Dual Port 4Gb Fibre Channel

The dual ported PRO FC has two very fast 4Gb Fibre Channel ports connected to a high performance RAID controller based on a high power RISC storage processor with embedded RAID 6 XOR engine. Supporting the latest in RAID protection technology, the PRO FC supports all standard RAID levels; 0 for striping, 1 for disk mirroring, 5 for efficient balance of drive protection and performance as well as the latest RAID 6 double disk protection for enterprise class requirements.

The two 4Gb Fibre Channel ports can work together to increase data throughput, MPIO (Multipathing I/O) is a simple and quick method to improve Fibre Channel data path performance with supported operating system such as OS X and others, with MPIO - performance increase with configuration simplicity results in 510 MB/sec data rate. For even higher dual path method, configuring the PRO FC with two RAID sets and LUN map each RAID set to its own Fibre port will optimize the data path and produce a respectable data rate of over 550MB/sec. See the graphics to the right for more detail information.

The PRO FC 4Gb Fibre Channel interface is backward compatible with 2Gb infrastructures and will plug and play in existing Fibre Channel networks.

Cost Effective Expansion

When additional storage is required the PRO FC can be increased in capacity with the built-in expander; simply add the cost effective PRO FX to expand the PRO FC RAID head unit. Each PRO FX has a 16 drive capacity and can further daisy chain to additional PRO FXs; a total of 3 PRO FXs can be daisy chained from the PRO FC RAID head, a total of 64 drives of very high speed online access.

The Java based RAID Manager provides full control over the RAID configuration; the existing RAID set can be expanded or additional RAID sets can be made to deploy the added disk space from the PRO FX.

SAN Ready

Fibre Channel interface is the standard interface for high speed Storage Area Network applications. When the workflow requires multiple artists/workstations to access the same project or files at a rapid rate of speed, the SAN Ready PRO FC is ready for the job.

The dual ported PRO FC can be deployed in a two workstation configuration without the need of an expensive Fibre Channel Switch. Just apply your favorite SAN management software and you are ready to improve your workflow at the speed of light. In a larger shared environment, the PRO FC works well with 3rd party Fibre Channel switches and host adapters.

Work on 2K DPX files and HD uncompressed at the same time! The PRO FC efficient cache and RAID management is able to keep up with the most demanding projects. Playback of 2K DPX files which are rated at 24 fps x 12.2MB per frame requires a date rate of near 300MB/sec and is pretty demanding already, but the PRO FC can handle this plus more! On top of this, the PRO FC can also playback an 8-bit HD uncompressed clip. Other combinations that the PRO FC can handle are two streams of 10-bit HD uncompressed on one station plus a handful of SD uncompressed on another. The PRO FC is ready to take on any serious workflow.

Maximum Fibre Performance

The PRO FC never slows down! Even when fully loaded with data. Impressive high-end performance ensures that your project will continue to make forward progress even as the disk array is filling up. No matter which RAID protection mode you choose to use, the PRO FC will not miss a beat.