Integrated iSCSI SAN and NAS Storage Solution Instantly Converts An x86 System Into Unified Storage Target

Chelsio Communications today announced the delivery of its Unified Storage Server (USS), which provides best-of-breed NAS and SAN capabilities for creating enterprise-class storage systems.  Chelsio’s USS provides an easy integration path for VARs and OEMs and offers state-of-the-art performance and ease-of-use for end-users.

Chelsio’s USS enables the development of some of the lowest cost-per-gigabyte solutions in the industry and it lowers ownership costs in a variety of ways.  It can be used with brand new hardware to deliver low cost storage, and it can also be mapped on top of existing, fully depreciated hardware to convert existing servers into storage appliances.

In addition, USS can 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 can be remotely managed using a Web-based user interface, simplifying maintenance and providing centralized control of processes such as backups, restores and upgrades.  USS provides the standard storage management features such as replication, backup, snapshots, and volume management.

USS runs effectively on most Ethernet adapters but it will run faster and turns on iSCSI data integrity on Chelsio hardware.  The first-time set-up wizard makes it simple to connect to the network, join a domain, add users, create shares and select file sharing protocols.  The middleware easily integrates into VAR’s and OEM’s hardware platforms, ensuring smooth storage system integration.  

“Chelsio's USS solution enables us to provide a cost effective Enterprise Scalable 10Gb SAN," said Sam Quach, CEO of DATOptic Inc., a Santa Ana, Calif.-based solution provider (www.datoptic.com).  "With write speeds over 800MB/sec, USS is a very attractive solution for whom data storage may grow to hundreds of TBs in the future.”

“Our Unified Storage Software enables any low cost 64-bit server to be an extremely cost-effective storage target,” said Kianoosh Naghshineh, president and CEO of Chelsio.  “In combination with our Unified Wire adapters, our OEM and reseller partners now have an easy integration path to low cost storage solutions.”

Concurrent with this product announcement, Chelsio has certified a number of server platforms for operation with the USS software.  The certified platforms include: IBM x3650, IBM x3650-M2, HP DL-180, Apple XServ Z0FR, SuperMicro SC386Tq, Dell 2950, and Tyan S2895.  Chelsio has also certified a variety of adapters and peripherals. For the full list, visit www.chelsio.com.

The Chelsio USS is available today from Chelsio and its distributors for OEMs, resellers and integrators only, and is priced at $995 for up to 6TB and $1,995 for higher capacity.