News

posted on 24 June 2008 09:00

The world's fastest SME iSCSI storage array title is claimed by iStor with its shipping integraStor iS512-19G, based on a 10Gbit/s iSCSI ASIC.

This is iStor's second-generation 10GbE array and has a native 10Gbit/s architecture supporting full duplex wire speed in excess of 1,100MB/sec. The company says that 10GbE is 2.5 times faster than 4Gbit/s Fibre Channel and 'significantly less expensive.'

It would also be faster than 8Gbit/s Fibre Channel and, again, significantly less expensive. The company thinks and hopes that mass adoption of 10GbE is about to happen. It reckons '10GbE SAN deployment is enabled by the availability of 10G switches that can support multiple one gigabit Ethernet connections to servers when needed, which helps optimize and consolidate bandwidth at the storage device, while preserving the existing server infrastructure.'

Mark Peters, an Enterprise Strategy Group analyst, is roped in and says: "Although 1GbE is the customary network interface today, and well established in most SMB environments, the mass-adoption of 10GbE is close to – or maybe at – a tipping-point. The cost per Gbit/s of 10GbE ports is dropping below that for 1GbE ports and signals that the shift to the newer technology can happen. iStor saw the market value of 10GbE early on and has already been shipping the capability for a couple of years, allowing its users to make the transition from 1GbE networks to 10GbE networks whenever they are ready."

Major drivers, according to iStor, of the transition to 10GbE are: server consolidation driven by virtualization; as well as storage consolidation driven by the proliferation of Storage Area Networks (SANs). It claims early adopters of technologies such as video and VoIP are already realizing the benefits of 10GbE, and as more 10GbE backbones are deployed, the advantages of 10GbE performance will be attainable for small to medium enterprises as well.

Robert Friend, Director of Product Marketing, iStor Networks, said: “It is important to consider accommodating the transition from 1GbE networks to 10GbE networks over the life of an IP SAN implementation. Since iStor’s 1GbE and 10GbE solutions share the same unified architecture and software, the transition from 1GbE to 10GbE with iStor eliminates technical risks of upgrading storage, with the additional benefit of protecting your original investment.”

The iS512-10G features a choice of 10 gigabit interfaces. Initial shipments commenced in June 2008.

^{[Paul Roberts, news editor,]}