San Jose, Calif. – April 18, 2001 – Promise Technology, Inc., the leader in ATA RAID controllers and subsystems, today announced release of ConnectStor II, the first ATA RAID 0, 1 network-attached storage (NAS) subsystem that allows easy user installation of up to two Ultra ATA/100 hard drives for MIS professionals, resellers, system integrators, and small network administrators.
"We believe users and resellers alike are looking for more choices and greater control in their selection of network storage devices," said Sam Sirisena, Promise vice president of sales and marketing worldwide. "ConnectStor II offers maximum flexibility in terms of storage capacity and speed, with substantial savings over competitive pre-configured units."
ConnectStor II is designed for users to install their own choice of up to two Ultra ATA/100 drives (backward compatible with Ultra ATA/66/33 and EIDE) unlike pre-configured NAS subsystems that limit owners to pre-defined storage capacity, drive type, and speed.
ConnectStor II offers plug-and-work, built-in support for existing Windows 95/98/ME peer-to-peer networks, Windows NT/2000 networks, UNIX, or Linux networks. ConnectStor II supports dynamic IP addressing by a DHCP server. The unit also comes with proprietary IPassign? utility that manually finds the ConnectStor II unit over a network and assigns an IP address.
Once drives are physically installed, ConnectStor II automatically formats and initializes drives, creating a RAID 1 mirrored array for data protection in case a drive fails. Once configured, ConnectStor II also permits users to easily create a two-drive RAID 0 striping array that combines the storage of drives into a single volume and doubles internal data transfer speeds for large files.
A password-protected, browser-based management utility allows ConnectStor II to be remotely configured and managed via the Internet. The administrator or network supervisor can easily customize ConnectStor II to restrict user access to certain folders and limit the amount of storage capacity for each user. In addition, ConnectStor II supports enhanced access protection offered by network password servers, if available. Other management features include event notification via email, password assignment, array and drive status monitoring,
The driveless ConnectStor II lists for $595.
ConnectStor II embeds Promise Technology’s worldwide best-selling Ultra ATA/100 ASIC now in use in hundreds of thousands of PCs and used worldwide by major OEMs. “This makes ConnectStor II products compatible with the widest cross-section of Ultra ATA drives available,” Sirisena added.
“This unit provides MIS and IT professionals with the ability to instantly expand their storage requirements for popular network operating systems at much lower price points than traditional, pre-configured NAS devices,” Sirisena added. "We’ve taken full advantage of our experience and leadership in applying our ATA RAID engine inside the box."
ConnectStor II comes with a standard 10Base-T/100Base-TX Ethernet connection and also supports APC-compatible uninterruptible power supply via COM2 port. A COM1 port allows local access to operating system for troubleshooting.
The small footprint ConnectStor II unit can be mounted vertically or horizontally. Front panel LEDs provide local status of network activity, drive activity, power, and internal functions. ConnectStor II includes an auto-sensing (100 – 240 V, 50 – 60 Hz) power supply.
ConnectStor Subsystem Benefits
The Promise ConnectStor family offers the industry’s only line of entry-level to mid-range plug-in network attached storage subsystem products designed from the ground up with Ultra ATA drive technology in mind. In addition, it is the only product line developed by an acknowledged leader in ATA storage controllers and ATA RAID subsystems -- Promise Technology, Inc.
About Promise
Promise Technology, Inc., headquartered in San Jose, is a worldwide leader in Ultra ATA RAID storage controllers and subsystems. The company has an impressive track record of design innovations and product introductions since its founding in 1988. Promise developed the first IDE caching controller (DC2030), the first Ultra ATA controller card (Ultra33), and the first controller to offer IDE RAID for desktop PCs (FastTrak). For more information, visit Promise Technology’s web site at www.promise.com.