MicroNet Announces New SANcube Storage Solutions: Dual-channel SANcube X-stream Arrays & a 450GB SANcube

Business Wire,  July 19, 2000  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

Business Editors and High-Tech Writers

MACWORLD Expo NY 2000

Booth 1354

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 19, 2000

MicroNet Also Increases Capacities of Existing SANcube Products and

Offers "Free Gigabytes"

MicroNet Technology, Inc., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Ampex Corporation (AMEX:AXC) and an innovator in storage technology, today announced new configurations of its award-winning SANcube(TM), the industry's first FireWire(TM) SAN (Storage Area Network). The new 450GB, 4-user SANcube provides nearly half a terabyte of online storage and delivers up to 33MB/sec. data throughput. Two new dual-channel SANcube X-stream arrays, in 270GB and 450GB capacities, provide even faster throughput, by striping data across two FireWire busses to achieve up to 65MB/sec. sustained throughput.

The SANcube serverless storage network is engineered to provide much faster-than-typical network performance for digital content creators in the DV, multimedia, and prepress markets who collaborate on large video and image files on Power Mac G4, Power Macintosh G3, PowerBook, and iMac DV systems with built-in FireWire. SANcube incorporates up to six high performance hard drives in a sleek, compact cube (approx. 10x10x10 inches), which weighs less than 30 pounds and has a stunning design which complements the design of these powerful Apple systems.

"Our growing line of FireWire solutions is designed to give the Macintosh creative community an affordable storage foundation to work from, so that speed and capacity are no longer cumbersome issues for them," said Alex Grossman, vice president of sales & marketing at MicroNet. "For example, SANcube X-stream now opens up the possibility of uncompressed video on FireWire -- and that's a real breakthrough."

"Invented by Apple and adopted by the IEEE as an industry standard, FireWire provides incredible business opportunities for developer seeking to create high-performance peripherals with true 'plug-and-play' functionality," said Clent Richardson, Apple's (Nasdaq:AAPL) vice president of Worldwide Developer Relations. "MicroNet's SANcube utilizes FireWire to provide a storage solution that delivers incredible throughput of large multimedia files."

With the 450GB SANcube, users simply plug SANcube into their Macintosh systems with built-in FireWire, and install the included, customized version of the industry-leading ATTO AccelWare SAN volume management software. Set up is simple and takes just minutes. Older Macintosh systems without built-in FireWire can be supported with third party FireWire add-in cards.

Whereas the 450GB SANcube is a single-channel array using one FireWire port, the new 2-user 270GB and 4-user 450GB dual-channel SANcube arrays ship with a PCI FireWire accelerator card, and use both the built-in FireWire port and the expanded data path of the PCI bus to increase throughput for unparalleled transfer rates. A FireWire accelerator card for each system is included for each user SANcube X-stream system.

SANcube centralizes data, provides share level data access, and eliminates data copying time to significantly increase productivity in any collaborative environment. Users can configure SANcube as a single volume by striping the data (RAID 0) across the drives for enhanced performance and capacity, or duplicate or mirror the data (RAID 1) at high speeds for increased data protection. Since SANcube is stackable and hot-pluggable, the system expands and reconfigures easily as workgroup storage requirements increase.

Pricing & Availability

The 450GB, 4-user SANcube will be available in August 2000 for $5,999. The dual-channel SANcube X-stream arrays will ship in August 2000 at an SRP of $4599 for the 270GB, and $6999 for the 450GB. All SANcube products are available from MicroNet VARs, Outpost.com, MacWarehouse, and select resellers worldwide.

Special "Free Gigabytes" Promotion Until August 1

MicroNet's current 70-220GB SANcubes are now available at increased capacities, at no additional charge, until August 1, 2000. These new capacities, available at original, lower-capacity prices, are as follows:

     SRP                    Capacity              No. of Users

     $1499                  70GB now 90GB         Single-user system
     $2149                  100GB now 135GB       2 users
     $2699                  150GB now 180GB       3 users
     $3899                  220GB now 270GB       4 users

Based in Irvine, California, MicroNet Technology, Inc. develops a full range of data storage solutions for creative professionals and IS managers with enterprise-wide networks. MicroNet's extensive line of storage solutions include RAIDbank(R) 2000, SANcube FireWire Storage Area Networks, Genesis(TM) RAID systems, FibreFlex(TM) workgroup solutions, the DataDock(R) family of transportable data storage systems, award-winning disk arrays, hard disk drives, CD recording systems, DLT, AIT and DAT back-up systems. MicroNet products are available through Ingram Micro Inc., resellers, VARs and distributors worldwide. For more information, contact MicroNet Technology, Inc. at tel: (949) 453-6100, fax: (949) 453-6101, or on the World Wide Web at www.micronet.com, or www.sancube.com.