Major Vendors Unleash Array Of SATA Products

Sun Microsystems, Hewlett-Packard, EMC, IBM and Hitachi Data Systems have all recently introduced SATA-based arrays or are in the process of doing so.

The move by the tier-one vendors to offer SATA arrays alongside their more expensive, high-performance SCSI and Fibre Channel arrays, along with the publicity that SATA technology has received from the announcements, is welcome news to solution providers.

David Gilpin, senior consultant at Stonebridge Technologies, a Dallas-based solution provider, said several customers are already using SATA arrays for non-production work, including taking snapshots, disk-to-disk backups, testing, development and other areas where the cost of storage technology could determine how it is used to meet specific needs.

"Information life-cycle management, data life-cycle management, whatever you call it, is where this is coming into play," Gilpin said. "Now you can use your EMC Symmetrix or your Hitachi 9900 for high-end work and SATA arrays for the rest."

For now, customers are using tier-two suppliers for their SATA requirements, but customers who tend to lead the technology adoption curve instead of following it have been pressuring their top vendors to provide the technology, Gilpin said.

"There's still a lot of show-and-tell to be done," he said. "If you look at the industry from the PC-server side, they don't have as much fear about SATA. They've been doing ATA for a long time. But in the enterprise space, they are afraid of the 'SATA' acronym."

Joe Cunningham, general manager of Computer Professionals International, an Albany, N.Y.-based solution provider, said the majority of customers are still unfamiliar with SATA technology but its adoption by larger vendors will help in the evangelization of the technology.

One of the biggest benefits of SATA arrays is that they can either complement or replace existing storage, depending on the application, Cunningham said.

"That's why, when we engage with a customer, we do an assessment. We see storage not as a product but as a solution. If you look at SATA as a product and say, 'implement it here, or implement it there,' you can end up painting a customer into a corner when it comes to upgrading the storage infrastructure," he said. The past few weeks have seen the introduction of SATA arrays by nearly every major storage vendor.

Early this month, Santa Clara, Calif.-based Sun unveiled its StorEdge 3511, a modular storage array that allows the use of either Fibre Channel or SATA arrays. When configured for SATA, each 2U module can have up to 3 Tbytes of raw capacity, said Chris Wood, director of technical sales and marketing at Sun. Up to eight modules in any combination of Fibre Channel and SATA can be chained together when the array ships in July, Wood said.

In May, HP, Palo Alto, Calif., quietly introduced its MSA1500 array, which can use either SCSI or SATA drives. The array will eventually be able to use a mix of the two. Pat McMullan, product manager for entry-level SANs at HP, said the vendor will also release a new I/O enclosure for the MAS1500 that will allow connection to external SCSI or SATA modules. The new products are expected to be available in the next month or two.

Also last month, Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC introduced the Clariion AX100, a 2U array with up to 12 SATA hard drives for a raw capacity of up to 12 Tbytes. It supports Windows, Linux and NetWare server platforms when connected directly to a server or via SAN or NAS. It will be sold exclusively through the channel, including EMC's biggest reseller, Dell, said Mike Wytenus, senior director of Clariion platform marketing at EMC.

In May, IBM, Armonk, N.Y., came out with the IBM TotalStorage FAStT100 Storage Server, an entry-level array based on SATA drives. Capacity for the FAStT100, which is expected to ship next month, was not announced. However, IBM officials said the array will be able to be partitioned into as many as 16 storage partitions, and will feature dynamic volume and capacity expansion.

In addition, Hitachi, Santa Clara, Calif., this month is expected to unveil new capabilities for its existing 9500V array to allow a mix of Fibre Channel and SATA drives.