Storage vendor Nexsan Corp. has launched its newest solid-state unified storage systems, the NST5000 series, aimed at channel partners who sell to mid-sized and large enterprises with capacity intensive environments.
The new line offers simultaneous support of block-mode (iSCSI) and file-mode (NAS), which a lot of competitors don’t have, according to Don Chouinard, director of product marketing with Nexsan.
The NST series features 5100, 5300 and 5500 models, for small, medium and large enterprises respectively. The 5500 can scale up to a petabyte of storage. It uses up to 24 Xeon processors, up to 192GB of DRAM, and 12 dedicated RAID engines.
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Customers can buy iSCSI or NAS-only models, with the ability to upgrade later by purchasing the appropriate licence.
The NST series also offers up to 3TB of Nexsan’s FASTier SSD caching technology, which allows a 7200 RPM SATA drive to have the same random I/O performance as a 15K SAS drives. “It’s absolutely simple to use and has this dramatic effect of making the storage system run three times faster,” he said.
Nexsan’s E5000 series also uses FASTier technology, but is a NAS-only line. “It’s really easy for the channel to understand the difference between the two,” Chouinard said.
The new iSCSI feature set offers thin provisioning to add hard drives on the fly. “Online capacity expansion is really a holy grail. It’s a super important feature,” he said.
“We have asynchronous replication so you can take two of these NST series systems and separate them by any distance you want,” he added. He recommends 350 miles between locations, but it also offers synchronous replication.
The NST series also requires 19 units of rack space, while similar products from Dell and NetApp require 43 units. “Once Dell kind of takes a few deals direct from you, you think about what your alternatives might be,” he added.
Nexsan is a 100 per cent channel company with no direct sales force. “When a deal is registered, they get great margins,” Chouinard said. Nexsan uses its Leadguard program to help partners avoid competition.
Pricing for the series begins at $16,000 and the products are available immediately.
Images courtesy of Nexsan Corp.