STORAGE

Isilon Systems, the premier provider of intelligent clustered storage systems for digital content, announced today two new products in the award-winning Isilon IQ family designed to meet the explosive storage demands of digital content. The Isilon IQ 1440 and Isilon IQ 2250, unveiled at Storage Networking World Spring 2004, deliver more than 20 Gbps of total throughput from a single file system, deliver unmatched simplicity and ease of management, and provide modular building blocks that create the industry's most scalable, fully distributed storage clusters. The new Isilon IQ products double the total aggregate throughput of Isilon's previous generation of products, introduced only six months ago. This is accomplished by coupling the power of Isilon's latest OneFS(TM) distributed file system technology with faster hardware and four gigabit Ethernet ports, which provide 400 percent more network bandwidth for every node in the storage cluster. The Isilon IQ 1440 contains 1.44 terabytes of capacity in each node and is best suited for applications that require the highest total throughput. The Isilon IQ 2250 contains 2.25 terabytes of capacity in each node is designed for applications that require maximum storage capacity and lower acquisition cost per terabyte. "Isilon is taking a very interesting approach to storage by combining high performance and capacity with management simplicity, eliminating the complexities of growing terabytes of digital content," said Jamie Gruener, senior analyst, the Yankee Group. "The new Isilon IQ platform separates intra-cluster communication from that on the network, which is a great advantage and a no-brainer for customers. Companies should look at industry-standard building blocks for deploying and managing storage, such as modularity, common management, high availability and a simplified architecture in a grid storage-like architecture, which is exactly what Isilon IQ delivers." Companies such as Paramount, LexisNexis, Corbis and others have deployed Isilon IQ for the unique advantages available only from an intelligent clustered storage system. Isilon IQ allows companies to scale storage capacity on an as-needed basis and enable all users and applications to access files from a centralized, shared pool of storage. With Isilon IQ, customers dramatically improve the performance of their workflow and the productivity of their users, while significantly reducing storage management time and expense. New customers such as R!OT Santa Monica, an Ascent Media company, use Isilon IQ 1440 to achieve business benefits unseen from traditional storage products. "Ascent Media provides a complete range of video and audio post-production and delivery solutions to film studios, broadcasters, and television producers," said Phil Mendelson, chief technology officer of Ascent Media Creative Services. "Isilon IQ's scalability, simplicity of management, and cost effectiveness all come together to provide a very compelling package, one that ensures painless deployment of NAS storage, with no compromise to performance." Isilon IQ combines unmatched simplicity and ease of management with the industry's first and only fully distributed file system. Isilon's unique OneFS(TM) distributed file system allows customers to scale their storage system seamlessly, without disrupting users or causing costly application downtime. Isilon's unique technology approach aggregates multiple storage nodes into a single global namespace that provides unsurpassed application performance and industry leading scalability. "Our new Isilon IQ 1440 and 2250 products extend Isilon's leadership position by providing customers additional business benefits and accelerated return on their investments," said Sujal Patel, Isilon founder and chief technology officer. "Isilon IQ already has a profound impact on how data is stored, accessed and delivered across a wide range of markets, including media and entertainment, life sciences, and oil and gas. Customers are telling us that Isilon IQ 1440 and 2250 deliver benefits they just can't achieve from other storage technologies." Isilon IQ 1440 and 2250, in use by customers today, will be made generally available in April. Entry prices for Isilon IQ start at $49,950 for a complete system, including all software and hardware. Isilon offers two comprehensive service and support plans, with 24x7x365 online and telephone support, and four-hour onsite field service provided through a partnership with IBM Global Services.