Enterprise-Level Storage

The new energy-saving technology places the disk drives in an idle, but active, state, and as simple as that may sound, CRN Test Center engineers have seen similar technology used in many other storage devices, but with a low success rate.

Previous vendors failed to have the storage subsystems perform regular integrity checks on all of the idle drives, so when it was time to spin the backup, the drives had to come out of a sleeping state, which resulted in slower access times and additional power consumption. Nexsan, on the other hand, provides a self-monitoring controller, which consistently checks the disk drives at all times.

All main components of the SATABeast are pluggable, and they include the power supply units, RAID controllers and disks. The SATABeast holds a maximum of 42 drives for a maximum of 21 Tbytes of storage capacity.

The device supports both single-controller and dual-controller configurations. Each RAID controller is configured with dual high-performance 2 Gigabit Fibre Channel SFP LC host ports.

The status of the main components of the SATABeast can be established by using the easy-to-understand LEDs on the front of the unit.

Dual-controller configuration is what CRN Test Center engineers evaluated. Configuration of the array was done by the NexScan configuration tool. The tool allows the storage device to be configured by either the built-in Web server or the on-board serial port; engineers used the serial port and Hyper-Terminal to configure an IP address that was accessible in the lab environment.

Once that was established, a Web interface with a login screen appeared and engineers changed whatever settings they desired, such as network configurations, RAID setup and the partitioning of the drives.

Setup was fairly standard for the SATABeast and CRN engineers did not experience any curveballs during installation.

Nexsan's recently released SATABeasts are subtly finding their own niche in the industry. Besides being an enterprise-level storage solution, the units are showing up in environments ideal for streaming video and audio, power video-on-demand services, secondary storage and fixed content archiving. A complete system starts at $26,300.

A single-level channel program keeps things simple for partners. Authorization requirements include currently representing storage solutions and/or synergistic technologies, successful sales history and demonstrated excellent customer satisfaction. The company offers margins that can exceed 30 percent, and direct access to Nexsan's sales, marketing and technical support departments. The company is highly focused on keeping channel partners in the technological mix and offers substantial discounts for demonstration and internal use products.

Rounding out the program is technical training, sales and presales technical support and a technical mentoring program. The company offers qualified leads, along with a dedicated Web portal for partners.

The combination of advanced technology and straightforward channel support makes Nexsan's SATABeast a winner.