Features

EMC New Clariion Architecture Redefines Midrange Storage

By Sophia Mayengbam

EMC Corp. has introduced EMC CLARiiON UltraScale architecture and CX3 series of networked storage systems. The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series is designed from the ground up to support customers’ information lifecycle management (ILM) strategies by enabling the consolidation of multiple tiers of information onto a single array.

The new EMC-developed CLARiiON UltraScale architecture features up to double the performance and capacity of its predecessor and enables customers to consolidate the workload of two competitive systems onto a single new CLARiiON CX3 system.  The new architecture redefines midrange storage economics by allowing customers to seamlessly upgrade from prior generations of CLARiiON, run existing management and protection software and scale single system capacity and performance up to 239 terabytes (TBs). The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture simultaneously supports high-speed 2 and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives as well as high-capacity 2Gb/s Low-Cost Fibre Channel (LC/FC) disk drives for maximum flexibility and to enable the consolidation of multiple information and storage tiers onto a single array.

Additional features include: 

• Application Performance: CLARiiON UltraScale is the first midrange storage architecture to accelerate 4Gb/s scalability and data throughput with native multi-lane PCI Express interconnect technology.  It features state-of-the-art central processing units (CPUs), up to16 gigabytes of memory and low-latency, high-bandwidth 4Gb/s host and disk interfaces.  It is also capable of replicating data up to 30% faster using EMC SnapView™, EMC MirrorView™ and EMC SAN Copy™ software.   
• New Ease-of-Use Capabilities :The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture simplifies customer and partner replacement of disk drives, power supplies, cooling fans and small form-factor pluggable (SFP) optical transceivers.  A new Disk Replacement Utility wizard guides customers and partners through the process, checking each step to make sure data is protected.  
•  Increased Redundancy and Fault Tolerance – The modular design of the new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture sets new standards for resiliency and information availability.  Customers are assured high levels of uptime through n+1+1 redundant power and cooling; improved fault detection, isolation and error-correction tasks; and the continued ability to conduct non-disruptive code upgrades.  The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture builds on the EMC UltraPoint™ technology introduced in August 2005.   
• Software Capabilities – The new CLARiiON UltraScale architecture also features EMC’s Virtual LUN (logical unit number) technology that enables online movement of data from 2Gb/s to 4Gb/s Fibre Channel drives or 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives within the array.  Virtual LUN technology gives customers seamless ILM capabilities in a single array without impacting applications.  Additionally, metaLUN capabilities enable customers to create a LUN that spans multiple RAID Groups and expand the size of the LUN dynamically when additional capacity is needed.

The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series of networked storage systems, the first based on the UltraScale architecture, can be configured for direct-attach and SAN deployments. The new CLARiiON CX3 UltraScale series includes dual-rate UltraPoint disk drive enclosures with an auto-sense capability that automatically configures an array for optimum operation.  The new models include:  

CLARiiON CX3-20 is ideal for mail/messaging, departmental applications and databases, web services, distributed applications, remote replication and workgroup productivity.  The CX3-20 supports both high performance and high capacity disk drives in the same system, can scale from 365GB to 59TB, and supports 128 high-availability hosts.  

CLARiiON CX3-40 is ideal for mail/messaging, heavy databases, transactional workloads, bandwidth applications, video streaming and remote replication.  The CX3-40 can support 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives, 2Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives in the same system, scale up to 119TB and supports 128 high-availability hosts.  

CLARiiON CX3-80 is ideal for tiered storage, backup-to-disk and data warehousing.  The CX3-80 can support 2Gb/s LC/FC disk drives, 2Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel disk drives in the same system, scale up to 239TB and supports 256 high-availability hosts. 

EMC also announced new flexibility for CLARiiON service and support, including a new option for next business day on-site response, in addition to EMC’s premium 7x24, 4 hour on-site response coverage.  In addition, EMC has extended the standard CLARiiON warranty to three years. 

The EMC CLARiiON UltraScale CX3-20, CX3-40 and CX3-80 models are available immediately and can be purchased from EMC, Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, Unisys and EMC’s worldwide Velocity Channel and reseller network.