The very stylish drive is here and I’ll start benchmarking soon.

DataCore Software Super-Sizes Virtual Disks with Its Latest Storage Virtualization Software Release

Company responds to appetite for very large logical volumes (up to 1 Petabyte) as physical disk drive capacities get bigger and datasets expand.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida – December 29, 2009 – DataCore Software, a leading provider of storage virtualization, business continuity and disaster recovery software solutions, once again responds quickly to market demands, this time by stretching the size of its virtual disks from 2 Terabytes (TBs) to 1 Petabyte (PB).

“Rather than inch up to 4 or 16 TBs as others are considering, DataCore made the strategic design choice to blow the roof off the capacity ceiling with 1 Petabyte LUNs,” commented Augie Gonzalez, Director of Product Marketing, DataCore Software. “But we’re still frugal on the back-end, using thin-provisioning to minimize how much real capacity has to be in place day one.”

Performance-wise, these immense virtual disks benefit from DataCore’s 1 TB per node, 64-bit “mega-caches. “You can be big, and very fast too,” added Gonzalez.

Please read more about this feature here: DataCore Supports up to a Terabyte (TB) of Cache.

Why so Big?

The huge virtual disk requirement arises from two industry trends. As regards the physical storage pool, clients are eager to group multiple disk drives, each exceeding 1 TB, into Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks (RAID) sets. With this release, DataCore storage virtualization nodes can control pools consisting of numerous RAID sets, each well over the previous 2 TB maximum.

Demand has also been strong from applications seeking to update and analyze very large datasets that in the foreseeable future will grow well past the 2 TB cap.

Extensible Architecture – Key to Rapid Response

The pace of DataCore’s noteworthy innovations is indicative of its uniquely extensible software architecture. Unbridled by hardware, DataCore rapidly adapts its storage virtualization products to harness the power of bigger, faster, and cheaper equipment within weeks of the technology becoming generally available. That puts customers in the best position to take advantage of future hardware advancements.

The new software release is available immediately. DataCore customers under current maintenance contracts are eligible to receive the 1 PB software enhancements at no charge.

About DataCore Software

DataCore Software, a leading provider of storage virtualization software solutions, fundamentally changes the economics of managing storage with innovative software that combines advanced functions and services with the agility and savings of hardware independence. DataCore lowers the cost and complexity of IT by making storage efficient, fast, flexible, fail-safe and virtual. For more information, call (877) 780-5111 or visit DataCore.

DataCore, SANmelody and the DataCore logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. Other DataCore product or service names or logos referenced herein are trademarks of DataCore Software Corporation. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Dot Hill Virtual RAID Adapter Technology to be Bundled with AMD SP5100 Server Chipset

AMD to offer two new SKUs, SP5100R and SP5100R5, incorporating Dot Hill RAIDCore Virtual RAID Adapter technology

CARLSBAD, Calif. – Dec. 21, 2009 – Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a world-class provider of entry-level and midrange storage solutions for OEMs and resellers, today announced that its RAIDCore® Virtual RAID Adapter (VRA) Technology will be embedded into select platforms based on the recently announced AMD SR5690/SP5100 server chipset.

AMD will bundle two new SP5100 chipset models with a license to Dot Hill’s RAIDCore VRA technology solutions — the SP5100R supporting RAIDCore Basic (RAID 0/1/10) and the SP5100R5 supporting RAIDCore Plus (RAID 0/1/5/10). With support for Windows and Linux operating systems, RAIDCore VRA solutions provide end-user customers with a simple, software-based licensing scheme that eliminates the need for hardware keys in order to leverage RAIDCore’s advanced capabilities.

“As the very low power server designs and other platforms based on the AMD SP5100 server become available through numerous server motherboard OEMs and distributors, small businesses and enterprises will have an inexpensive and easy-to-implement alternative to traditional hardware-based RAID solutions,” said Patrick Patla, vice president and general manager, Server/Workstation and Embedded Division, AMD. “Backed by Dot Hill’s many years of RAID expertise, RAIDCore VRA technology can provide our customers with highly sophisticated RAID capabilities built right into the chipset.”

System builders and OEMs that install the AMD SP5100R or SP5100R5 RAID solution will also be able to upgrade to the full-featured version of RAIDCore, RAIDCore VST, which supports a number of enhanced RAID features, including RAID 1n/10n (multi-volume mirroring), distributed sparing and additional migration features, by purchasing a simple upgrade license from Dot Hill. This upgrade enables full enterprise-class virtual RAID for significantly less than a conventional hardware RAID adapter card.

“Today’s multi-core processors and chip sets from AMD possess the horsepower and high performance capabilities that make server-based RAID more practical than ever,” said Andy Mills, vice president of marketing, Dot Hill. “By adding AMD core logic support to our new VRA solution, we ensure the most extensive support for entry- and mid-level server markets and provide resellers with a new source of upgrade revenue via the RAIDCore VST license opportunity.”

RAIDCore VRA – a Better Alternative to Hardware- and Software-based RAID

Dot Hill VRA technology enables server, storage and motherboard vendors to integrate RAID technology into their products by leveraging the power of today’s multi-core server CPUs instead of a dedicated RAID CPU-based, add-in board, helping to reduce hardware, power, cooling and support costs. RAIDCore enables host-based RAID 0, 1, 5, 10 and 50 directly on motherboard SATA I/O ports, reducing system costs and increasing the reliability of internal disk storage. The same software stack, with additional features enabled, may also be used for higher end SAS disk based systems that employ a built-in or PCIe host adapter-based SAS/SATA chipset, enabling vendors to maintain compatibility and a consistent look and feel across the entire product line.

The technology leverages a sophisticated RAID software stack, enabling today’s servers to effectively process RAID tasks without compromising performance needed for other operations. RAIDCore rivals the performance of hardware controller-based RAID at a fraction of the cost, in addition to offering enhanced functions such as enhanced mirroring schemes to support simple system backup and recovery.

Overview of RAIDCore Key Features/Functionality

Dot Hill RAIDCore technology key features/functionality include:

• Single, unified O/S driver and single-pane management suite capable of managing RAID sets on different controller vendors
• Spanned virtual RAID arrays, allowing users to create a virtual disk that spans across SAS/SATA I/O controllers and SATA-based core logic chipsets
• Native support for multiple motherboard chipset vendors, including AMD SB600, SB700 and SP5100 core logic chipsets
• Broad Operating system support — Windows XP, 2003, Vista, 2008, Windows 7 – 32 and 64 bit; Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4 and 5 – 32 and 64 bit; SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 and SLES 10 – 32 and 64 bit and Generic Linux SDK for custom integration
• Support for basic RAID 0, 1, 10 features or higher featured RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, 50 and 1n, 10n via licensing
• N-way mirrored volume copy using RAID 1n, hidden arrays and split mirror
• Hard coded licensing or web enabled software licensing framework that enables easy after-market upgrades and eliminating the need for a hardware-based license key
• Support for mixed capacity drives allowing 100 percent of usage of all disk capacity available

About Dot Hill

Delivering innovative technology and global support, Dot Hill empowers OEMs and resellers to bring unique storage solutions to market, quickly, easily and cost-effectively. Offering high performance and industry-leading uptime, Dot Hill’s RAID technology is the foundation for best-in-class storage solutions offering enterprise-class security, availability and data protection. The company’s products are in use today by the world’s leading service and equipment providers, common carriers, advanced technology and telecommunications companies as well as government agencies. Dot Hill solutions are certified to meet rigorous industry standards and military specifications, as well as RoHS and WEEE international environmental standards. Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in China, Germany, Japan, United Kingdom and the United States.

For more information, visit Dot Hill.

RAIDCore is a registered trademark of Broadcom Corporation.  All other trademarks and tradenames are the property of Dot Hill Systems Corp. or AMD, as applicable.

I’m writing a series of reviews for eWeek about secure ruggedized USB flash storage. These are devices like the Lexar JumpDrive S3000 FIPS, any drive from IronKey, BlockMaster, etc that uses on-board encryption and a rugged body. They have to meet FIPS 140-2 Level 3 in order to be included in my testing. Some meet MIL-STD-180 for being waterproof.

I’ve learned some interesting things torture testing the drives. Rugged is not necessarily the same as durable. I was truly amazed at the ability of the “el cheapo” generic USB flash drive to get the crap beat out of it and still hold data. The body completely shattered even when I dropped it down a single flight of stairs. The insides still worked. Smashing it between two 20 lb weights flat out destroyed it.

But then I threw it off the roof of my 4 story building.
The case broke off, but I could snap it back on the chip and it still worked.

I could bake it in the oven for 15 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit and it still worked.

325 for 15 minutes and it still works

el cheapo after being thrown off the roof and baked in the oven