Stories about: 3ware

I've been on a bit of a green kick around here for the past few months. A computer lab is notoriously power hungry, with servers running at 100 percent utilization for days on end, generating traffic or running test harnesses. There are certain areas where I can make some reductions, however, such as collapsing a half-dozen less-utilized boxes onto a single VMware ESX server. There are some other ways, too.

There are a million and one log-management tools running in networks all over the world. Some are simple file-searching utilities. Some dig a little deeper. But all are focused on a specific log file from a specific service or network device. They don't always talk to one another, however, which creates havoc for admins.

The most intriguing part of my job is the opportunity to preview new products and technologies early. The interesting thing about looking at products early is that any given one could turn out to an immediate success, need some fine-tuning, evolve into something entirely else, or fail. You never know.

Serial Advanced Technology Attachment is an emerging standard electronic interface technology. SATA promises to exceed its predecessor, Parallel ATA, by delivering better performance at a fraction of the cost of traditional storage technology such as SCSI or Fibre Channel.

A flurry of SATA (serial ATA) storage solutions is quickly pushing parallel ATA out of the market. Even though SATA is faster, more flexible, and more scalable than ATA, not to mention equally affordable, the protocol still fights a perception of inadequacy for critical business applications.

What does the average small to mid-sized business know about the latest in whiz-bang storage technology? Not much. That will be changing soon, however, if the vendors of these systems have anything to do with it.

Although most of the buzz surrounds SCSI and Fibre Channel devices, a new category of storage devices has been quietly evolving. We are talking about SATA (serial ATA), the natural, backward-compatible result of steady advancements in the technology that gave us the low-cost, high-performance ATA drives in most desktop PCs, entry-level servers, and NAS appliances.

It sounds like a good idea. Technology that makes it possible to build less expensive, native IP-based storage networks and mixed Fibre Channel-to-IP storage-area networks.

IBM is rethinking its product strategy for an emerging storage protocol known as iSCSI (Internet Small Computer System Interface). It has halted development of an iSCSI storage appliance released last year, two industry sources said, and is preparing systems that should better address the needs of customers.

IP storage start-up 3ware Inc. this week launched a new, compact version of its midrange, storage array for Ethernet networks that saves room in data centers and saves investments in separate storage-area networking.

EMC, Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks and storage start-ups SAN Valley and 3ware demonstrated at NetWorld+Interop 2000 in Atlanta last week technologies for routing and switching storage data over Gigabit Ethernet and optical networks for replication, backup and disaster recovery.