The newly released AAA-UDMA RAID card from Adaptec will address the needs of small businesses and workgroups where protecting valuable data is paramount but has always had a high cost implication.
Jenny Rex, Adaptec product manager at local distributor Drive Control Corporation (DCC), adds that the new RAID card is a true hardware-based fault tolerant RAID solution for small businesses and workgroups deploying low-cost servers using UDMA/ATA drives.
"Previously, the only alternatives for this cost-sensitive market were to rely on a UDMA RAID solution with limited capabilities or go unprotected," she says.
The AAA-UDMA RAID Card raises the bar for hardware RAID protection on low-cost servers as it is the first UDMA/ATA RAID card for entry-level servers and workstations that supports RAID level 5, the most efficient and preferred RAID level for business critical server applications. Up until now, RAID level 5 has only been available for more expensive mid- and enterprise-level servers.
RAID level 5 distributes parity information among each drive in the array in such a way that the data can be reconstructed on the fly in the event of a drive failure without bringing the server down.
"The Card offers many of the same robust fault tolerance features found in Adaptec`s AAA and ARO SCSI-based RAID cards, which command the leading market share in the distribution channel," Rex continues. "At the same time, by supporting inexpensive UDMA/ATA drives, it keeps the cost of the overall solution low."
In addition, the AAA UDMA RAID Card includes the same Adaptec CI/O Management software that ships with its AAA and ARO SCSI-based RAID cards. This management software goes far beyond the basic features of software RAID, providing sophisticated remote management capabilities, the ability to protect the operating system as well as applications and files, and the ability to configure a hot spare to automatically take over for a failed drive.
All of Adaptec`s AAA and ARO cards, including the new UDMA RAID card, undergo rigorous compatibility testing with hundreds of systems and peripherals.
"With the introduction of the AAA UDMA RAID Card, Adaptec now addresses the broad spectrum of the RAID market ranging from solutions for the lowest cost entry-level servers on up to Ultra160 SCSI and Fibre Channel RAID for the most demanding enterprise-level server environments," she says.
Share
