QLogic Makes SANs A Low-Cost Reality

Logic is trying to bring SANs to cost-conscious small businesses with its new SAN Express storage products.

One of the products in the new line is the SANblade Express 200, a low-cost Fibre Channel host bus adapter with only one port. Comparably, most HBAs have two or four ports. But the single port is ’the trade-off for lower cost,’ said Frank Berry, vice president of corporate marketing at QLogic, Aliso Viejo, Calif.

Also included in the new line are the SANbox Express 1400, a 10-port Fibre Channel SAN switch with an integrated PowerPC chip, and SANsurfer Express, a software application for managing HBAs and switches.

Howie Evans, vice president of Dallas Digital Services, a Colleyville, Texas-based solution provider, said he has seen no other SAN line designed as well for small businesses. The bundle is useful for companies with 100 Gbytes to 500 Gbytes of storage, such as law firms, small startup companies, and even small hosting facilities, Evans said.

’These companies are growing, but they can’t afford the high-end infrastructure that Brocade or McData offers,’ he said.

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Solution providers can order the components separately or as a bundled solution called the SAN Express Starter Kit. The kit includes one switch, two HBAs, software, cables, optical connectors and an installation poster for a suggested retail price of $3,295, Berry said.

QLogic is piloting a new program to offer solution providers technical and sales training on the SAN Express line.

The training is essential to ensure that QLogic will be successful penetrating small businesses through its channel partners, Berry said. ’This technology goes nowhere without a channel,’ he said.