JNI Dual-Port HBA Qualified by EMC as `E-Lab Tested' for Enterprise Storage Networks; JNI 2 Gb Ready SBus HBA Joins Long List of EMC Qualified HBAs for Solaris Platforms

Business Wire, Feb 7, 2002

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 7, 2002

JNI(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:JNIC) today announced that EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC) has qualified JNI's Emerald(TM)-based FibreStar 2 Gb Ready(TM) FCE2-1473, a dual-port SBus-to-Fibre Channel host bus adapter (HBA), as E-Lab Tested.

The designation enables the new JNI HBA to be deployed in approved EMC Enterprise Storage Network (ESN) switched fabric and arbitrated loop environments with EMC Symmetrix Enterprise Storage running the Sun Solaris operating system.

EMC's E-Lab Tested qualification process, the cornerstone of the EMC E-Infostructure(TM) Interoperability Program, is recognized for its exhaustive compatibility and reliability tests to ensure the interoperability of all the components that make up a multi-vendor EMC Enterprise Storage Network. EMC Enterprise Storage Network environments, made up of Symmetrix(R) and CLARiiON(R) Enterprise Storage systems and Connectrix(TM) enterprise directors, offer high performance, scalable capacity, continuous availability, and universal connectivity with unique information protection, management and sharing functionality through robust software.

"JNI's Fibre Channel HBAs have a long track record of providing mission critical, enterprise quality connectivity in EMC environments with Solaris platforms," said Chuck Hollis, EMC's vice president of Markets and Products. "EMC has completed its E-Lab Tested qualification of JNI's dual-port SBus HBA for use with EMC Enterprise Storage Networks, providing additional performance, flexibility, and interoperability for complex SAN environments."

"JNI continues to expand its EMC-qualified product line, and now offers a variety of E-Lab Tested single- and dual-port SBus and PCI host bus adapters at a variety of performance and price points," said Neal Waddington, president and CEO of JNI Corporation. "That is a testament to our commitment to providing the best storage network solutions for EMC and Solaris environments."

JNI Solaris Products

JNI's 2 Gb Ready HBAs leverage JNI's years of Solaris leadership in providing best-of-class Fibre Channel adapter products for key features like Dynamic Reconfiguration and Remote Boot on Sun servers.

"JNI is the de facto standard in Solaris switched fabric storage networks," said Neal Waddington, president and CEO of JNI Corporation. "JNI's dual-port SBus HBA enables high availability, high quality switched fabric connectivity products for Solaris environments."

JNI's FibreStar Fibre Channel storage adapters offer universal compatibility, and unrivaled quality and reliability within storage networks. JNI HBAs work across all Fibre Channel topologies -- switched fabric, arbitrated loop and point-to-point environments. Each JNI HBA is backed by a comprehensive three-year warranty.

FCE2-1473 Details

JNI's FCE2-1473 HBAs offer the same high performance and enterprise reliability of the industry's first 2 Gb Fibre Channel HBA, which debuted in May 1999. At 2 Gb speed, the FibreStar HBA offers peak throughput performance of up to 800 megabytes-per-second (MB) in full-duplex mode, 400 MB in half-duplex. On demand 1 or 2 Gb auto rate negotiation enables a smooth and automatic migration path to 2 Gb-enabled storage networks by operating in 1 Gb, 2 Gb or mixed 1 Gb and 2 Gb Fibre Channel environments. The new 2 Gb Ready FibreStar HBA supports the following features:

-- Unique Port-as-HBA Configuration: A unique feature of JNI dual-port HBAs is
that each port on the FCE2-1473 can be configured and managed as a separate
HBA, providing a number of advantages; including configuring each port on the
HBA for different applications (i.e. one connecting direct-attach storage and
another to a switched fabric environment); dynamic reconfiguration in running
environments by using one port for pre-testing changes to network
configurations with the other remains connected to the existing network
configuration.

-- Dynamic Speed Selection: On demand 1 or 2 Gb auto rate negotiation enables a
smooth migration path to 2 Gb-enabled storage networks by automatically
adjusting to the proper path speed in 1 Gb, 2 Gb or mixed 1 Gb and 2 Gb Fibre
Channel environments.

-- Full, Automatic Topology Detection: The new HBAs support all three Fibre
Channel topologies -- switched fabric, arbitrated loop and point-to-point --
and detect the topology automatically, eliminating manual configuration,
re-booting the system or reconfiguring the HBA setup.

-- JNI Emerald IV ASIC Controller: The heart of JNI's 2 Gb Ready FibreStar HBA
is the new Emerald IV ASIC controller (JNIC-1460). Each port features a 66 MHz,
64-bit performance with an integrated RISC-based I/O engine and large
instruction RAM that significantly reduces host CPU utilization.

-- EZ Fibre(TM) Support: The 2 Gb Ready FibreStar HBA ships with Java-based EZ
Fibre configuration utility, which simplifies storage adapter installation and
troubleshooting, and offers such features as point-and-click LUN-level zoning.

-- Hardware-Assisted Context Switching: Context switching maximizes SAN data
throughput, increasing overall performance of the SAN.

-- Port ID Binding: JNI HBAs can be configured to provide permanent Port ID
Binding. Port ID Binding is critical in mission-critical applications, where
one or more ports will be identified to provide a specific function, such as
data backup and recovery through a tape storage device. With a permanent Port
ID Binding, backup and recovery is far more efficient than with systems that
create a new Port ID every time a backup process is initiated.

-- SNIA API Support: Like all Emerald IV-based HBAs from JNI, the FCE2-1473
complies with all current SNIA API standards used by storage management
software programs for inband management of the storage network.