Promise Technology Introduces New 16-Port SATA RAID Controller for High Capacity Servers and Storage Systems

INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, SAN FRANCISCO, March 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Promise Technology, Inc., the originator and leading supplier of SATA RAID controllers, today introduced its high-performance, sixteen-port SuperTrak(TM) EX16350 and EX16300 RAID Controllers. The new SuperTrak EX16350 and EX16300 provide advanced RAID6 fault tolerance using technology with hardware acceleration. They will be displayed at the Storage Community and 64-bit Device Driver Community Showcase exhibits at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco this week; in addition, Promise will also demonstrate RAID 6 support for multiple drive failures.

RAID 6 is an emerging technology for shared storage systems and high- capacity SATA disk arrays used in many servers today. With double parity coding, RAID 6 provides an extra layer of redundancy for high capacity, low-cost storage, and delivering the highest level of reliability and data protection.

A high-performance, sixteen-port SATA RAID Controller design with hardware acceleration provided by the Intel(R) IOP333/IOP331 I/O processor with Intel XScale(R) technology designed for RAID 6 data protection, the SuperTrak EX16350 & EX16300 are suited for high-capacity storage applications such as disk-to-disk backup, NAS and nearline storage, security/surveillance, and video editing.

"We, at Promise, in our leadership role in the development of RAID 6, are expanding our offerings, with a level of security and data protection in storage for servers and external solutions, to satisfy the growing demand for RAID 6 level of data-protection," said Suresh Panikar, vice president of worldwide channel sales and marketing for Promise Technology, Inc. "Our extensive experience in the SATA RAID market uniquely positions Promise to deliver best-in-class, cost-effective data storage solutions combining superior technology and unmatched reliability for a variety of business needs."

"Hardware acceleration is vital to RAID 6, and Intel was the first to deliver it via a commercially available I/O processor," said Mike Wall, general manager, Intel Storage Group Marketing. "The Intel IOP331 I/O processor is crucial to meeting the needs of Promise's cost-conscious customers, who need enterprise-class data protection in SMB-priced solutions. We are dedicated to working together with companies such as Promise to advance availability of standards-based building blocks so that companies of all sizes can protect their critical data more effectively." Intelligent RAID Architecture

The SuperTrak EX16350 & EX16300 deliver exceptional multi-drive performance by taking advantage of the Intel IOP333/IOP331 processor based on Intel XScale technology. It offers advanced RAID 6 technology for high fault tolerance, allowing two simultaneous drive failures without downtime or data loss. Designed specifically for RAID 6 applications, the highly integrated Intel IOP333/IOP331 I/O processor with Intel XScale technology includes an 800MHz CPU, PCI-X bus, dual-ported memory controller, and an integrated P+Q acceleration engine. Linux Open Source

Promise recognizes the importance of the Open Source Initiative (OSI) and is working to provide open source drivers for all their HBA products. As a continuation of our commitment to OSI, the new SuperTrak EX16350/EX16300 and the currently shipping EX8350/8300 all offer Linux open source drivers for kernel 2.4 and 2.6. Future product offerings from the SuperTrak EX series will also continue to fully support the OSI. RoHS Compliant

The new SuperTrak EX16350 and EX16300 are RoHS compliant. Promise is fully committed to adhering with all applicable laws and regulations of RoHS Directive (European Union Restriction of Hazardous Substances) that will restrict the use of lead (Pb), mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium,PBB (polybrominated biphenyls) and PBDE (polybrominated diphenyl ethers) in electrical and electronic products. Promise is working aggressively towards the target date of July 1, 2006, where RoHS substances will be virtually eliminated (to levels below legal limits) for all Promise electronic products subject to the RoHS Directive, except where it is widely recognized that there is no technically feasible alternative (as indicated by an exemption under the EU RoHS Directive)." Key Features of SuperTrak EX16350/ EX16300 with RAID 6 Capability

Offering high port counts and support for RAID 6, the SuperTrak line consists of cost-effective, high-performance, high-capacity SATA 3Gb/s RAID controllers for demanding server and storage applications. The key features of the SuperTrak EX16350/EX16300 include: -- 16-Port, 3Gb/s low-profile SATA RAID controller with PCI-E (EX16350)

& PCI-X (EX16300) host bus interfaces

-- Full open source Linux driver architecture

-- Support for RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and JBOD

-- Intel IOP333/IOP331 I/O processor with Intel XScale technology

-- Multiple logical drive and multiple LUN support, enabling users to

combine different RAID levels on one set of disks

-- Multiple application and OS support on the same storage system

-- Automatic/manual rebuild of hot spare drive

-- PerfectRAID(TM) technology for robust error handling and recovery

-- Online array expansion, RAID level migration add capacity when and as

needed

-- Optional battery backup module to protect cached data

-- Web-based Promise Array Manager (WebPAM(TM)) software for easy,

browser-based storage management The products and technology will be demonstrated at IDF: -- RAID 6 -- maximum reliability demo featuring the new high-performance

Promise SuperTrak EX16350 & EX16300 16-port RAID controllers with Intel

IOP333/IOP331 processor and PCI-Express & PCI-X host interconnect,

respectively

-- Fiber Channel -- hardware-accelerated, high-capacity VTrak(TM) M-Class

RAID array

-- Serial attached SCSI (SAS) JBOD technology demonstration Through its strategic technology alliance program, Promise partners with leading host adapter vendors such as Alacritech and QLogic, and hard drive vendors Fujitsu, Hitachi, Maxtor, Seagate, and Western Digital to offer seamless support and interoperability with the Promise SATA 3Gb/s line of RAID storage arrays. Supporting quotes follow this release. Price and Availability

The SuperTrak EX16350 will be available in March through the worldwide Promise distribution network, with a suggested list price of $849. The SuperTrak EX16300 will begin shipping a month later. About Promise Technology, Inc.

Promise Technology is the originator and global leader of ATA RAID, using cost-effective ATA technology to design and manufacture fast, reliable data protection and storage alternatives to SCSI RAID systems. With its history of ATA product and technology development, Promise Technology is the recognized world leader in SATA ASICs, host adapters, RAID controllers and RAID subsystems. Promise Technology maintains ongoing product development relationships with leading ATA hard drive manufacturers and server and storage OEMs. Headquartered in Milpitas, CA, the company maintains offices in Europe, Taiwan, and China. For more information, visit Promise Technology's website at http://www.promise.com . NOTE: Promise Technology, VTrak, FastTrak, SuperTrak, Promise Array Management, and Predictive Data Migration are trademarks or registered trademarks of Promise Technology, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Promise Technology Alliance Program Partners Fujitsu

"Fujitsu and Promise Technology have a long standing relationship and we look forward to building on that while supporting RAID6. With 16 SATA ports, Promise Technology's SuperTrak EX16350 will provide significant configuration flexibility combined with Fujitsu's industry-leading 2.5" SATA hard disk drives," said Joel Hagberg, vice president, marketing and business development, Fujitsu Computer Products of America. HITACHI

"IT managers can combine 500 GB Hitachi hard drives with Promise's new sixteen port count controllers to create a powerful solution for disk-to-disk backup, nearline storage, video editing and other applications that require high-capacity, scalable storage," said Marcia Bencala, vice president, Strategy and Product Planning, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies. "We are pleased to collaborate with Promise at IDF to demonstrate the benefits of serial interface technology and RAID 6 performance." Maxtor

"The SATA 3Gb/s interface with enhanced features brings new performance and flexibility to network storage environments," said Brendan Collins, vice president of enterprise products marketing at Maxtor Corporation. "We look forward to continuing to work with Promise to test its solutions with our MaXLine(R) enterprise SATA hard drive family to help bring the value of SATA technology to enterprise storage customers." Seagate

"More organizations are demanding cost-effective storage systems that provide ever-higher levels of capacity, reliability and data protection for applications such as video editing, nearline storage and disc-to-disc backup," said Joni Clark, Seagate personal storage product marketing manager and marketing chair of SATA-IO. "Seagate is working with Promise to meet these needs with disc drives such as Barracuda 7200.9 and the NL35 series that leverage the industry's most advanced technology platform to deliver an industry-leading combination of performance, capacity and reliability for SATA systems. Seagate is pleased to be teaming with Promise as both companies continue to drive increasingly advanced storage capabilities through SATA-IO." WD

"Together with Promise Technology controllers, WD delivers high performance, reliable SATA-based enterprise systems," said Hubbert Smith, WD's director of enterprise marketing. "The combination of Promise's SATA RAID controllers with WD Raptor and WD Caviar RAID Edition hard drives delivers the reliability and performance that enterprise professionals demand." Intel Developer Forum, San Francisco, Storage Community Showcase Booth 245 and 64-bit Device Driver Community Showcase Booth 354