Active Storage Debuts New Storage Solution For Apple Users
October 20, 2008
Active Storage, Inc. today unveiled the ActiveRAID, a powerful and compact high-availability RAID system for Apple® users providing up to 16TB (Terabytes) of storage in a sleek enclosure occupying only 3 units (3U) of rack space, all managed with the industry's only native Mac® OS X management suite.
The design of the system offers almost unlimited capacity and performance expansion in a Fibre Channel network. Low cost expansion is possible using a cost-effective ActiveRAID Expansion enclosure, doubling the capacity for up to 32TB of storage using a single set of redundant RAID controllers.
“When we first saw the ActiveRAID we knew we found a perfect replacement for the discontinued Apple Xserve RAID. We had been looking for an elegant and easy to use RAID, offering an outstanding hardware feature set, built by some of the best storage engineering minds anywhere. And with the ActiveRAID we get all of that” said David W. Gohara, Ph.D. at Washington University in St. Louis, MO.
The ActiveRAID offers incredible price performance for Apple users. The system offers industry leading throughput up to 1570MB/s on standard direct-attached server benchmarks, and is spectacular in Xsan® 2 installations where up to 4 streams of 8-bit 1080p uncompressed video are delivered by one ActiveRAID system.
The ActiveRAID is a new product, but the company is not new to storage. Active is driven by a team of seasoned storage industry developers and innovators with many awards and industry firsts to their credit, most recently having driven the development of the award-winning and highly regarded Apple Xserve® RAID during their tenure at Apple.
“The ActiveRAID is the next stage in storage for Apple users. From the onset, our goal was to capture the great innovative spirit of the Apple Xserve RAID, but to also update the concept utilizing the latest storage technology available. It was important to us to put user input on management and performance in the forefront” said Active Storage CEO Alex Grossman, formerly the senior director of hardware server and storage at Apple.
The ActiveRAID differs from competing systems by offering the industry’s first true native Mac OS X storage management suite, featuring Bonjour® discovery, a Cocoa®-developed monitoring application, a Cocoa Admin Application, a Dashboard Widget, and an iPhone™ management App. This rich suite of management tools allows simplified setup and management, making the ActiveRAID usable out of the box for even the most complex Xsan or multi-server installations in a matter of minutes. Additionally, the systems deliver outstanding performance without the complex and cumbersome scripts other systems require.
Pricing and Availability
ActiveRAID is available for immediate orders, and will ship beginning October 27, 2008 in the USA, Canada and Mexico. ActiveRAID products are available through selected VARs and Resellers. The ActiveRAID is suggested retail priced at US$14,999. The ActiveRAID Expansion System is suggested retail priced at US$12,999. Both systems come tested and ready to use out of the box, including redundant power and cooling, a remote management software suite and all rack mounting hardware. Each system comes complete with a limited 3-year warranty. Extended warranties and on-site service are available.
About Active Storage
Active Storage, Inc. is the innovative storage leader for media and creative professionals, broadcast, post-production, on-line and archive solutions. Fast, reliable and easy to deploy, Active Storage products deliver a best-of-breed user experience, marrying award-winning industrial design, unmatched speed, reliability and customer service. Ease of use and robust performance make Active Storage the first choice for complex professional storage deployments. Copyright 2008-2011 Active Storage, Inc. All rights reserved. Active Storage logo is trademark of Active Storage, Inc. iPhone is a trademark of Apple, Inc. Apple, Mac OS X, Bonjour, Cocoa, Dashboard, Xsan, and Xserve are registered trademarks of Apple, Inc. All other company name or product names may be the trademarks of their respective owners.