Dot Hill Adds Patent, 80th One

Dot Hill Systems Corp. announced the latest addition to its patent portfolio, an innovation that delivers enhanced protection and performance in Dot Hill SAS-based AssuredSAN storage systems.

The 80th U.S. patent 8,074,105, High data availability SAS-based RAID system, is for a software/firmware invention designed to improve data availability and reliability by preventing potential intermittent failures caused by drive, cable or SAS expanders.

By taking advantage of the dual-ported SAS expander’s capability to provide two lines of data access, firmware enables the expander to function as an intelligent switch rather than a hub, switching to the alternate data path to access the disk drives if a failure is detected.

The Dot Hill patent also improves performance over conventional SAS systems by providing each SAS controller with two independent paths to access each disk drive. Because the controller is free to operate over multiple data paths, write-performance and Dot Hill AssuredSnap snapshot performance are improved.

"In the competitive storage industry, it is critical that we continue to find ways to differentiate our products with relevant innovations that significantly raise the bar for performance and reliability," said Jim Kuenzel, senior vice president of engineering at Dot Hill Systems. "This latest patent continues to further Dot Hill’s legacy of designing affordable storage solutions for OEMs, channel partners and end-users that are increasingly faster, more reliable and easier to use."