Unified Manager Software Enables Complete iSCSI SAN and NAS Solutions For Enterprise Storage Applications

Chelsio Communications today announced completion of an end-to-end unified storage system solution. With new releases of its Unified Storage Server software and Unified Storage Router appliance, and delivery of its Unified Manager software, Chelsio now has a cost-effective storage solution that centralizes and lowers cost of management of iSCSI storage networks.

"With this triple play announcement of new products, Chelsio is making an aggressive move to demonstrate the power and extensibility of the T3 ASIC technology, and delivering to customers a connected suite of solutions that can leverage distributed Chelsio technology to deploy high performance iSCSI storage in any environment," said Jeff Boles, senior analyst and director of validation services at the Taneja Group.  "Unified Manager, together with the Unified Wire adapter, Unified Storage Router, and Unified Storage Server provides OEMs, systems integrators, and resellers with an easy to deploy solution set that enables Chelsio accelerated iSCSI networks to be connected to existing storage, provisioned within Virtual Infrastructures, or built as end-to-end solutions including storage servers. This should inject even more heat into the storage server market, paving the way for a broad range of innovative and well managed solutions from Chelsio partners and customers."

Chelsio's end-to-end unified storage solution consists of three products:  

• a new release of its Unified Storage Server (USS 1.1)
• the next generation of the Unified Storage Router (USR 1100)
• Unified Manager software (UM 1.0)

Unified Storage Server 1.1

Unified Storage Server 1.1 is a low-cost software solution that provides NAS and SAN capabilities to enable resellers and OEMs to turn any 64-bit Intel- or AMD-based system into a complete cost-effective storage system.  USS 1.1 makes it simple to connect to a network, define local workgroups, add/delete users, create shares and select file sharing protocols.  It can be used with brand new hardware or it can also be mapped on top of existing, fully depreciated hardware to convert existing servers into storage appliances. The USS 1.1 supports NFSRDMA and LustreRDMA protocols and features High Availability.

The USS 1.1 can also run as a guest application on a virtual machine on VMware ESX, thereby re-mapping the captive direct attached storage of the server into a SAN, available for the balance of guest operating systems to use.  USS 1.1 will run effectively on most Ethernet adapters but it will run faster and turns on iSCSI data integrity and RDMA on Chelsio hardware.

Unified Storage Router 1100

Unified Storage Router (USR 1100) is a compact 10Gb iSCSI-to-Fibre Channel router targeted at mid-range and high-end enterprises with extensive existing investment in FC SANs and the need to integrate low-cost Ethernet-connected servers in departments or remote locations. USR 1100 features two 10GbE ports, two GbE ports, four 8Gb FC ports, Multi-Path I/O for both iSCSI clients and FC storage, and web-based management.  It consists of two identical blades for high availability applications, and occupies a 1U form factor.

USR 1100 is the only iSCSI router on the market that allows utilizing CRC Digest at 10Gb full-duplex while using standard 1500 byte Ethernet frames.  Given the recent adoption of iSCSI offload technology in multiple operating systems on the server side, iSCSI can now deliver the highest data integrity at 10Gb speed in a fully routable packet size.  Using the USR 1100 to front-end or extend a FC SAN enables the highest level of data integrity and IP routability at 10Gb rates.

Unified Manager 1.0

Through an intuitive graphical user interface or powerful and scriptable CLI, Unified Manager provides an easy and fast way to access all iSCSI initiators, TOEs and NICs on a network.  The UM enables the remote management of all aspects of the client side of a typical LAN or SAN installation.  It has the ability to configure the features of Chelsio adapter, such as boot, teaming, etc.

UM supports Windows and Linux initiators, and the roadmap includes support for additional operating systems as well as support for the integrated Traffic Manager, Classification Engine and iWARP features of Chelsio's Unified Wire adapters.

"Chelsio has developed very cost effective, end-to-end storage products that are attractive to Colfax because they enable us to offer an integrated, fully managed storage solution to our customers," said Gautam Shah, president of Colfax International (Sunnyvale, CA). "Chelsio's Unified Manager software enables easy configuration and management of the Unified Wire adapters.  For many customers, remote management is a requirement, and with Unified Manager the network adapters in multiple locations can be easily deployed, managed and monitored."

"We have achieved one of our main objectives by delivering this complete, low-cost end-to-end storage solution for our end-user customers and resellers," said Kianoosh Naghshineh, president and CEO of Chelsio.  "Our Unified Manager software was developed based on customer feedback to promote ease of use and enable true scaling of our Unified Wire installations."

Pricing and Availability

All Unified Storage products are available today from Chelsio and its resellers.  The USS 1.1 is priced at $995 for up to 6TB and $1,995 for higher capacity.  The USR 1100 appliance is list priced at $9,995.  The UM is available through a $995 license agreement, and includes a 30-day free evaluation.