.jmr.com.