RAID Subsystem

The NexStor 3250 is the latest in the company's NexStor 2U (3.5-inch high) RAID technology line. It is a new Fiber Channel RAID system that features active/active controllers and twelve 1-inch disk drives in a compact 2U enclosure. The 3250 is designed for users who require more spindles for performance and is a companion product to the 3150 which utilizes eight 1.6 inch drive in the 2U enclosure for the higher capacity applications.

Fully configured with twelve 1-inch high, 36 Gigabyte drives, the system can hold 432 GB of data and two active/active RAID controllers all in a unit that is only 3.5-inches high. When 73 GB drives become available early next year, the unit will hold 864 GB of storage.

A NexStor 3250 with a complement of NexStor 1202F expansion units can support up to 3.5TeraBytes of RAID-protected data in a 28-inch high space with today's 36 GB, 1-inch high drive technology.

For RAID performance, the company relies on active/active Fiber Channel RAID controllers that are completely integrated into the 2U enclosure for non-stop data accessibility. The controllers provide dual Fiber Channel interfaces to loop or fabric topologies and dual redundant loops for continuous access to large data pools.

The controllers can sustain RAID 5 read and write streams of over 90 MB per second, and with dual active controllers, performance doubles. The active/active controllers share configuration data and each controller continuously monitors the status of the other controller. If a controller fails, its partner transparently assumes its Fiber address for no data loss or interruption. Controller data caches are mirrored so any write data that has not been made permanent on disk at the time of a failure is immediately written to disk after the partner assumes the workload.

Orders are now being accepted for the NexStor 3250. Shipments to OEM prospects have started, and first end-user customer shipments are planned for December.

nStor Technologies, Inc, 10140 Mesa Rim Rd, San Diego, CA 92121. Tel: 858-453-9191; Fax: 858-453-9294.