LSI Releases Mega-Fast MegaRAID Storage Solution

LSI Corp. has announced its second-generation MegaRAID SATA+SAS RAID controller cards based on the 6Gb/s technology. Featuring LSI’s dual-core 6Gb/s RAID-on-chip, these new controllers promise to bring the highest level of RAID performance you can currently buy. What’s the real deal? I spoke to Suresh Panikar, senior manager, worldwide channel marketing at LSI, and Scott Cleland, senior manager, channel product strategy at LSI for the details …

The new controllers provide more than 200,000 RAID 5 random I/Os per second (IOPS), which LSI claims is a three-times boost over previous-generation products. Cleland said partners can sell a value-add firmware switch that enables LSI MegaRAID FastPath, boosting a user up to 465,000 RAID 5 IOPS with just one single controller. SSDs are making this speed possible. LSI claims such performance from any other competitor would require nearly three times the amount of equipment.

“This is the second generation of technology [from LSI]. The competition is a generation behind,” said Panikar. “We have advanced software options.” Panikar spoke about how LSI’s technology doesn’t just provide a bigger pipe, it also provides an enhanced pipe to squeeze out the most technology as possible — SSDs, for example.

“SDDs are valuable, [but] nobody knows how to ‘use’ them. [We have] software and hardware that efficiently maximizes SSDs,” Panikar said.

Panikar also detailed how LSI is working with its partners to help them benefit from the new technology. “There’s investment in the channel,” he noted. “[Together with partners] we identified customers and portfolios. We intentionally decided that products would be application-oriented — data centers, higher performance computing and servers. We’ll hit target markets [with] digital media, video-on demand, surveillance, medical, media imaging, financial data mining and analysis, along with web 2.0 social network, web serving and hosting.”

That sounds like a hefty chunk for the channel to attack, and as storage booms, the speed at which access is needed is frequently related and increases exponentially. LSI doesn’t do any direct business, so the channel gets the best opportunities. “We create the leads at trade shows … and then we transfer them to our sales team to help them get in touch with the system integrator [or partner] to fill that need,” said Panikar.

So what’s the price tag for the speedy hardware? MegaRAID SAS 9265-8i clocks in at $780 with the MegaRAID SAS 9285-8e at $995. There are configuration variations with more details in the press release. With storage an ever-increasing landscape for opportunities, VARs and even MSPs could cash in with this technology for hosting on or off-site data centers that demand speed.

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