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Multi-Interface FlashDisk OpenRAID Supports Both Direct and Network Attach With 2 SCSI & 2 Fibre Host Ports

Burlington, MA. May 22, 2001 - Winchester Systems, as part of an ambitious enterprise storage product rollout plan, has introduced a multi-interface model of its FlashDisk OpenRAID disk arrays. The new multiple interface, quad-port system includes two SCSI ports for high speed direct server attach and two fibre channel ports for direct server attach or for network attach in SAN and NAS environments.

"This unique multi-interface FlashDisk model provides customers with flexibility for migration from direct attach systems to network attach systems, alternate path capability for fault tolerance requirements and multi-hosting and clustering abilities, all in one unit at affordable cost," explains Mr. Bill Roch, the vice president of business development for Winchester Systems.

Simultaneous SCSI/Fibre Connections
The multi-interface, quad-port FlashDisk provides the highest level of connectivity available in a single unit and the most flexible range of connection solutions available for IT managers. The multiple interface types combined with a total of four SCSI and fibre ports in one unit offer these key capabilities:

• Migration path. FlashDisk with multiple interfaces permits IT managers to directly attach FlashDisk RAID storage to existing servers and then migrate the same unit to a fibre channel SAN or NAS later by just connecting the unit to the fibre switch.
• Alternate path. FlashDisk multi-hosting capabilities with up to four simultaneous active host ports enables up to four servers and switches to be simultaneously connected thereby providing multiple paths to the data to provide continuous high availability in the event of the loss of one or more data paths, host adapters or switches.
• Concurrent direct and network attach. The FlashDisk OpenRAID with concurrent fibre channel and SCSI connections can provide high-speed direct access for I/O intense applications to avoid overloading a SAN or NAS environment while maintaining network attach via the fibre channel connections for the less demanding access requirements.
• Multi-hosting. Two SCSI ports and two fibre channel ports provide many ways to configure multi-host access for server failover. Two disk intense servers can use the SCSI direct attach ports and provide server failover capabilities on hosts with high data access requirements. Alternately, redundant switches attached to each of the fibre channel ports provide for access even if a fibre channel switch fails preserving data access for the entire network of servers and clients. Finally, all four ports can be directly server attached.
• Expansion shelf. A master FlashDisk RAID array can run a slave array containing only disk drives in an expansion shelf. The shelves are linked using one of the SCSI ports in each shelf.

High Performance
FlashDisk delivers up to 14,500 I/O operations per second and up to 177 Mbytes per second sustained data throughput using two or more available host ports. The high random I/O performance makes FlashDisk OpenRAID suitable for OLTP, database, financial, manufacturing and other random access applications. The high I/O throughput performance makes FlashDisk OpenRAID also suitable for sequential tasks such as file copying, report generation, data collection, video and audio streaming and backup applications.

"Open" Architecture
FlashDisk OpenRAID is a true hardware, plug-and-play storage solution, which emulates standard disks --eliminating proprietary host software, RAID managers and the need for software drivers or agents of any kind. It supports hardware RAID 1, 3, 5, 1+0 and RAID 15 for data protection. FlashDisk OpenRAID attaches via industry standard SCSI and Fibre Channel interfaces to host servers including SUN, HP, IBM and NT. FlashDisk OpenRAID is compatible with all popular fibre channel switches and host adapters including Brocade, QLogic, JNI and supports standard SCSI interfaces.

Price and Delivery
Multi-interface, quad-port FlashDisk OpenRAID models are available in rackmount and pedestal configurations. A FlashDisk OpenRAID unit with 8 half-height disk drives of 181.6 GB each stores 1.45 TB and is priced at $62,707 or just 4 cents per MB. A FlashDisk model with 12 low-profile disk drives of 73.4 GB each stores 880.8 GB and is priced at $64,430. Delivery is 3 weeks ARO.

About Winchester Systems
Winchester Systems provides SAN and NAS capable enterprise storage solutions including high performance SCSI and fibre channel RAID disk arrays, solid-state disks, tape backup devices and other high performance commercial and military grade storage for mid-range servers including UNIX and NT. Winchester Systems provides products that support today's most demanding industrial, government and commercial applications. For more information, contact Winchester Systems Inc., 149 Middlesex Turnpike, Burlington, MA 01803, USA. Toll free: 800-325-3700, international: 781-265-0200, fax: 781-265-0201. E-mail address: info@winsys.com, web site: www.winsys.com.

Winchester Systems, FlashDisk and OpenRAID are trademarks or registered trademarks of Winchester Systems All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such.

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