EMC extends breadth of EMC CLARiiON with new native iSCSI platforms

New versions of its industry-leading EMC CLARiiON networked storage systems with native iSCSI (Internet small computer system interface) support, including the new CLARiiON AX100i, CLARiiON CX300i and CLARiiON CX500i models, have been introduced in the Middle East.

"With the addition of these new systems, EMC is delivering the broadest set of Fibre Channel and native iSCSI storage networking solutions to this price-sensitive region, flexible enough in functionality and price to meet the needs of the largest data centers down to small and medium-sized businesses," said Mohammed Amin, regional manager, EMC Middle East.

EMC's new CLARiiON iSCSI systems are purpose-built to deliver leading price/performance that enables customers to deploy lower-cost storage area networks (SANs) by using their existing IP network infrastructures. EMC also supports the iSCSI standard on its Symmetrix DMX systems, Connectrix SAN switches and Celerra network attached storage (NAS) and NetWin systems.
"The iSCSI support for EMC CLARiiON demonstrates EMC's commitment to this standard. The lower relative implementation cost of IP storage allows our value-driven customers, regardless of size or type of environment, to consolidate their IT infrastructures to more effectively manage their information throughout its lifecycle," added Amin.

These products further reduce the cost of storage networking through the use of new, low-cost disk technology. The CLARiiON AX100i utilizes inexpensive Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disks, and the CLARiiON CX300i and CX500i systems let customers mix Fibre Channel with parallel and SATA disks to create tiered storage within a single system.

"EMC is witnessing a trend of more and more small-and medium-size organizations across the region looking to purchase EMC storage solutions to manage and protect ever-increasing volumes of electronic data. Schools, government agencies and large organizations with remote offices have all made consolidating server storage and centralizing backup a priority," said Amin
"EMC bringing its CLARiiON products into the game legitimizes iSCSI as a viable option for customers, enabling them to realize increased capacity, performance, connectivity, and manageability in their IT operations," he added.

Software iSCSI Support
A comprehensive suite of iSCSI management software is available for the new storage platforms. For example, EMC offers the EMC Navisphere Management Suite and EMC SnapView software to support LUN masking, nondisruptive upgrades and online LUN expansion for the CLARiiON CX300i and CX500i. The CLARiiON AX100i is prepackaged and fully equipped with all the functionality required for setup, management and data protection. All three new EMC CLARiiON models support attachment to servers running Microsoft Windows Server 2000 and 2003.
Photo Caption: The AX100i is one of several EMC CLARiiON networked storage systems that comes with native iSCSI support