Qualstar RLS-8236

The latest model in the vendor’s RLS series of rack-mountable tape libraries is designed to cater for the most data intensive storage needs of mid-market organisations. It holds up to 36 tapes in a compact 5U-high design with a data transfer rate of up to 432GB per hour, which makes it capable of getting through 1TB in less than two-and-a-half hours. It supports popular tape formats including LTO, AIT and SDLT. The Qualstar RLS-8236 is available from Austor.

RRP: $22,000

www.austor.com.au

StorageTek D240

Specifically designed for open systems, the vendor claims this disk subsystem is designed to provide the performance, reliability and data protection associated with enterprise models to the mid-tier/workgroup environment. It provides 2Gbps Fibre Channel connectivity to storage area networks (SANs) and direct-attached storage architectures where high-speed throughput and rapid response times are critical requirements. Bundled SANtricity Storage Manager version 8.4 software provides a centralised management interface enabling a range of admin­istration, configuration and premium data replication features including snapshot and internal volume copy. The subsystem can be scaled from 14 to 112 drives without any upgrade of the controller hardware or software. The StorageTek D240 is distributed by ACA Pacific.

RRP: $99,000 for a 1TB configuration with dual RAID controllers and management tools.

www.acapacific.com.au

Network Appliance FAS250

Part of the NetApp FAS200 series, this storage system is capable of scaling up to 4TB and offers an upgrade path to higher platforms. The traditional filler head has been shrunk to fit within a single storage shelf and provides software functionality enabled by Data ONTAP to make it compatible with, and upgradeable to, the full range of NetApp systems. Targeted at large, distributed enterprises with remote and branch office requirements, customers can leverage SnapVaultT and Snap MirrorR technology to mirror data back to a corporate data centre. The NetApp FAS250 is distributed by Tech Pacific, ASI Solutions, SecureData Group and XSI Data Solutions.

RRP: from $14,500

www.netapp.com

Maxtor Atlas 15K

This SCSI hard drive provides seek times as fast as 3.2ms and maximum sustained data transfer rates of 75Mbps. It has been designed for demanding high-performance and I/O-intensive applications like OLTP, enterprise servers, 3D animation, data mining applications and NAS or SAN environments. The Maxtor Ultra320 interface features MaxAdapt, a closed-loop method of improving signal quality by amplifying the fundamental frequency of the signal in the receiver when filtering noise and other undesirable elements. It also allows the drive to adapt to changing system conditions and components to lower error rates, simplify integration and increase bus efficiency. The Maxtor Atlas 15K is distributed by eSys, Ingram Micro and Digiland.

RRP: $995

www.maxtor.com

Adaptec 7211

This host bus adapter delivers an interoperable connection into iSCSI storage area networks (SANs) in gigabit Ethernet environments. It has been designed to make migration from direct to networked storage affordable for midsize companies, offering ASIC-based complete TCP/IP and iSCSI offload enabling lower CPU utilisation. Suitable applications include storage consolidation, LAN- and server-free backup, database and email deployment or remote replication and disaster recovery. Operating system support includes Windows 2000 or NT and Red Hat Linux with support for copper (7211C) and fibre (7211F) media. The Adaptec 7211 host bus adapter is distributed through Digiland, Lan 1, Synnex and Tech Pacific.

RRP: $1199

www.adaptec.com.au

Tandberg Data SLR 140

Capable of storing up to 140GB of data capacity, this tape drive boasts a 43.2GB per hour or 12MB per second transfer rate with 2:1 data compression. It has been designed with a 5.25-inch half-height form factor to enable easy integration into a PC server or workstation, providing high quality data backup, file transfer and archiving. It has a media management utility built into the firmware to monitor performance and provides the user with preventative maintenance information as well as an auto-sense function allowing it to receive data from the host at variable speeds for optimal performance on slower buses. A six-channel thin film magneto resistive head (TF/MR) writes four tracks simul­taneously, providing data striping and error correction code (ECC) blocks, which improves error correction and restoration of data from damaged media. The Tandberg Data SLR 140 tape drive is distributed by T Data.

RRP: Internal bare drive $3790; external unit $4730

HP OpenView Storage Management Appliance

A centralised monitoring and management appliance for the storage area network, this appliance is connected directly to the fabric and functions out of the data path without involving host computers, which allows transfers to proceed independently between computers and storage devices. It provides Web-based interface and a storage management aggregation point enabling the user to organise, configure, visualise, monitor and provision storage from anywhere at any time. It supports a variety of additional HP storage applications as well as popular virus protection, backup, system management and UPS software products. The HP OpenView Storage Management Appliance is distributed by Lynx, Avnet, Tech Pacific and Dicker Data.

RRP: $173,800

www.hp.com.au