Sonnet Technologies has released the Fusion RX1600 Vfibre, a high-performance, expandable 16-drive RAID video editing SAN server with multiuser Fibre Channel and GigE connectivity built in. This 4RU system integrates Tiger Technology’s metaSAN SAN server software with an ATTO dual RAID controller-equipped SAS/SATA storage system. Capable of supporting a 4K workflow or multistream, multiuser collaborative workflows, Fusion RX1600 Vfibre provides direct connection for up to 12 8Gb Fibre Channel users and 6Gb/s aggregate bandwidth for users connected via GigE.

Optimized for video editing, the base configuration Fusion RX1600 Vfibre provides four Fibre Channel ports, which are expandable to 12 with a Fibre Channel switch. The Fusion RX1600 Vfibre supports multipath I/O to enhance performance and fault tolerance, combining data paths from two or more Fibre Channel 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 that sets a new standard for crossplatform workgroup collaboration. Available for Mac OS X, Windows and Linux users connected via Fibre Channel, 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 Channel to render without affecting the Fusion system's ability to serve data to other connected workstations.

Each workstation connected to the RX1600 Vfibre over Fibre Channel requires a one- or two-port Fibre Channel host adapter, a metaSAN client license and a GigE port dedicated for metadata use. Users accessing files stored on Fusion RX1600 Vfibre through its GigE 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 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.