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2005, August week 2, news archive

See also:-

Squeak! - the 10 biggest storage companies in 2008
Squeak! - the Solid State Disks Buyers Guide
Squeak! - the Fastest Growing Storage Companies
article:- War of the Disks: Hard Disk Drives vs. Flash Solid State Disks
article:- Serial Attached SCSI - Delivering Flexibility to the Data Center
article:- NAS, DAS or SAN? - Choosing the Right Storage Technology
article:- Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win?
Squeak! - Venture funds in storage
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Seoul, Korea - August 11, 2005 - Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. today announced that it is leading the industry shift from DDR1 (Double Data Rate 1) to DDR2 main memory. As of July, approximately 40% of the company's total DRAM output is DDR2 and approximately 30% is DDR1. This marks the first month that production of DDR2 has crossed over to take the lead from DDR1 in bits produced.

After setting the first 10-million (256Mb equivalent) milestone in shipments in July 2004, Samsung has reached an aggregate production volume of 360 million (256Mb equivalent) units by the first half of this year. This is a 30-fold growth in the past 12 months and a direct reflection of the company's pivotal role in driving the DDR2 market. The company's strong product portfolio allows it to hold up to 40% of the global DDR2 market.

DDR2 provides faster speeds, better signal integrity, improved thermal characteristics and reduced power consumption - more than any other memory available today for the desktop, server, workstation and notebook markets. The 1.8-volt JEDEC-compliant memory features high-speed data transfer rates of 667 Mbps or 533 Mbps, and will be offered in an 800 Mbps version by early next year. Pricing has dropped to where the cost of DDR2 is essentially on par with DDR1 on a per bit basis.

Samsung is now producing 256Mb, 512 Mb and 1 Gb versions of DDR2 at 533 Mbps, plus 256 and 512 Mb versions of its new DDR2-667 memory. Samsung's DDR2-667 optimizes performance in both single-core and dual-core processor systems. According to DE DIOS & ASSOCIATES research, DDR2 sales will increase from $1.5B in 2004 to $6.5B this year to $18B in 2006. ...Samsung profile, RAM


SIMI VALLEY, Calif., - August 11, 2005 - Qualstar Corp today announced two new models of its RLS-Series Rackmount Tape Library family. The new Qualstar RLS-8216H, and RLS-8404H with capacity on demand, utilize the new half-height LTO 2 drives, retaining high capacity-pertape while delivering lower cost and enhanced connectivity for less powerful systems. LTO 2 HH technology offers the same 200GB per tape as the current full-height drives, but at a lower data rate. The two new RLS models leverage the LTO 2 HH form factor to fit twice the number of drives in the same space.

The RLS-8404H houses up to four LTO 2 HH tape drives. The RLS-8216H accepts two drives and sets a new low price point for a Qualstar Simply Reliable LTO tape library. Like the RLS-8204 announced recently, the RLS-8404H features COD, which lowers the initial purchase price of the library while making future capacity expansion easy and economical. The RLS-8404H ships with 2.4 terabytes of native capacity. Up to four, 1.6 terabyte capacity expansion kits can be easily added by the user in a few minutes yielding a total native capacity of 8.8 terabytes, or over 17 terabytes using built-in data compression. All RLS-Series models use only 5U of rack space. ...Qualstar profile, Tape Libraries, Rackmount Storage


MILPITAS, Calif. - August 10, 2005 - As the only company in the storage industry providing both 4Gb/s Fibre Channel and Serial Attached SCSI host bus adapters, LSI Logic today introduced the latest version of its MyStorage management software with support for both interfaces. By leveraging the newest version of MyStorage, which will be available to users later this month, IT personnel can manage multiples technologies in a system with a single software utility. ...LSI Logic profile, Serial Attached SCSI


LINUX WORLD, SAN FRANCISCO August 9, 2005 - AMCC demonstrates its 3ware 9000 SATA RAID controllers in a series of enterprise-class network environments this week at LinuxWorld Expo. The 3ware 9000 Series SATA RAID controllers deliver over 400 MB/sec performance with Linux Kernel 2.6.x and the XFS File System. AMCC will run a series demonstrations designed to highlight performance, scalability, and reliability in a variety of internal and external RAID environments.

AMCC will spotlight RAID and clustered applications with an emphasis on performance, fault tolerance, and SATA's highly evolved capabilities within a demanding Linux network environment. AMCC will also feature a technology demonstration of its external Linux-based SATA RAID solution for the Apple platform.

The 3ware 9000 Series provides scaleable capacity of up to 4.8 TB per controller, using 400 GB drives, and total system capacity limited only to available PCI slots. Advanced RAID features such as online-capacity-expansion, RAID level migration and multi-LUN support provide high levels of data protection, availability, and reliability. AMCC's advanced hardware RAID architecture enhances overall system performance and features both an on-board processor and an integrated RAID ASIC that offloads RAID controller functions from the host CPU, which allows the server to focus on its core applications. ...AMCC profile, RAID controllers, Storage Events


Livermore, CA - August 9, 2005 - Memtech announced today the addition of SA2580, AT2580 and SA3580 Panther series of solid state flash drives to its product portfolio. With impressive endurance, an 7- year warranty, performance ranging from 20 to 60 Mbytes/sec, and capacities from 4 to 128 GB, the Panther is one of the most significant high-end solid state flash drive products in the market today. The Panther AT2580 is fully ATA compliant and the Panther SA2580 and SA3580 are the next-generation in SATA solid state flash drive solutions. The Memtech Panther series offers advanced security features, including secure erase to meet stringent military requirements. The drives are designed for low power consumption in critical operating conditions and are built to withstand extreme temperature, pressure, moisture, shock, vibration and power loss. Each drive is guaranteed for life and goes through a rigorous five-step EnduroTest temperature and ruggedness test process that includes read-write data integrity testing at temperatures as low as -40°C and as high as +85°C. ...Memtech profile, Flash, Solid State Disks


LONGMONT, Colorado - August 9, 2005 - Conduant Corp today introduced the StreamStor Amazon SATA Disk Controller featuring over 400 Megabytes per second of sustained performance, more than twice the speed of earlier StreamStor controllers. Amazon is the only disk-based recording solution that allows system designers to choose from a wide variety of pluggable interface boards and COTS-based PCI input/output options. This provides for maximum flexibility in the design of standalone or integrated data acquisition systems.

The StreamStor Amazon SATA Disk Controller is a full-length 64-bit Universal PCI bus board that controls 16 Serial ATA drives on eight buses. It records in both single and multi-channel on the PCI bus. Amazon is based on Conduant's unique modular mezzanine interchangeable interface system that can be modified with any number of daughter cards such as FPDP I and II, Channel Link and Star Fabric. Amazon also features 1 GB of onboard memory buffer for uninterrupted data acquisition and playback.

"Amazon reflects the highly innovative spirit at Conduant," said Tom Skrobacz, Vice President of Business Development. "We have fulfilled the current need in the market for a dramatic leap in real-time recording and playback disk controller technology for the PCI bus." ...Conduant profile, Military Storage, Serial ATA (SATA), Hard disk drives


SANTA ANA, Calif. - August 8, 2005 - SimpleTech, Inc. today announced the acquisition of privately-held Memtech SSD, Corp. The acquisition highlights SimpleTech's commitment to the OEM Flash market and creates one of the most comprehensive offerings of solid state drives and other Flash-based solutions for industrial and military applications. SimpleTech will leverage its resources to integrate Memtech's engineering and manufacturing functions, and will continue to market and sell Memtech Flash products under the Memtech brand. As a result, Memtech's customers will have access to one of the broadest industrial Flash product portfolios and advanced engineering design expertise.

"As a leader in the SSD market, Memtech has developed relationships with major OEM and military customers and brings many years of experience designing advanced industrial Flash solutions," said Manouch Moshayedi, chairman and chief executive officer at SimpleTech. "SimpleTech plans to add sales and marketing resources to the existing Memtech team and significantly expand the existing product line offered to Memtech's OEM customers."

"This transaction illustrates SimpleTech's commitment to strategically invest capital into its core lines of business by pursuing select acquisitions. By adding complementary customers, expertise, and products to our expanding SSD portfolio, SimpleTech will further solidify its leading position in the target sector," said Luis Morales, vice president of corporate development at SimpleTech. ...Memtech profile, ...SimpleTech profile, Acquired storage companies

Editor's comments:- The acquisition of one SSD company by another has (so far) been a rare occurrence but could become more common in future. See also:- article:- Charting the Rise of the Solid State Disk Market



SAN DIEGO - August 8, 2005 - Overland Storage, Inc. today announced that it has acquired Zetta Systems, Inc., a privately held developer of real-time data protection software for digital storage solutions in a $9.0 million, all cash, transaction. This transaction paves the way for Overland's entry into the protected primary data storage market.

"Based on their satisfaction with our NEO and REO products, our resellers and end user customers requested that we expand our product offerings to include primary storage. Zetta's software provides us with the enabling technology to deliver High Availability solutions for primary storage," said Christopher Calisi, president and CEO of Overland Storage. "Our NEO product line is the heart of our 'tertiary' data storage tier for data archiving and our REO products represent our 'secondary' tier for near-line disk-based backup and recovery appliances. Zetta's software will ultimately be incorporated into a protected primary storage appliance that will represent the 'primary' tier of Overland's protected storage strategy. We believe we will then have a complete offering of the broadest and most cost-effective, end-to-end storage protection in the market which will be delivered by our strong, worldwide branded sales channel." ...Zetta Systems profile, ...Overland Storage profile


Ft. Walton Beach, FL. - August 8, 2005 - QStar Technologies, today announces the availability of its Simulated Disk Jukebox and Simulated Tape Jukebox archive management software. With its Simulated Jukebox software, QStar can manage physical disk space available on Hard Drive based devices (Hard Disk, RAID, DAS) or hard drive based write-once appliances as if it were media loaded into a library, within an Integral Volume set. The Hard Drive or write-once appliance may be partitioned to simulate virtual shelves and allows full use of import and export commands.

QStar offers two types of Simulated Jukeboxes within a Hard Drive configuration, Simulated Disk Jukebox (SDJ) and Simulated Tapes Jukebox (STJ).

SDJ/STJ provides the advantage of grouping together multiple native file systems as a single large storage repository. This allows multiple devices to be managed as a single device or volume, overcoming operating system limitations on size of a single logical volume. Also with SDJ/STJ there is no limitation to the number of files that can be stored in the QStar Standard File Format volume nor is there any file size limitation. Many regulations require timely access to archive data. By managing archive data on a disk array or Content Addressable Storage (CAS) appliance and mirroring that data to a removable media archive device, users gain faster access to compliance data by accessing it from the disk array or CAS Appliance.

CAS devices provide fast and reliable archive storage in a revision secure environment, however often these devices are not protected beyond their inherent self-healing capabilities. SDJ/STJ allows users to further protect that archive data by writing an additional copy either to another CAS device or to an optical or tape storage library. Should the array fail for any reason, data is still accessible from the secondary device. This extends the level of protection beyond a single appliance for a more robust archive continuity plan. Mirroring reduces downtime for backups because an exact duplicate of the data exists at all times; without the expense, manpower and the time needed to generate backups. In addition the mirror with SDJ or STJ can be done on removable media and can be done even to write-once media types for maximum security and regulatory needs. QStar's Simulated Jukebox software is currently available on Windows, Linux and UNIX operating systems. ...QStar profile

DDR2 Memory Volumes Overtake DDR1

Qualstar Introduces New 5U Tape Libraries

MyStorage Software Supports 4Gb FC and SAS

AMCC's SATA RAID at LinuxWorld Expo

Memtech Launches SATA SSD

SATA Disk Controller Sustains 400 MB/S

SimpleTech Acquires Memtech

Overland Storage Acquires Zetta Systems

Simulated Tape Jukebox Software

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Targa Systems Division
Targa Systems is a leading
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article:-  Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - by Semico Research
Flash Memory vs. Hard Disk Drives - Which Will Win? - article by Semico Research

There's a confusing picture in many consumer products like phones, cameras and music players in which one day it seems that the storage function is done by flash and next day another company announces they're doing the same thing with miniature hard disks.

Is there any sense to this seemingly random choice?

This article uses pricing trends, technology trends and unique market analysis insights to show that users and oems may be able to reliably predict which storage devices will be most cost effective depending where you are on the future history curve. ...read the article, ...Semico Research profile, Hard disk drives, Flash Memory, Market research, Solid state disks
Targa Series 4 - 2.5 inch SCSI flash disk
Removable Military Solid State Disks
from Targa Systems

read article by Plasmon
Bare Media Exposed - Looking at the Contenders for Optical Media Archiving - article by Plasmon

Optical archiving has become a legally mandated storage technology in many markets. There are a lot of new optical media technologies and packaging formats to choose from. But which ones will stand the test of time in terms of data reliability and cost of ownership?

Plasmon, founded in 1987, has nearly 2 decades of experience as a systems and media supplier in the optical archiving industry. This article by Steve Tongish, Plasmon's Director of Marketing EMEA, looks at the critical factors for the new products now available and those emerging so you can assess which will work best for you. ... read the article, ...Plasmon profile, Optical Libraries
TapeMaster - tape duplicator
TapeMaster backup tape duplicator
from StorageHeaven

Testing Storage Solutions - article by Extreme Protocol
Testing Storage Solutions - article by Extreme Protocol Solutions

In the data storage industry, testing is generally considered a neccessary evil in bringing a product to market and as a result often companies will do the bare minimum neccessary in order to cross the item off its checklist. This article by Roger Gagnon President / CEO Extreme Protocol Solutions attempts to explain why testing is so important to product validation and also to provide a concise methodology to testing. ...read the article, ...Extreme Protocol Solutions profile, Storage Testers

click to read article by SiliconSystems
Increasing Flash Solid State Disk Reliability - article by SiliconSystems

Solid state disks, based on flash technology, have greatly improved in performance in recent years and now compete head to head with RAM based accelerator systems. Flash also has significant advatanges in servers compared to RAM SSDs due to low power consumption.

But if you think that all solid state disks which use flash are equally reliable and enduring then think again.

That's a bit like saying that a Mercedes 300SL sports coupe is as tough as a Tiger tank because both were made in Germany and both are built out of metal. But as Oddball (Donald Sutherland) says in the movie Kelly's Heroes "I ain't messing with no Tigers."

This article by SiliconSystems, shows how their patented architecture cleverly manages the wear out mechanisms inherent in all flash media to deliver a disk lifetime that is about 4 times greater than of other enterprise flash products and upto 100 times greater than intrinsic flash memory. ...read the article, ...SiliconSystems profile, Solid state disks
.

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