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STORAGE NETWORKING WORLD,
PHOENIX, Ariz., April 14, 2003, -- QLogic
Corp. (NASDAQ:QLGC), the company that powers
storage area networks (SANs), today introduced
the SANbox2-64, the industry's highest port
count Fibre Channel Edge switch. Designed to
help SAN architects fill an important middle
ground between bladed Director switches and
fixed port Edge switches, the highly scalable,
modular bladed architecture of the new 64-port
switch combines the high port count of a Director
with the low cost-per-port of an Edge switch.
For SAN architects, the SANbox2-64 is a simple
alternative to a mesh of smaller switches, and
by delivering 99.999% fabric availability, a
pair of SANbox2-64 switches can serve as a Core
switch solution for business-critical storage
applications. The modular blade approach of
the SANbox2-64 also enables it to accept 4Gb
and 10Gb Fibre Channel and iSCSI blades as they
become available.
Building Large Fabrics at Low
Cost with a New Class of Edge Switch SAN architects
have been confined to only two options when
building new SANs or growing existing ones.
If controlling costs is the priority, they create
meshes of low port count Edge switches. This
option, however, creates management complexity
and introduces multiple points of failure, and
the entire mesh must be reconfigured when adding
another fixed port switch. The other approach
is to deploy high port count Directors. Unfortunately,
their ultra high availability features make
them too costly for all but the largest enterprises.
Now, the SANbox2 Modular Fabric Switch gives
SAN architects a third option and fills an important
middle ground: a Fibre Channel switch that combines
the capacity and availability advantages of
a Director with the low cost-per-port of an
Edge switch. In addition, reconfiguration challenges
associated with adding fixed port switches to
a mesh are eliminated by the SANbox2-64.
University of Utah Health Sciences
IT director, Mark Beekhuizen, recently installed
two SANbox2-64 switches, greatly simplifying
storage management. The University was rapidly
increasing use of its heterogeneous SAN and
expanding at 16-port increments, creating an
increased management burden.
"Our goal was to reduce SAN complexity,"
said Beekhuizen. "Adding several additional
switches would have made the configuration way
too complicated. We wanted to abandon subsystems
and grow our data efficiently in one place,
not in 100 places. We've been able to accomplish
this by using QLogic SANbox2-64 large port count
units, which means that we will only need to
manage and service two switches."
The SANbox2-64 Modular
Fabric Switch
The SANbox2-64 is a new class
of Edge switch that makes deploying and scaling
a SAN much easier and more cost-effective. Its
dense, bladed architecture allows SAN architects
to easily scale from 16 ports to 64 ports in
just 4U (7") of rack space. In additions, the
SANbox2-64 modular fabric switch offers redundancy
and hot-swap capabilities typically found only
in much more expensive Director switches.
Summary of SANbox2-64
Features and Benefits:
Modular Scalability
- Add 8-port I/O blade modules only when needed
- Ten SANbox2-64 switches can easily fit in
a 42U rack, providing up to 640 ports and
maximizing the use of expensive rack space
- Low Cost Per Port
- All 64 ports in a single chassis reduces
the cost of multiple switches and software
licenses
- SANsurfer Management Suite(tm) software
included at no-charge
- Compact 4U chassis saves expensive rack
space Superior Performance
- Full 256Gb crossbar, non-blocking architecture
- Industry's fastest 2Gb frame latency of:
316ns typical, < 1000ns worst case
- High Fabric Availability
- Dual redundant power supplies and fans
- I/O StreamGuard suppresses RSCNs to reduce
fabric disruptions
- Dual SANbox2-64 switches form a fabric with
99.999% availability redundancy
- Broad Interoperability
- Interoperable with fabric switches from
Brocade, Cisco, McDATA and INRANGE
- FCIA SANmark(tm) certified for interoperability
Easy Serviceability
- Hot swap 8-port blades, power supply modules
and fan modules
- Non-Disruptive Code Load and Activation
(NDCLA)
- Simple Management
- Light-weight 65 pound chassis- fully configured
- 110v power
- Single SANsurfer Management Suite for all
QLogic switches and HBAs
- Graphical User Interface for point and click
management
- Integrated with popular SAN Management packages
from
CA, IBM, McDATA, VERITAS and others
Pricing and Availability
The SANbox2-64 is now available
through authorized QLogic distributors, starting
at $25,999 MSRP.
Powered by QLogic
QLogic technology powers more
than seven million storage solutions from leading
companies like Cisco, Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, Hitachi,
HP, IBM, Network Appliance, Quantum, Sony, StorageTek
and Sun. QLogic's broad line of controller chips,
host bus adapters, network switches and management
software move data across storage area networks
(SANs) from storage devices through the network
fabric to servers. The company constantly innovates
new ways to network storage through emerging
technologies like Virtual Interface (VI), Fibre
Down(tm) and iSCSI. A member of the S&P
500 Index, QLogic was recently named to Forbes'
Best 200 Small Companies for the fourth consecutive
year and was named to Fortune's 100 Fastest
Growing Companies list for the third consecutive
year. For more information visit www.qlogic.com.
Disclaimer- Forward Looking
Statements
With the exception of historical information,
the statements set forth above include forward-looking
statements as defined within the Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties
that could cause actual results to differ materially
from those projected or implied in the forward-looking
statements. QLogic wishes to advise readers
that these potential risks and uncertainties
relate to, but are not limited to, in no particular
order: the introduction of new and changing
technologies in our industry and customer acceptance
of those technologies; a change in semiconductor
foundry capacity or conditions; fluctuations
in the growth of I/O markets; fluctuations or
cancellations in orders from OEM customers;
QLogic's ability to compete effectively with
other companies; cancellation of OEM products
associated with design wins; and fluctuations
in our operating results and our stock price.
More detailed information on
these and additional factors which could affect
QLogic's operating and financial results are
described in QLogic's Forms 10-Q, 10-K and other
reports, filed or to be filed with the Securities
and Exchange Commission. QLogic urges all interested
parties to read these reports to gain a better
understanding of the many business and other
risks that QLogic faces. Additionally, QLogic
undertakes no obligation to publicly release
the results of any revisions to these forward-looking
statements, which may be made to reflect events
or circumstances occurring after the date hereof
or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated
events. Note to Editors: Trademarks and registered
trademarks are the property of the companies
with which they are associated.
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