IBM Certifies 2 Gb Ready JNI PCI, SBus HBAs for TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Servers and Tape System with Solaris Environments

Business Wire, Nov 4, 2002

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SAN DIEGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2002

Emerald IV-based PCI and SBus HBAs Certified at 1 & 2 Gb For `Shark'

Storage and 3590 Tape

JNI(R) Corporation (Nasdaq:JNIC) announced today that IBM has certified JNI's 2 Gb Ready(TM) FibreStar(R) PCI and SBus Fibre Channel host bus adapters (HBAs) to connect IBM's TotalStorage(TM) Enterprise Storage Server (ESS -- code-named "Shark")(TM), FAStT Storage Server, TotalStorage Enterprise Tape System 3590 and LTO Tape System to servers running the Sun Microsystems Solaris(TM) Operating Environment.

Two families of JNI HBAs have been certified by IBM: the 2 Gb Ready FCE-6460 PCI and 2 Gb Ready FCE-1473 SBus HBAs, part of JNI's family of Emerald IV-based HBAs. Emerald IV is JNI's second-generation 2 Gb ASIC controller JNI.

JNI, the leading provider of Fibre Channel HBAs for the Solaris environment, is an ideal selection to provide connectivity for the IBM TotalStorage Enterprise systems to Solaris-based servers. By certifying JNI's 2 Gb HBAs, our customers can connect the Shark or the 3590 to current and future Solaris-based SANs at both 1 Gb and 2 Gb speeds.

"IBM's high performance TotalStorage Enterprise products offer customers excellent data throughput in enterprise-class Solaris environments," said Rick Sander, vice president and general manager of Fibre Channel, JNI Corporation. "By incorporating the ESS, FAStT, LTO and 3590 with JNI's 2 Gb Ready Fibre Channel HBAs, customers will have a greater choice in enterprise-class storage for their Solaris environments."

IBM has certified JNI Fibre Channel HBAs for use on Solaris servers. JNI has received IBM certification in the past for its SBus-based FC64-1063 and PCI bus-based FCI-1063.

IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Solutions

ESS is IBM's high-performance disk storage solution designed to work with a variety of hardware and software technologies, such as Windows NT, UNIX, Novell NetWare, the entire IBM eServer family, and a variety of interfaces, including Fibre Channel (FCP and FICON), Ultra SCSI and ESCON.

The IBM Fibre Array Storage Technology (FAStT) family of products includes the FAStT700, FAStT500, and FAStT200 Storage Servers. When considering storage alternatives in the face of explosive growth in an e-business environment, companies must consider solutions that provide cost-effective, scalable, flexible storage with high availability and performance.

LTO brings unprecedented levels of reliability, capacity and performance to scalable automation for open systems tape backup. Developed jointly by IBM, Hewlett-Packard and Seagate, LTO's open technology is ideal for a wide-range of open systems streaming data environments such as backup or archival. Powerful. Reliable. Interoperable. LTO delivers exceptional performance and availability at an economical price.

The IBM TotalStorage(TM) Enterprise Tape System 3590 provides the highest levels of performance and reliability of any IBM tape subsystem and exemplifies IBM's continued leadership in storage products. Since the 3590 Tape Drives first shipment in September 1995, it has met with wide marketplace acceptance. Over 80,000 3590 Tape Drives are installed in both IBM and non-IBM systems across industry sectors.

FCE-6460/FCE-1473 Overview

JNI's FCE-6460 PCI and FCE-1473 SBus 2 Gb HBAs offer the same feature set across all bus connections, assuring uniform management in environments with mixed bus types. The driver for the JNI HBAs supports all Fibre Channel topologies and includes the latest enterprise-level features, such as persistent binding, compliance with SNIA HBA API 1.0, and 1 or 2 Gb auto rate negotiation. This last, "on demand" feature enables a smooth migration path to 2 Gb-enabled storage networks by operating in 1 Gb, 2 Gb or mixed 1-2 Gb Fibre Channel environments. JNI brings more than seven years of Solaris Fibre Channel deployment and experience to its driver development.

2 Gb Performance at 1 Gb Price

JNI's 2 Gb Ready FibreStar HBAs are priced competitively with enterprise-level 1 Gb counterparts, but offer on demand 2 Gb performance to assure today's HBAs are positioned for seamless integration with tomorrow's 2 Gb Fibre Channel SANs.

Pricing and Availability

The 2 Gb Ready FibreStar FCE-6460 and FCE-1473 are available today. Pricing is competitive with existing enterprise-quality 1 Gb Fibre Channel host bus adapters, with costs varying depending on configuration and quantity. For information about purchasing the new 2 Gb Ready HBAs or any other JNI product, please contact a JNI distributor, reseller, or a JNI sales representative, at 858-523-7000 or www.jni.com.

About JNI Corporation

JNI is a provider of storage networking products. JNI's products run on a variety of operating platforms including Solaris, Windows 2000, Windows NT, Linux, HP-UX and AIX. JNI customers, distributors and strategic partners include: ACAL FCS, Bell Microproducts, Brocade, Chaparral, Cisco Systems, Consan, EMC, Hewlett-Packard, Hitachi Data Systems, IBM, InfiniSwitch, Info X, LSI Logic, McDATA, Mellanox Technologies, Network Appliance, Nishan Systems, StorageTek, Sun Microsystems, TidalWire and VERITAS. The Company's headquarters are located in San Diego.