Storage For PenniesStorage For Pennies

Like other small and midsize companies, H2L2 Architects/ Planners LLP doesn't have hundreds of thousands, let alone millions, of dollars to spend on its IT infrastructure. But the Philadelphia firm needs a reliable storage system that can handle its growing data stores.

H2L2 turned to a new, more affordable networked storage system from Snap Appliances, a subsidiary of Quantum Corp. Its Snap Server 12000 provides 960 Gbytes of capacity for $14,999. The 12000, like other network-attached storage appliances, can be plugged in anywhere on the network to improve file access for users and requires little administration. It's available now through Snapserver.com and from Snap resellers. The 12000 extends Snap Appliances' product offerings, which include storage systems that provide 40 Gbytes of capacity for $499 and 80 Gbytes for $799.

"Snap is putting a stake in the ground with this breakthrough in the price," says Bob Abraham, an analyst at Freeman Reports. "I know of nothing from anyone else at a similar price point." The penny and a half per megabyte brings the 12000 into the price range of archiving tape auto loaders and libraries, he says. But networked storage systems devices perform significantly better than tape automated products.

Snap Appliances has also added features in the 12000 that are typically found only in higher-priced storage systems. Disk drives, fans, and power supplies are all hot-swappable and redundant. Administrators can pull up to 12 drives from the front of the machine, and data travels in and out of the systems at a rate of about 100 Mbytes per second over copper-based Ethernet.

H2L2 is using the Snap Server 12000 instead of an additional Compaq server, and it's "much easier to administer and manage than our Compaq servers," says Doug Johnson, IS manager at H2L2.

Johnson decided to try the 12000 when one of H2L2's Compaq servers became overloaded. He considered adding more disk space to the Compaq server, a $5,000 solution that would have provided only a quarter of the capacity he needed.

The Snap Server 12000 provides 15 80-Gbyte drives, compared with five 36-Gbyte drives from a new Compaq server--an option, Johnson says, that "would have been twice the cost of the Snap appliance."