Storage maker targets small businesses

The processor, systems and software vendor LSI Logic has launched a storage sub-system aimed at small businesses.

The launch of the Engenio 1333 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) system is aimed primarily at SMBs which, like many manufacturers, LSI sees as an important growth market. The 1333 has a large enough capacity to be suitable for storage consolidation with support for expansion to up to 36 drives.

The 1333 is based on LSI's 12-drive, 2U, SAS enclosure with controllers and drives and up to six SAS interfaces for host connections — three per controller with one port per controller and 3Gb/s drive connections.

LSI has aimed for cost-effective solutions with maximum usability and claims that the system can be up and running in "10 clicks" or less. LSI claims that it is the first external storage available "for an internal DAS user" and it also offers data protection and recovery — redundant I/O paths and components, RAID, hot spares, and so on.

There are two models, the 1331 and 1333. Both feature the same modular design and scale-up with storage requirements.

LSI also announced it has agreed a $4bn acquisition of Agere Systems. LSI's share price took a dive on the news of the acquisition and was 13 percent down in the mid-afternoon on Tuesday. Agere, a telecoms supplier, was at one time part of AT&T's Bell Labs before being spun off as part of Lucent. It had recently merged with France's Alcatel. Agere held its value after the news was announced.

In addition to the new disk arrays, LSI now has a large range of SAS storage options, including the LSISAS1068 SAS controller IC, SAS expander ICs, SAS HBAs, the MegaRAID SAS adapters, and RAID-on-motherboard (ROMB) solutions.

An entry-level 1331 will "have a street price between $5,000 and $10,000", according to Steve Gardner, director of product marketing at the Engenio Storage Group.