Archive notice: This article was originally published on May 19, 2010. Links and embedded videos are preserved as part of the historical record.
It includes the rack-mounted Fusion RX1600Fibre storage system with 16 hard drives and RAID 6 Fibre Channel, a four-port eight-gigabit Fibre Channel interface, four one-port eight-gigabit Fibre Channel PCIe host adapter cards, four fibre-optic cables and a Tiger Technology metaSAN software licence for four workstations. The package is aimed at video editors working in groups of up to four users who require shared access to files.
It meets high requirements for bandwidth, straightforward capacity expansion and robust data protection in equal measure.
The Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package is optimised for video editing and gives four users direct and extremely fast access to stored data via 8-gigabit ports. It supports multi-stream, multi-user workflows without requiring an additional Fibre Channel switch. This saves installation and energy costs. The Sonnet solution supports virtually any computer with a PCIe interface and gigabit port. A dedicated Gigabit Ethernet switch is required for metadata communication.
“The Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package offers extremely high performance and availability for video professionals in workgroups,” said Sonnet CEO Robert Farnsworth. “With MetaSAN’s innovative file-sharing solution, RX1600Fibre offers extreme performance for workgroups without the effort of a traditional SAN setup.”
Tiger Technology’s metaSAN provides a file-sharing solution for Fibre Channel networks (SANs) that sets a new standard for workgroup collaboration through simple operation and high performance. The system is available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux and enables multiple users to access files simultaneously as though the files were on each user’s local drive. Compared with conventional volume-level-based sharing, which brings serious workflow limitations, metaSAN is considerably more user-friendly and flexible. The software uses a floating-master architecture to manage the SAN. Because metaSAN requires only very low CPU utilisation to manage the SAN, any member of the workgroup can act as SAN master. This enables a SAN to be built without a dedicated server.
“High performance, ease of use and reliability are the essential prerequisites for the best possible performance,” said Bernard Lamborelle, Sales Director at Tiger Technology. “Feedback from Sonnet’s dealers and users of this package is excellent. The ability to connect four workstations directly to the RX1600Fibre storage system without an additional Fibre Channel switch is a great relief. And because metaSAN supports open standards and native file systems, video editors can benefit greatly from the new workflow instead of having to deal with complicated procedures for configuring and maintaining the SAN.”
The Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package offers great flexibility in configuring storage pools. The storage system is based on a simple web-browser GUI and comes with straightforward tools for system setup, administration and diagnostics. These can be accessed locally or remotely. Support for partitioning RAID groups increases storage efficiency, since more LUNs (Logical Unit Numbers) are available and there is no need to use low-capacity RAID groups. metaSAN manages shared access to storage data as if it were a local drive. No additional user accounts need to be created, nor are special utilities required for drive formatting or management. The system uses standard operating-system administration tools to grant or deny access to individual users. Integrating additional storage capacity is particularly economical and as easy as adding the Fusion RX1600 expansion system via two cables. The Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package is scalable. Further users can work with it by adding a server, Fibre switch, Fibre controller and metaSAN licence.
The Fusion RX1600 Fibre storage system is equipped with ATTO Technology’s FastStream SC 8500E Storage Controller. This storage controller is based on exclusive Advanced Data Streaming (ADS) technology and provides controlled transfer acceleration for consistent data streaming. This is especially important when working with video. ADS compensates for peaks and troughs in data transfer and maintains a continuous flow of data. The FastStream Controller offers adjustable rebuild priority, so users of the Sonnet system retain full performance during a rebuild of the RAID groups. Comparable storage systems normally suffer a performance drop during a rebuild.
The Sonnet Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package is compatible with Mac OS® X and OS X Server versions 10.4.8 and later (including Snow Leopard); Windows Server 2008, 7, Vista, Server 2003 and XP Professional; and many Linux operating systems. It supports common video-editing programs such as Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe Premiere Pro.
Included in the package:
- Fusion drive enclosure with internal RAID controller
- Four-port 8Gb FC interface and two mini-SAS expansion ports
- Two mounting rails and mounting hardware
- Sixteen 3.5-inch RAID/Enterprise Edition drive modules
- Two power cables
- One two-metre RJ-45 CAT 5 Ethernet cable
- One two-metre RJ-11 to DB9 RS-232 cable
- One CD with software and documentation
- Four one-port 8Gb Fibre Channel PCIe host adapters
- Four LC/LC fibre-optic cables
- Four software licences for Tiger Technology metaSAN
The Sonnet Fusion Fibre-for-4 Package is available with 16TB or 32TB. Four fibre-optic cables can be selected in any combination from one to 20 metres. The price of the Sonnet Fusion Fibre-for-4 with 32TB is EUR 18,699 including VAT.
