 (Nikkei BP Group)
 (No.1 High-Tech News Site in Japanese)
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Fujitsu Unveils Storplex Concept for Storage Products
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February 19, 1999 (TOKYO) -- Fujitsu Ltd. announced a concept called
Storplex covering the functional expansion of its open-system computer
data storage systems over the next five years.
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The Tokyo-based company's concept emphasizes four subjects: expandability
up to the level of petabytes, intelligent operation management, storage
area networks (SNA), and availability.
Fujitsu plans to deliver products in line with the concept through 2003.
Storplex specifies that a single storage system (a chassis) integrates
three components -- a high-speed disk drive, a large-capacity disk drive
with a high volume-to-price ratio, and a tape library. The final target
of data capacity per chassis will be about 100 terabytes (TB) and the
total capacity combining 10 chassis units will be about 1 petabyte.
Fujitsu said that connection with servers will be made with standard
technologies such as via fiber channel (with a transmission rate of
100MB/sec.). And connection between devices in a chassis and between
Storplex storage systems will be through Fujitsu's original super high-speed
interconnect technology called Synfinity (with a transmission rate of
1.6GB/sec. to 3.2GB/sec.), according to a Fujitsu official.
The Storplex storage system automatically optimizes physical locations
of a file by analyzing the pattern profile of an application accessing
the file.
For example, a file is moved to a high-speed disk when access is frequent
and a file is relocated to a tape library when access is infrequent.
Also, a tool will be provided to allow managers to operate files without
knowing their physical locations.
Functions such as load balancing on data transmission routes and cache
control also are automatically optimized through analysis of access
patterns and data attributes. Operability will be enhanced when two
or more servers share a single storage unit.
As for SNA-related features, a common file system corresponding to various
types of operating systems will be prepared so as to promote integration
and utilization of the storage system by different types of servers.
Other objectives are simultaneous access to identical data and high
availability, Fujitsu said.
(Nikkei
Computer)
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