Synectics Acquires AMCC 3ware SATA II RAID

Synectics Security Networks, a provider of closed circuit television (CCTV) systems control, network integration and digital recording solutions for security surveillance applications, has selected SATA II RAID controllers from Applied Micro Circuits Corporation’s 3ware storage division for its CCTV storage platform.

Synectics is integrating the 3ware 9650SE 12-port SATA II RAID controller into its 12-drive MDRS Primary Storage Node (PSN), a flexible and scalable CCTV storage platform designed to meet a wide range of data retention and video performance requirements.

Synectics selected 3ware controllers because of their superior performance and proven data protection and recovery capabilities. Martyn Rowe, Engineering Director at Synectics, explains: “In addition to its leading performance for streaming media applications, we found 3ware to be the most reliable choice when it came to recovering lost or accidentally deleted data. With 3ware, even if a user removes the wrong drive or makes a power down error, it is pretty easy to recover lost data. However, with many of the other controller brands we tested the array would typically be deemed inoperable and the data unrecoverable.”

Designed to record MPEG-encoded video streams from either direct-attached or network-attached video encoders, the Synectics MDRS PSN features a RAID 6 configuration for protection against dual-drive failure. Using 1TB hard drives, each PSN can scale to 12TB of raw capacity.

Typical deployments range from 5 to 25 PSNs, depending on the camera count, video retention policy and recording bit-rate parameters. Synectics’ largest single customer installation of PSNs is in excess of 200 storage nodes. UK organisations depending on CCTV solutions from Synectics cover almost all vertical markets and include Fortnum & Mason, Wakefield District Council and Royal Holloway, University of London.

Ron Macleod, Sales Director, EMEA at AMCC/3ware, said: “The 3ware 9650SE’s huge capacity potential, sustained data transfer rates and competitive price point make it the ideal RAID controller choice for CCTV applications. The product has been optimised for sequential performance which allows it to effortlessly write multiple high-bandwidth video data streams to either individual hard drives, or to a RAID array, making it a perfect fit for Synectics’ CCTV storage platform.”