MaXXan Rolls Out Intelligent SAN Switch Scalable to 512 Ports
MXV500T first to embed Intel's Programmable Network Processors instead of proprietary ASICs to achieve maximum flexibility
SAN JOSE, Calif., - June 14th, 2004 - MaXXan® Systems, Inc. today unveiled MXV500, a second-generation platform, that scales from 16 to 256 ports in a single chassis and up to 512 ports in a dual chassis configuration, and harnesses the power of Intel's latest IXP2800 network processors with the power to perform tasks that traditionally require expensive, inflexible and high-speed ASICs. For complex storage networking environments, the MXV500 enables the administration of more enterprise storage and applications with greater speed and control.
"MaXXan's mission was to develop Intelligent SAN solutions to simplify data management and increase ROI, said Vic Mahadevan, chief executive officer. "The launch of MXV500 makes us the industry's leader in this market with a 12 to 18 month lead over other vendors, and gives our customers a real choice over complex, expensive and proprietary solutions."
"While there has been much talk about intelligent SAN switches and fabrics there has been relatively little intelligence that has actually come to market," said Arun Taneja, Founder, The Taneja Group. "MaXXan has impressed me in that they are not only delivering on the promise of intelligent storage networking solutions but even more so that it is already on its second-generation."
MaXXan's new MXV500 delivers the best economics for administration of enterprise data storage by eliminating the need to deploy storage applications (intelligence) into host servers, independent appliances or array controllers. MaXXan's SANeT architecture design reduces operating expenses and overall management costs by centralizing the deployment and management of key storage applications such as virtualization, data replication, snapshot, mirroring, NAS and virtual tape to a heterogeneous IT environment. MaXXan delivers these tools as a total solution providing support for both hardware and software deployed in the solution. The MXV500 scales up to 256ports and to 512 ports in a dual chassis environment, without the need for Inter-Switch Links (ISL) that reduce SAN performance, allowing the full 512 ports to be configured and managed as a single intelligent fabric.
"The SAN switch market is splitting into two segments, the ones that are capable of embedding intelligence and the ones that cannot," said Ravi Chalaka, vice president of marketing. "Intelligent SAN switches are designed to resolve two critical issues facing enterprise storage administrators: to simplify the deployment of SANs by centralizing the associated storage applications, and reducing the total cost of ownership."
The MXV500's flexible bladed design uses Intelligent Line Cards (ILC1602) and application control cards (ACC). Each ILC1602 utilizes dual Intel IXP2800 network processors for its high-performance and programmability that enables the delivery of storage services at each port. The Intel network processor integrates a high-performance parallel processing design on a single chip for processing complex algorithms, deep packet inspection, traffic management and forwarding at wire speed. Its store-and-forward architecture combines a high-performance Intel® XScale® core with sixteen 32-bit independent multi-threaded microengines that cumulatively provide more than 23.1 giga-operations per second. The ILC1602 card's performance is further enhanced with embedded coprocessor and four levels of memory for processing complex port based storage applications with low latency.
The MXV500 supports 1 and 2 Gbps Fibre Channel today and is architected to support 4 and 10 Gbps Fibre Channel in future. It also offers FC over IP protocol for connecting SAN islands. Unlike other products that require new hardware, the MXV500 can also support iSCSI protocol via a simple software upgrade in the near future. The unmatched flexibility of MaXXan's SANe architecture allows users to design a customized storage infrastructure that mixes and matches applications and protocols to meet precise requirements, all centrally managed. The MXV500 supports core storage services such as FC over IP, IP trunking, LUN masking and on-the-fly remapping, as well as higher-level applications, including replication, snapshots, virtualization, NAS, virtual tape and more.
The high flexibility of the MXV500 is coupled with the highest scalability of any Fibre Channel switch on the market. The MXV500 can be seamlessly integrated into existing SAN infrastructures, enabling customers to improve their storage ROI by protecting their current investment in SAN-based switches, storage and servers, while gaining the benefits of MaXXan's intelligent fabric technology. The MXV500 is compatible with hardware and software from all major SAN vendors as proven by extensive interoperability testing.
MaXXan's MXV500 Intelligent SAN Switch is currently available. Pricing is based on number of ports and storage applications desired by user. Prices for a mid-sized configuration with two intelligent line cards (32 ports) and a single storage application card starts at around $95,000 and can also be scaled for larger data center environment with 100's of ports and multiple storage applications to meet new customer needs. MaXXan also provides investment protection by allowing existing customers of its first generation MXV320 Intelligent SAN Switch to upgrade to the latest features offered in the MXV500.
"This second generation solution from MaXXan is definitely worth a look from anyone currently evaluating switches for large scale SAN deployments," said Nancy Marrone-Hurley, Senior Analyst, Enterprise Storage Group. "Despite all of the hype, MaXXan is one of the few vendors in the market delivering director class switching with intelligent storage services. The combination of the new processors and the intelligent blades make this a very powerful SAN infrastructure solution."
"The combination of MaXXan's intelligent SAN switch and Intel's network processor technology is a winner for both companies and their customers," said Marc Staimer, Founder, Dragon Slayer Consulting. "Today's networking environments need enhanced performance and programmability as conditions of everyday business operations. MaXXan and Intel deliver on both counts with the MXV500."
For more information call (866) 4-MaXXan or visit MaXXan's Web site at http://www.MaXXan.com.