Promise Brings 8Gb FC VessRAID to British Small Businesses

PROMISE Technology, Inc. has enhanced its storage offerings to British customers. The company has brought its 8Gbps Fibre Channel series of VessRAID products to the UK, offering businesses a cost-effective way to protect their data.

The new VessRAID 1840f FC 8Gbps series enables block and file-based data access and a unified storage platform that supports multiprotocol function in a single storage box. It has two ports of 8Gbps Fibre Channel and two ports of Gigabit Ethernet designed for file and block level access in a robust 3U-16 bay chassis with an SAS-wide port for additional expansion.

With the new system, customers will be able to upgrade their existing storage hardware from their 2Gbps or 4Gbps environments, while extending the shared storage pool to Ethernet-connected servers or clients running iSCSI or CIFS/NFS protocols. The 1840f 8Gbps series consolidates multiple protocols into one easy system that massively improves IT operational efficiency. UK businesses now no longer need separate direct or network attached storage devices to run their mission critical applications. Instead, they can use a unified storage system to simultaneously handle block and file-based host I/O transactions.

Apart from the new added multi-protocol support, the launch also includes several functional upgrades: the Fibre Channel unit inherits the entire system features and benefits from iSCSI series over the two GbE ports, and goes with advanced functionality such as adding support for new-generation 6Gb SAS/SATA disk drives, up to 112 drive number in total, and Microsoft Active Directory Service. It also auto-detects and IP assigns while using the SmartNAVI backup utility.

The new storage system will help IT managers ensure that they have the physical hardware footprint to keep business routine operations in good shape. It offers varied interconnected nodes of arrays, featuring a number of connecting paths including Fibre Channel, 10G Ethernet, SAS, and iSCSI.

"Managing a range of diverse technologies can be a challenging task and can often cause problems for system administrators," explains Albrecht Hestermann, marketing director EMEA of Promise Technology. "The new VessRAID Fibre Channel system now offers British companies a way to dramatically simplifying the way that storage arrays are managed while delivering high performance value to customers."

Service and Support
The offering is backed by the Promise 3-year limited warranty with 24/7 telephone and email support.

Pricing and Availability
The Promise VessRAID 1840f costs €3,095 EUR (ex VAT) and is available from authorised Promise distributors, selected eshops and etailers.