Dell, Nishan Introduce Network Storage OptionsDell, Nishan Introduce Network Storage Options

Built and backed by powerhouse equipment makers, two new network-storage technologies hit the market Monday.

Dell added network-attached storage to its lineup, while Nishan Systems introduced products for attaching storage to IP networks.

The Dell PowerVault 775N, 770N, and 725N NAS systems manage data between applications running Microsoft Windows, Novell NetWare, Unix, Linux, and Apple Macintosh systems. The NAS is designed for set-up in minutes by users with minimal IT expertise, and it's managed remotely using Web-based management tools.

The 770N and 775N use Intel Xeon processors and the Windows-powered operating system, and are designed to be used for file sharing, E-mail, multimedia, software distribution, and applications-server support. The servers support up to 17 terabytes capacity with additional SCSI drives, or up to 40 terabytes by connecting to Dell EMC storage either as a direct-attached array or through a storage area network.

The systems have input/output slots, redundant power supplies, and management tools. Both systems are rack-mounted; the 775N is 2U and the 770N, which also comes in a tower configuration, is 5U. The systems are priced starting at $4,999.

The 725N uses Intel Pentium 4 processors, and has up to 3 Gbytes on-board RAM, and dual-gigabit ports for load balancing and fail-over. It's designed for small offices and workgroups.

"Dell wants to drive all the costs it can out of the products, and the only way it can drive the costs down is to make sure that the products are very well-qualified and require little user support," said Aberdeen Group analyst Dan Tanner.

Nishan introduced Release 3.0 software for the Nishan 3000 and 4000 Series IP storage switches. The new software enhances data compression compared with previous versions. It supports jumbo frames, with larger data sizes for greater throughput. Jumbo frames are up to 9,000 bytes per packet, compared with the traditional 1,500-byte packet size. The larger frame size reduces overhead from packet headers.

The new software also permits connectivity with Fibre Channel switches, and adds new diagnostic tools, including ping for testing network connectivity; traceroute for diagnosing network paths through gateways and IP routers; E Port diagnostics to identify Fibre Channel switch interoperability issues; a command-line interface accessible via telnet for remote diagnostics; and embedded hardware diagnostics to quickly verify hardware integrity.

"It's very significant technology," Tanner said. "Separating storage from servers is what allows you to have blade servers. It's going to be a very popular low-end play."