XIOtech MAGNITUDE Intelligent Disk Storage Subsystem Enables Better Server Clustering Solutions; MagniCluster Software Makes 7-to-1 Server Failover Simple Using Centralized Storage

Business Wire, July 14, 1998

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 14, 1998--XIOtech Corp., manufacturer of the intelligent disk array MAGNITUDE, and pioneer in the design of shared centralized storage, Tuesday announced the availability of powerful MagniCluster software that simplifies building the largest, most functional server/storage clusters for Windows NT and NetWare networks.

MagniCluster is a sophisticated set of array management tools that enables implementation of eight-way server clusters, where any server can act as an automatic failure replacement for any other server. When used on the 1TB, fibre channel attached MAGNITUDE disk array, MagniCluster software provides enterprise storage solutions in a centrally managed, high availability, storage area network (SAN) with data accessibility superior to any other storage solution in the market.

The MAGNITUDE disk array and MagniCluster software combine to provide IS managers with the storage features to build the highly functional clusters of tomorrow -- today!

-- MAGNITUDE intelligent disk array centrally stores up to 1TB of data and connects up to eight servers to an enterprise class, fault tolerant enclosure.

-- MagniCluster software enables virtual data volume switching between attached servers to build failure resistant 7-to-1 failover server clusters.

-- MagniCluster software enables virtual data volume sharing sequentially between attached servers to build data processing workflow systems.

-- MAGNITUDE's performance of greater than 50,000 I/Os per second is ten times faster than other disk arrays, speed that provides unmatched data accessibility.

-- MAGNITUDE's innovative architecture and MagniCluster software provide flexible capacity planning and space management that stripes RAID sets on every installed disk drive without capacity loss.

-- Centrally managed storage, easier configuration, shared redundant components, improved data accessibility, and efficient capacity planning provided by MAGNITUDE reduces the total cost of ownership of storage.

MAGNITUDE Is High-Performance, Centralized Storage

MagniCluster and MAGNITUDE transform storage into a planned network resource, rather than just costly, redundant disks attached to a server. MAGNITUDE centralizes scalable capacity and disk I/O performance for up to eight servers, providing more than 1TB of storage and 50,000 I/O per second processing power (ten times faster than any RAID system on the market today).

Servers are attached to the MAGNITUDE on a dedicated storage area network via eight independent 100MB/sec fibre channel ports.

MAGNITUDE hardware provides a complete set of redundant components for fault tolerance, including the ability to configure dual active fibre channel paths through redundant host adapters to any data stored in the array. MagniCluster software uses a unique method of virtualizing the entire capacity of the MAGNITUDE disk array to simplify storage centralization for multiple servers.

Rather than physically connecting servers to a particular set of disk drives, the norm for typical array management software, MagniCluster allocates virtual capacity to each server, as it is needed.

MagniCluster Provides High Data Accessibility Solutions

MagniCluster software not only allows eight servers to network to centralized disk capacity by assigning them each expandable virtual storage volumes, but can also be configured as a storage volume switch, permitting any virtual volume to switch server ownership. If a server attached to the MAGNITUDE fails, MagniCluster will map its volume to a designated failover server to take control of processing.

MAGNITUDE's eight server ports permit a robust 7-to-1 failover scenario, where a combination of up to seven servers, host controllers, or data paths can fail and MAGNITUDE will maintain accessibility to all stored data.

MagniCluster software makes high availability server/storage clusters effective to configure and manage by replacing expensive hardware hubs, switches, and cables with a self-contained intelligent centralized storage network.

MagniCluster Enables Data Sharing Application Solutions

MagniCluster software allows virtual data volumes to be shared sequentially among any of the servers attached to MAGNITUDE. A highly functional workflow process can be configured using MAGNITUDE to centrally store information that is sequentially processed by the attached application servers.

A carefully constructed database residing on MAGNITUDE could allow one server to collect and store data into virtual volumes, a second server to process the data, and a third server to generate reports from the processed information. The data would never leave the high- performance SAN encompassed by MAGNITUDE!

An application cluster configured with MagniCluster software yields numerous benefits to the network, including improving processing speed, better data reliability, and reduced network traffic.

MAGNITUDE Leads Way in Storage Total Cost of Ownership

MagniCluster software is an extension of XIOtech's Remarkably Efficient Device I/O (REDI Data), an innovative storage architecture that accumulates the performance and capacity of many individual disk drives and shares the combined resources as virtual storage with up to eight attached servers. It is the unique virtualization of storage that enables many of the new features of the MagniCluster software.