4Blox Beta Releases Plus Initiator

4Blox, Inc., dedicated to improving iSCSI performance, announced the beta release of 4Mezzo Plus Initiator. This latest software addition to the 4Mezzo Suite complements the existing target component by lowering host CPU overhead associated with iSCSI-based storage area networks (SANs). 4Mezzo offers iSCSI-based SAN storage system vendors a more flexible approach to reducing the CPU processing demanded by the iSCSI protocol.

"We are very committed to keeping iSCSI the low-cost SAN protocol of choice that is also high-performing for demanding environments like virtualization and 10GbE," said Dan Munro, CEO of 4Blox. "CNICs, RNICs, TOE — there is no shortage of expensive hardware acronyms for increasing iSCSI performance, but 4Mezzo represents the first low-cost software-only alternative that rivals and exceeds the performance of even the most expensive hardware alternative."

"4Mezzo Plus is ideally positioned to address the higher CPU overhead associated with all Virtual Storage Appliances — which are basically customized storage targets based on the iSCSI protocol," said George Crump, president and founder of Storage Switzerland, an IT analyst firm focused on the storage and virtualization segments.

4Mezzo software components dramatically reduce the CPU overhead in iSCSI SANs. Unlike expensive hardware solutions, the eco-friendly 4Mezzo components allow the network connection to handle any type of Ethernet traffic, at any line speed. The entire 4Mezzo Suite is OS agnostic — and 4Mezzo Plus (either target and/or initiator) is available in beta on Red Hat Enterprise Linux.

4Mezzo OS-level components sit directly between the iSCSI protocol and the TCP protocol. This critical location is where overall iSCSI performance is often determined. These components use patent pending techniques to dramatically reduce the CPU overhead associated with the block read and write software in existing SAN equipment targets and OS platform initiators.