Legacy EMC CLARiiON CX4: Ideal Low-cost, High-Performance SAN Solution

In January 2011, EMC ultimately sealed the fate of the CX4 with the launch of the VNX line of unified storage devices. This new line combined the capabilities of the CLARiiON SAN line and Celerra NAS line, making both lines redundant. By the first quarter of 2012, both of these lines were discontinued, taking all EMC CX series devices along with them.

As the precursor to the now-current VNX line, the EMC CLARiiON CX4 taught EMC and Dell many valuable lessons that would help form the basis for the full-featured unified storage systems both companies produce today. However, more importantly, the venerable storage array system taught many of its users what they should look for in a SAN.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/legacy-emc-clariion-cx4-ideal-low-cost-high-performance-san-solution/

Not Just for Cars: EMC Storage Hardware Makes Hybrid Systems Possible

This need has been filled by the more widespread use of solid-state flash technology in enterprise storage systems. In fact, for the last half decade, moving all storage requirements over to solid state drives (SSDs) has been a major point of discussion among many in the IT industry. However, because enterprise-level SSDs are still relatively expensive, such a move presents companies with a difficult problem: keeping their IT acquisition budgets in check.

Fortunately, companies deploying EMC storage hardware have access to a practical solution. By taking advantage of the EMC VNX storage arrays’ ability to mix SSD drives and inexpensive old-school spin-up drives, companies can utilize hybrid arrays that provide the high input/output per second or IOPS required for processing highly active data while keeping more passive data on less expensive mechanical drives.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/not-just-for-cars-emc-storage-hardware-makes-hybrid-systems-possible/

EMC CLARiiON AX4, Low-cost SAN for Small- and Medium-Sized Businesses

To make way for a new line of storage solutions fit for today’s heavily interconnected business environment, the CLARiiON SAN and Celerra NAS (network-attached storage) lines were eventually merged into the now-current VNX line of unified storage solutions. This led to the ultimate discontinuation of the CLARiiON line, which included the AX4/AX4-5 SANs. However, supported by providers like Tab Data Systems, the SMB-friendly EMC AX Series still holds on to a significant share of dedicated fans.

The AX4 owes its post-discontinuation success heavily to EMC and Dell’s insightful development of a robust, yet easy-to-use, reliable and secure SAN, well-adapted to the SMB market. Inexpensive yet practical, the storage array line delivered performance that overlapped even its full-featured CX3-10 cousin at a cost that many smaller businesses could afford.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/emc-clariion-ax4-low-cost-san-for-small-and-medium-sized-businesses/

EFD: Creating a “SOLID” foundation for EMC storage hardware with “STATE” of the art in EMC hard drives.

With virtually no moving parts unlike its predecessor, solid-state drives (SSD) are a step above the venerable hard disk drive (HDD) in terms of speed and reliability. At start-up, an SSD-equipped computer can take you to your desktop 18 seconds faster on average than one with a HDD. Though speeds vary depending on technology used, even consumer level MLC based SSDs write data a lot faster; around twice as fast as the HDD. SSD technology also provides higher mean time between failure (MTBF) than conventional spin-up drives, a testament to the benefits of no moving parts that create heat, vibration and the dreaded head crashes from shock and mechanical failures.

For the average PC user a few seconds gained may not warrant the relatively high cost per unit of storage with an SSD, but in the world of Big Data every millisecond counts. Even medium size enterprises are slowly making the shift to SSD from HDD due to promises of performance and reliability. Every second saved with faster IOPS (input-output per second), leads to increased efficiency and profits. The latest in EMC storage hardware is helping companies to do just that. But not with just any SSD.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/efd-creating-a-solid-foundation-for-emc-storage-hardware-with-state-of-the-art-in-emc-hard-drives/

CX-LP05-020 Drive Offers Reliable Information Storage

"Regardless of how you choose to store your archives, they should be protected by an auditing mechanism. Auditing can be used to alert you anytime someone accesses (or attempts to access) the archives. If your archives are ever called into question, your audit logs can help you prove the archived data is authentic and that the data hasn’t been tampered with. But what about the cost? New low cost hard drive storage products like the EMC CX-LP05-020 SATA II storage disk drive (EMC part number 005049085) available from Tab Data Systems, can accommodate copious amounts of information thanks to their 2 TB data storage capacities at a much lower cost per data unit than higher end Fiber, SAS and Solid State (SSD and EFD) storage disk drives. The “LP” in the name CX-LP05-020 is an acronym for Low Power. The CX-LP05-020 SATA drive allows not only the storage of large amounts of data at a cheaper up-front cost than the CX-SA07-020, it accomplishes this with lower power consumption rates than

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/cx-lp05-020-drive-offers-reliable-information-storage/

Prices of Used Hard Drives Like the Clariion CX-4G15-300 are Expected to Drop

More than two years after the devastating flood in Thailand, hard drive prices have dropped even lower, Joel Hruska of ExtremeTech reports. Both hard drives and solid state drives (SSDs) returned to their pre-flood prices in April after what seemed like a relentless rise. This is good news for dealers that sell discontinued hard drive models like the Clariion CX-4G15-300. A drop in new hard drive prices may encourage consumers to sell their old drives for new ones. Thailand produces about 40 percent of the world's hard drives and is considered a global leader in the industry. While the flooding in Thailand left a temporary dent on the data storage market, production quickly rebounded as hard drive producers managed to resume operations as early as 46 days after the flood.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/prices-of-used-hard-drives-like-the-clariion-cx-4g15-300-are-expected-to-drop/

Fibre Channel CX-4G15-300 Model Remains Operative Even with the Ethernet

Gartner, a research firm, released a well-timed research securing Fibre Channel's place in the global technology industry. This is an assurance that Fibre Channel wouldn't be pulled out from the market anytime soon despite the gradual shift of some data centers to Ethernet. Growth wouldn't be that responsive for it in the next years, but the faith of storage administrators that it can handle heavy data transfers better than the Ethernet, coupled with the Fibre Channel Industry Association's (FCIA) report for an ongoing system standards development, can be considered decent reinforcements. So, without further talk, the Fibre Channel storage drives, like the CX-4G15-300 model, will still continue to transmit data between servers and back-end storage systems notwithstanding the gradual sales growth seen in the past years. You can still expect companies, like Tab Data Systems, to offer profitable used solutions for your IT and data storage needs.

http://www.tabdatasystems.com/fibre-channel-systems-like-the-cx-4g15-300-will-remain-relevant-says-analysts/