HDS Offers Cheaper Storage For NT And Unix Customers

Hitachi Data Systems will ship a new line of storage subsystems this week aimed at customers who want enterprise-level reliability and availability for clustered Windows NT or Unix servers. Priced - Siebel Suite To Link Marketing, Sales-Service Info between $45,000 and $145,000, the Freedom 5800 series supports both UltraSCSI and Fibre Channel connections to work out of the box on existing network frameworks or storage area networks.

High-end features that draw on HDS's mainframe expertise enable the system to support data serving round-the-clock, say analysts. That includes the 5800's SafePath failover software, which can move data along an alternate path from storage subsystem to server when a cable or network card on the primary path fails. SafePath continues to test the primary path until it's fixed, at which point the software again lets data travel along that route.

According to HDS, the system also lets users perform nondisruptive software upgrades, while mirrored cache and high-end microcode help deliver enterprise-class performance. The 5800, which stores up to 1 terabyte of data and supports multiple levels of RAID storage, offers data throughput of up to 640 Mbytes per second.