Nexsan Starting DRAM/SSD/HDD Unified Storage System NST

Nexsan Corporation launched a line of solid-state enhanced unified storage systems, the NST series.

In addition to providing both file-mode (NAS) and block-mode (iSCSI), the NST series combines solid-state storage with SATA and SAS drives via proprietary FASTier acceleration technology. FASTier automatically and intelligently uses the speed of solid state memory in a fully fault-tolerant architecture to accelerate the performance of SAS and SATA spinning media in one integrated system.
 
NST unified storage systems with FASTier intelligently optimize caching and tiering by utilizing DRAM and flash-based solid state memory, along with spinning media, to triple real-world random I/O performance. This enables server applications to become accelerated without the significant costs of pure SSD systems. The new NST systems combine FASTier software with up to 24 Xeon CPU cores, 192GB of DRAM, 12 dedicated RAID engines, and up to 1PB of storage capacity. FASTier can scale from 100GB to 2.8TB, allowing an NST system to hold entire working sets, further amplifying performance with high IOPS and reduced latency without complication, or the need to utilize a separate management paradigm.
 
With NST storage systems, SATA drives can be used to deliver performance which was only attainable with 15K SAS drives previously, and 15K SAS drives can be used to deliver performance in virtualized infrastructures, databases, email servers, or in cloud deployments. The NST storage systems also deliver high storage density of nearly 15 drives per U of rack space, and AutoMAID power management for up to 85% lower power and cooling costs.
 
According to the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the adoption rate of unified storage is growing steadily. "Unified storage is attractive in terms of both operational and financial efficiencies – a winning combination by any standard," said Mark Peters, Senior Analyst at ESG. "The combination of unremitting data growth, a still-cautious macro-economic climate and massively higher expectations of IT, means users are not only seeking better cost structures in their infrastructure but simultaneously want better performance and application support. Nexsan can provide that mix with its FASTier enabled NST5000, by delivering significant advances in unified storage that can help IT organizations to economically increase their productivity in both highly virtualized and/or cloud computing environments."

NST storage systems feature a graphical user interface with wizards that streamline setup and maintenance for the IT generalist, requiring 15 minutes for setup. With single-pane-of-glass, lights-out management features included in all systems, they deliver a compelling case for management efficiency and low TCO. Nexsan Flexible Scalability breaks through the barriers imposed by scale-up architectures whose controllers cannot keep up as the population of drives is increased, and trumps scale-out ‘bricks’ that do not allow performance and capacity to be scaled independently. Offered on all NST storage systems, Flexible Scalability meets the IT storage administrator’s needs today and into the future.
 
"At Nexsan, our goal is to deliver the best-in-class, turn-key solutions that match the needs of today’s demanding midsize enterprises," said Gary Watson, CTO of Nexsan. "With the NST systems, we have paired support for iSCSI block, NFS/CIFS shared folders, snapshots, replication, quotas, thin provisioning, and online capacity expansion all into one easy-to-manage solution. The result is an enterprise class storage system that can meet the capacity, performance and availability needs of any environment, without a heavy investment."
 
The NST storage systems include multiple models for any size enterprise – from 8TBs to more than one petabyte.

Key features of the Nexsan NST include:

• FASTier acceleration technology, which triples random I/O performance of the underlying SATA or SAS drives
• Storage acceleration algorithms that operate without the need for manual intervention
• Unified storage with support for simultaneous CIFS, NFS and iSCSI
• Flexible Scalability – trumping both scale-out and scale-up storage architectures
• Up to 85% less power usage using AutoMAID energy-saving technology
• High density unified storage system available at nearly 15 drives per U of rack space
• Unified management with a web-based GUI that provides wizards and a single-pane-of-glass access for local and remote storage systems

"For our cloud initiative, we required a reliable, high performance storage solution that also provided the densest storage possible," said Sanford Coker, Director of Storage Administration, Datapipe, Inc. "The NST with FASTier accelerated storage option provided the performance we needed in the package required. The result is enhanced productivity and operational efficiencies giving us better business performance at a lower cost."
 
NST storage systems are available through Nexsan’s network of authorized channel partners.

Pricing starts at $16K MSRP and scales based on configuration.