Intel Opens Up Unbranded Storage Market

Intel is expanding its storage offerings to the custom-systems community with a new enclosure for small- and midsize-business customers.

The new Storage System SSR212MA is a hardware and software solution for building Serial ATA (SATA) storage arrays for IP-based storage networks, said Scott Peiffer, product line manager for white-box storage at Intel.

Each SSR212MA includes its own iSCSI controller, and has space for up to 12 SATA hard drives, giving it a maximum capacity of 4.8 Tbytes using 400-Gbyte drives or 6.0 Tbytes with 500-Gbyte drives, Peiffer said.

The Storage System SSR212MA allows system builders greater flexibility in terms of drive choice.

An unlimited number of the storage devices can be clustered together. Since each has its own controller, adding more storage nodes adds additional Gigabit Ethernet connectivity for increasing the cluster’s performance and reliability as well, Peiffer said.

One or more SSR212MA modules can be virtualized into up to three systems for data replication purposes, Peiffer said. “It depends on how you want to configure your data protection.”

The modules are aimed at helping system-builder customers and OEMs help their clients move toward networked storage using industry-standard hardware and software, including server boards, RAID cards and chassis, Peiffer said.

Intel’s SSR212MA is a big improvement from the earlier storage array it released to the channel a year ago, said Joe Toste, vice president of marketing at system builder Equus Computer Systems, Minneapolis. “Intel is providing all the functionality of a midmarket SAN solution at a fairly aggressive price point.”

The price of the new model is about one-third less than that of the older version and allows system builders greater flexibility in terms of drive choice, Toste said. Intel also is using the SE7520JR Xeon motherboard, its most popular rack-mount server board, in the SSR212MA, which is much more customizable than last year’s model, he said. “It’s more of a white-box approach for the channel than before,” he said.

With the new array, Intel is giving its custom-system builders the opportunity to pursue the unbranded storage market, Toste said.

The SSR212MA is expected to start shipping this month. Peiffer would not disclose channel pricing but said Intel expects pricing to start at around $6,000 with one or two hard drives, and range up to between $15,000 and $20,000 fully loaded. “These are with significant margins,” he said.