Nimbus Data Systems unveils multi-service storage systems for mid-market 30 March, 2006 By Liam Lahey

PromoPipeline Exclusive Channel Promotions Find Out How You Can Make Money Today! ENROLL FREE! >> Factory Direct Should Not be Cheaper William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Cloud Ecosystem II: A Candid Conversation with Oracle Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Cloud Ecosystem: A Candid Conversation with Rackspace Hosting Beth Vanni - Amazon Consulting Channel Manager Compensation William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels Financial Expertise William Vanderbilt - Innovative Learning Channels

With a SAS-based architecture and multiple RAID options, the MX4 and 10G offer both Primary and Nearline storage capability using SAS and SATA hard drives in one system. The advantage being businesses could consolidate storage, reduce costs, and optimize the IT environment based on specific application needs and available budgets. Powered by SAS and SATA hard drives, the Breeze MX4 and 10G feature 10 Gigabit Ethernet and an integrated Ethernet switch for SAN installation and management, officials said.

There are many points of differentiation between the MX4 and 10G, explained Thomas Isakovich, president and CEO, for San Francisco, Calif.-based Nimbus. The most profound of which is the performance, he explained.

"Our system is three to 10 times faster than most iSCSI systems (offered by the competition)," Isakovich said. "Secondly, by supporting both high- reliability SAS hard drives and cost-effective SATA hard drives in the same system simultaneously -- an industry first -- customers can add storage depending on cost and application performance objectives. For example, tiered storage in one system." The MX4 and 10G also feature up to 15,000 rpm hard drives and an embedded IP co-processor. Capable of achieving 700 MB/sec and 500,000 IOps, each features an integrated switch that provides up to 48 Gigabit Ethernet host connections out-of-the-box. With fault-tolerant hardware and hot-swappable components, the MX4 and 10G are expandable from 1.5 TB to 55 TB. Both are powered by Nimbus' HALO 3.0 technology, which provides a web- based interface for configuring storage and data protection. IT administrators can add additional storage on-demand, without downtime, and view real- time and historical system status information using a graphical dashboard, the company said.

The MX4 and 10G are designed for mid-sized companies that have a diverse set of storage requirements but often lack the budget and personnel to purchase a number of separate storage arrays, Isakovich continued.

To that end, and with both consolidation and expansion happening with many mid-sized businesses, Isakovich said as the amount of data an IT department grows (usually when they get to about 1TB of total storage), there is a growing need to consolidate it so that it can be managed more efficiently and more easily.

At the same time, moving to centralized storage is usually done by businesses that envision rapid growth in their storage needs.

"It's much easier to grow if the storage is centralized on a SAN-NAS system, as opposed to doing it with individual direct-attached storage arrays," he said. "Our capacity scalability from 1.5 TB to 55 TB also makes the MX4 and 10G excellent solutions for the SMB market.

"Our channel partners have an opportunity to capitalize not only on the momentum now behind iSCSI, but also to offer best in class technology like 10 Gigabit Ethernet and SAS at an affordable price." Officials said a complete MX4 solution starts under $20,000 (U.S.), and a complete 10G solution starts under $35,000, including all software, a switch, and three years of onsite support.

"The Nimbus unified IP storage architecture based on SAS offers a very compelling price/performance advantage when compared against alternative iSCSI storage systems," said Brad O'Neill, senior analyst with The Taneja Group, in a statement. "With flexible RAID and storage provisioning options, as well as support for 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Nimbus' new systems offer a clear value proposition to midsize companies looking to consolidate SAN, NAS, primary, and nearline storage on one affordable storage infrastructure."