ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Sept. 6, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) today announced new technology that seamlessly combines its market-leading storage area network (SAN) host bus adapter (HBA) technology with server-based, industry-standard solid-state drive (SSD) flash storage. The Mt. Rainier project brings server-based SSD caching performance to SAN storage, simplifying deployment and management while delivering scalable performance to I/O hungry applications running in single and clustered server environments.
Application performance has become a critical, competitive advantage for organizations and has a direct impact on customer satisfaction, service levels and overall business performance. Application-transparent and infrastructure- and storage subsystem-agnostic, Mt. Rainier delivers the application performance acceleration benefits of server-based SSDs without many of the limitations of current solutions. New breakthrough innovations include:
-
Simplified deployment and management: Mt. Rainier does not require installation and management of separate drivers for I/O adapters, SSD cards and caching. The design uses only one QLogic® driver per OS which dramatically simplifies installation and management, particularly for servers running multiple virtual machines and clustered applications.
-
Flexible hardware architecture: Mt. Rainier allows customers to connect different SSDs, including PCIe flash-based storage cards and industry-standard SAS SSDs.
-
Adapter-based caching and SSD data management: Mt. Rainier cache processing and SSD data management are offloaded from the server to the Mt. Rainier adapter, resulting in an application-transparent and operating system-independent server-based SSD caching solution that provides scalable acceleration of critical server applications without consuming additional server resources.
-
Shared caching: Many clustered enterprise applications and virtual server environments require shared storage resources. These applications typically cannot take advantage of server-based SSD solutions that utilize a direct-attached storage model because cached data is unavailable for sharing between multiple, physical servers. Mt. Rainier breaks the server captive cache model with a shared caching architecture that brings the benefits of server-based SSD performance acceleration to multi-server application configurations that benefit from the shared storage environments of SANs.
- High availability synchronous mirroring: Synchronous peer-to-peer mirroring across two Mt. Rainier adapters protects against data loss and ensures high availability for mission-critical applications.
"Increased server performance, higher virtual machine density, growth in application clusters and more demanding business application workloads have created a critical I/O performance imbalance between servers, networks and storage subsystems," said Simon Biddiscombe, president and chief executive officer, QLogic. "Mt. Rainier builds on our leading market position and unique expertise in high performance data center connectivity to bring a new category of scalable, performance-enhancing solutions that are easy to deploy and address some of the most performance-challenged environments in the data center."
"Current caching solutions require separate device drivers for SAN HBAs, SSD cards, and additional caching filter drivers and software," said Shishir Shah, senior vice president and general manager, Storage Solutions Group, QLogic. "Mt. Rainier is flexible technology that seamlessly combines the benefits of server-based SSD caching with SAN-based storage using a standard QLogic driver. We've created a shared SAN resource model for industry-standard SSDs in the server that leverages existing SAN storage and infrastructure."
"Storage performance has long been one of the most pervasive challenges in the data center," said Jeff Boles, senior analyst at Taneja Group. "Over the past several decades, compute power has simply leapt past the ability of SAN storage to keep up. QLogic's Mt. Rainier defines a new technology category we call Server-based Storage Accelerators, in which HBAs cache SAN data on server-based SSD storage in a transparent, shared architecture. With QLogic's global presence and innovative architecture, Mt. Rainier could well become the de facto choice for solving I/O challenges in every data center."
Mt. Rainier technology will be initially deployed and managed as a traditional SAN HBA, providing connectivity to Fibre Channel SANs (10GbE, iSCSI and FCoE in the future). For additional information on the Mt. Rainier project, please visit www.qlogic.com.
Follow QLogic @ twitter.com/qlogic
QLogic—the Ultimate in Performance
QLogic (Nasdaq:QLGC) is a global leader and technology innovator in high performance networking, including adapters, switches and ASICs. Leading OEMs and channel partners worldwide rely on QLogic products for their data, storage and server networking solutions. For more information, visit www.qlogic.com.
Disclaimer – Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements relating to future results of the company (including certain beliefs and projections regarding business and market trends) that are "forward-looking statements" as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or implied in the forward-looking statements. The company advises readers that these potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: unfavorable economic conditions; potential fluctuations in operating results; gross margins that may vary over time; the stock price of the company may be volatile; the company's dependence on the networking markets served; the ability to maintain and gain market or industry acceptance of the company's products; the company's dependence on a small number of customers; the company's ability to compete effectively with other companies; the complexity of the company's products; declining average unit sales prices of comparable products; the company's dependence on sole source and limited source suppliers; the company's dependence on relationships with certain third-party subcontractors and contract manufacturers; the ability to attract and retain key personnel; sales fluctuations arising from customer transitions to new products; seasonal fluctuations and uneven sales patterns in orders from customers; a reduction in sales efforts by current distributors; changes in the company's tax provisions or adverse outcomes resulting from examination of its income tax returns; international economic, currency, regulatory, political and other risks; facilities of the company and its suppliers and customers are located in areas subject to natural disasters; the ability to protect proprietary rights; the ability to satisfactorily resolve any infringement claims; uncertain benefits from strategic business combinations, acquisitions and divestitures; declines in the market value of the company's marketable securities; changes in and compliance with regulations; difficulties in transitioning to smaller geometry process technologies; the use of "open source" software in the company's products; security system risks, data protection breaches and cyber-attacks; and issues related to the upgrade of the company's enterprise resource planning system.
More detailed information on these and additional factors which could affect the company's operating and financial results are described in the company's Forms 10-K, 10-Q and other reports filed, or to be filed, with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company urges all interested parties to read these reports to gain a better understanding of the business and other risks that the company faces. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are made only as of the date hereof, and the company does not intend to update or revise these forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
QLogic and the QLogic logo are registered trademarks of QLogic Corporation. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of the companies with which they are associated.