Local mass storage distributor, SCSI Technology, has made available Adaptec`s latest low-cost, full-featured RAID solution - a product designed specifically for servers deployed in small businesses and enterprise workgroup environments. Cobus van Niekerk, a product manager, SCSI Technology, says the new Adaptec card fills a vacant niche in SCSI Technology`s product portfolio. "Until now, most small business and workgroup servers have relied on RAID-like software embedded in the operating system because of the high cost of RAID controllers. "Adaptec`s new ARO-1130SA RAID option card dramatically lowers the entry-point to full-function hardware-based RAID," he adds. While local pricing is not available, and would be influenced by exchange rate fluctuations, Naicker says the new product retails in the US for $299. "This is considerably below what other entry-level RAID solutions are going for," he comments. The ARO-1130SA RAID option card supports RAID levels 0, 1, 0/1 and 5 for Windows NT Server 4.0 and NetWare 4.11/3.12. It is offers hot-spare, hot-swap and warm-swap drive functionality as well as support for SAF-TE, SMART drive, bootable array and dynamic sector repair. Up to 30 disk and non-disk Ultra SCSI and/or Fast/Wide SCSI peripherals may also be connected to a single card ARO-1130SA. Van Niekerk says the new product`s performance outstrips that of RAID controllers costing four times as much and is considerably faster than that provided by typical software-based solutions. "The secret lies in the integrated RAID co-processor which manages EDO DRAM memory," he adds. This additional processor off-loads RAID 1 (mirroring) secondary writes and RAID 5 (data striping with distributed parity) parity calculations from the host processor, freeing it for other tasks and enhancing overall system speed. "Performance is further improved by a dual-channel Ultra SCSI chip functioning as two independent Ultra SCSI channels - providing a maximum data transfer rate of up to 80 megabytes per second," says van Niekerk. Adaptec has also not neglected storage management with its new controller. The ARO-1130SA RAID option card uses the company`s proven CI/O management software - which provides a GUI for creating and managing disk arrays and other SCSI devices from any client connected to the server. "This software is specifically designed to take the complexity out of storage management, CI/O is the network manager`s control centre for monitoring and managing disk storage for the entire network," he says.
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