Intergraph Equips Enhanced Windows NT-Based Servers with AMI's MegaRAID PCI RAID Controller

Business Wire, May 23, 1997

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 1997--

MegaRAID Part of Intergraph's Powerful New Enhancements

to it's InterServe Line

American Megatrends, Inc. (AMI) today announced that Intergraph's new InterServe family line of Pentium Pro-based servers will utilize the MegaRAID PCI SCSI Disk Array Controller on RAID-Equipped units.

Intergraph's RAID-equipped units come with AMI's Series 428 three channel MegaRAID Ultra PCI SCSI Disk Array Controller. By utilizing the MegaRAID Ultra controller, the InterServe family servers provide increased flexibility, scalability, and performance along with the peace of mind of superior fault tolerance.

"AMI has engineered the RAID solution that provides Intergraph with the performance and stability required of a high end server," AMI President S. Shankar stated. "In addition, the MegaRAID controller Intergraph is implementing surpassed all of their requirements."

The MegaRAID supports more fault tolerant RAID levels than any other RAID solution and delivers truly superior performance through a tight hardware design. AMI's Advanced ASIC generates RAID parity, freeing up Intel's i960CA(TM) RISC Processor, for additional processing. Intergraph's InterServe utilizes three Fast-20 channels on the MegaRAID Ultra, with each channel powered by a Symbios Logic 53C770 SCSI processor. MegaRAID Ultra offers a cache capacity of 128 MB coupled with an extensive caching policy further augments MegaRAID Ultra's performance, and in case of a cache failure a battery backup module with a life of up to 72 hours is available. Also integrated onto the MegaRAID Ultra is a flash ROM to facilitate easy upgrades.

"The implementation of the MegaRAID controller in our InterServe family of products has increased overall throughput by up to 20% while continuing to provide the redundancy Intergraph customers expect," Intergraph President Wade Patterson stated. "In addition, AMI's FlexRAID software provides superior management features and better flexibility when adding storage to existing arrays."

Intergraph's InterServe also utilizes AMI's FlexRAID, which offers a powerful and flexible means of managing a RAID system. With this exciting new technology adding drives to an array no longer requires a system reboot. In the event of a drive failure, FlexRAID enables the system administrator to change RAID levels on the fly, again without having to reboot. This not only avoids costly down time, but also improves performance by allowing a change from degraded to optimal operation. Some of the specific on-line changes made available through FlexRAID software include:

-- Degraded Logical Drive (RAID 5, 3, or 1) to Optimal RAID 0

-- RAID 5 Logical Drive to RAID 3

-- RAID 3 Logical Drive to RAID 5

-- RAID 0 to RAID 1, 3, or 5

-- RAID 1 to RAID 3 or 5

-- Addition or Removal of Physical Drive from Logical Drive

Array

The InterServe line including the InterServe 615, 625, 635, and 645 comes in a wide range of configurations, from single- and dual-processor Pentium Pro units that can be upgraded to four processors, to quad-Pentium Pro InterServe machines that tap into the power of multiple 200Mhz Intel Processors. All are designed from inception to exploit the advantages of the easy-to-use, open architecture of Microsoft Windows NT.

Intergraph Computer Systems is a world leader in building high-performance servers based on Windows NT and Intel Pentium processors, as well as 3D graphics technology, products, and services. Intergraph develops, manufactures, sells, and supports computer systems for the creative and technical desktop, and for networking and interoperability products for information systems solutions. A member of the Fortune 1000, Intergraph Corporation is the world's largest company dedicated to supplying interactive computer graphics systems and the world's largest independent developer of Windows NT-based applications. Intergraph is based in Huntsville, Ala., and has sales and service offices worldwide.

American Megatrends offers a full line of RAID Hardware and Utilities in addition to producing a variety of hardware and software solutions including motherboards, BIOS, software utilities, PCMCIA software, and keyboard controllers. AMI can be reached at (800) 828-9264 or (770) 246-8600 and on the World Wide Web at http://www.megaraid.com . -0-

NOTE TO EDITORS: Intergraph(R) is a registered trademark of Intergraph Corporation. Microsoft and Windows NT are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Pentium is a registered trademark of Intel Corp. MegaRAID is a registered trademark of American Megatrends, Inc. Other brands and product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

CONTACT: American Megatrends, Inc.

Joe P. Leader, 770/246-8600

800/828-9264

Fax: 770/246-8790

email: joe@ami.com

or

Intergraph

J. Chandler Hall, 205/730-4127