- Sonnet Technologies has debuted the Fusion RX1600 Vfibre, an expandable 16-drive RAID video editing SAN server with multi-user Fibre Channel and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity built in. This 4U rackmount system integrates Tiger Technology metaSAN Storage Area Network (SAN) Server software with an ATTO dual RAID controller-equipped SAS/SATA storage system. Capable of supporting a 4K workflow or multi-stream, multi-user collaborative workflows, Fusion RX1600 Vfibre provides direct connection for up to twelve 8Gb Fibre Channel users and 6 Gb/s aggregate bandwidth for users connected via Gigabit Ethernet.
- "Our Fusion RX1600Fibre customers requested the capability to build the SAN server software into the storage unit itself and also to serve Ethernet as well as Fibre users. We did both with the Fusion RX1600 Vfibre," said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. "Furthermore, the RX1600 Vfibre delivers 65 percent more performance than our acclaimed RX1600Fibre."
- Optimized for video editing, the base configuration Fusion RX1600 Vfibre provides four Fibre Channel ports, expandable to twelve — additional Fibre users can be served with a Fibre Channel switch. Fusion RX1600 Vfibre supports multipath I/O to enhance performance and fault tolerance, combining data paths from two or more FC ports to increase performance to support a 4K workflow, and provide redundancy in case of a cable malfunction, which is the leading cause of storage connection failure.
- The Fusion RX1600 Vfibre video editing SAN server employs Tiger Technology's metaSAN, a high-speed file sharing SAN management application, setting a new standard for cross-platform workgroup collaboration. Available for Mac OS® X, Windows®, and Linux® users connected via Fibre, metaSAN enables multiple users to simultaneously access a common pool of data files as easily and transparently as if the content was stored on their computer's local drive. The metaSAN deployed on Fusion RX1600 Vfibre makes it the dedicated metadata master for the group, ensuring maximum CPU availability for SAN services and allowing client workstations to connect and shut down at will. This also enables client workstations connected via Fibre to render without affecting the Fusion system's ability to serve data to other connected workstations.
- "Tiger is thrilled to see Sonnet bringing to market this powerful and flexible SAN-in-a-box," says Bernard Lamborelle, director of sales at Tiger Technology. "By integrating the most complex SAN components (RAID, switch, and metadata master) in a single unit, the Fusion RX1600 Vfibre offers unmatched ease of integration and exceptional value to anyone wanting high-performance file-level sharing without the intricacies often associated with more conventional setups."
- Each workstation connecting to the RX1600 Vfibre over Fibre Channel requires a 1-port or 2-port Fibre Channel host adapter, a metaSAN client license, and a Gigabit Ethernet port dedicated for metadata use. Users accessing files stored on Fusion RX1600 Vfibre through its Gigabit Ethernet ports may copy files using Windows Server 2008 file services, or can purchase Tiger Technology metaLAN software to gain block level access to the SAN storage pool and work directly with the files on the Sonnet system.
- The Fusion RX1600 Vfibre provides flexible storage pool configuration. The storage pool is formatted with an easy-to-use integrated system setup, management, and diagnostics configuration application. RAID group partitioning support increases storage efficiency by providing more logical unit numbers (LUNs) without the need to use lower-capacity RAID groups. MetaSAN manages shared storage access the same as any local drive. Standard OS account management tools are used to grant or deny access to the individual users. Integrating additional storage capacity is economical and nearly as easy as attaching a Fusion RX1600 Expansion system with two cables. Fusion RX1600 Vfibre also scales to support many more users with the addition of Fibre switch.
- Sonnet's Fusion RX1600 Vfibre's 16 RAID storage drives are controlled by dual ATTO Technology RAID controllers. Featuring ATTO's exclusive Advanced Data Streaming (ADS™) technology, these controllers provide controlled transfer acceleration for steady data streaming, especially important when working with video. ADS compensates for data transfer rate peaks and drops, maintaining a consistent data flow to allow more streams for the bandwidth available. The RAID controllers provide tunable rebuild priority, enabling the Sonnet system to deliver full performance to users during a RAID group rebuild, unlike general-purpose shared storage systems that typically experience a severe drop in performance during a rebuild.
