Furthering its commitment to providing leading networking solutions for data centres, Ariel Network Solutions (ANS) has announced the availability of the only ESCON channel director with open systems connectivity, the General Signal Networks` CD9000 with the "Open Systems/Channel Adapter" (OS/CA) linking UNIX or Microsoft NT servers to S/390 class mainframes. A feature option to the CD/9000, the OS/CA brings the benefit of a full-speed ESCON channel directly into the open system environment. The time needed for file transfer operations, such as those encountered in loading a data warehouse, consolidating data or backing up or restoring mission critical data can be reduced by as much as fifteen times. "There is a continuing need for effective and flexible heterogeneous server interconnectivity within and between data centres," commented Corne Naude, product manager at ANS. "The ideal solution must provide channel level interconnection (SCSI, ESCON, PCI, FC) as well as into the network. We believe successful solutions will be evolutionary, addressing coexistence and migration issues while leveraging the existing infrastructure. With this announcement, we are directly addressing the need for effective heterogeneous server connectivity." The OS/CA is available for UNIX systems including Sun Ultra Enterprise and Hewlett Packard HP-UX servers and Intel and DEC Alpha-based platforms running Microsoft NT. Support for Tandem Himalaya systems is also available with support for other systems to be announced later this year. "The OS/CA for the CD/9000 means that companies finally have a single solution to dynamically connect S/390 and open systems at ESCON channel speeds," continued Naude. "There are major improvements to throughput for applications like Sterling Commerce`s CONNECT:Direct and ADSM from IBM. Now, instead of taking hours to move large files between the two environments it will only take minutes." The CD/9000 Channel Director is an IBM-compatible switching system that supports dynamic connectivity management of ESCON host channels to ESCON peripherals. With an extraordinary 256-port capacity, a CD/9000 can support as many as 128 ESCON connections simultaneously without contention. The Open Systems/Channel Adapter consists of a PCI compatible interface card or a SCSI port interface. Configuration options include four SCSI or PCI interfaces for servers, a Quad Port Adapter card for the CD/9000 and an appropriate protocol driver. Either version generates high-speed connectivity between S/390-class systems and IP or SNA servers via an ESCON channel.
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