Hitachi Data Systems expands AMS storage family

Hitachi Data Systems has released three new storage devices, closing the gap between its AMS 2000 series (Adaptable Modular Storage) of mid-range storage systems and its high end USP V and USP VM series (Universal Storage Platform). The new devices are equipped with modern SAS technology (Serial Attached SCSI), allowing AMS 2000 series devices to incorporate both 3.5-inch SAS hard disks with a capacity of 146 or 300 GB at 15,000 rpm or 400 GB at 10,000 rpm, and SATA drives running at 7200 rpm and offering 500, 750 or 1000 GB. It is possible to mix and match individual drives, while RAID groups can only contain disks of one kind.

All models have two RAID controllers that operate in active/active mode -- IBM terminology for load balancing -- and can handle RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6 and 10. For safety reasons, SATA disks can't be operated as RAID 0 (stripe sets with no redundancy). The AMS 2100 can house up to 120 hard disks, offers 4 to 8 GB of cache per controller and a total of four host ports – with a choice of 4 Gbps Fibre Channel or Gigabit Ethernet iSCSI technology. The larger AMS 2300 and 2500 models offer two to four times the amount of disks, ports and cache.

The AMS 2100 and 2300 are already shipping; prices start at just under $31,500 (AMS 2100) and $47,500 (AMS 2300) respectively. HDS plans to announce a shipment date for the AMS 2500, which will cost $81,500, in November.

(lghp)