From: MICHAEL.WILLETT@OFFICE.WANG.COM ("Michael Willett")
Subject: Re: RAID 7 Disc Array Platforms in Belfast & Cork
Organization: Mail to News Gateway at Wang Labs
Date: 06 Oct 92 13:48:34 EST

Regarding interest in RAID 7 disc array platforms in Belfast and Cork,
I would suggest that you contact Storage Computer Europe headquarters in
Frankfurt, as I do not have any information on that myself.  They are at
Tel. 49 6917-2145.  Many thanks.

--------------------Michael.Willett@OFFICE.Wang.com-------------------------

(Regarding the Storage Computer RAID 7 disk array platforms, I understand that
they have not yet established their subsidiary in Eire [probably sales only,
and not manufacturing yet], so you would need to contact their European head-
quarters in Frankfurt for information.  They understand that EC rules require
documentation to be in the local language as of January 1993; how is that
being implemented in Eire?  Will Gaelic documentation be preferred or
required for such systems in Eire?   One of their officers, Miguel Brazao,
is a language translation expert, besides being a graduate of Trinity
College, so I'm sure he'd love the opportunity to be able to work on
translating their documentation into Gaelic!  The Irish computer press has
published a number of interviews with him in recent years.)

Regarding John Scoggin's request for information on RAID systems for
VINES, Storage Computer of Nashua, N.H. is currently showing its new high
performance RAID 7 disk array platforms at the September International VINES
User Meeting.  SCSI-based, they work equally well with NetWare, workstations,
IBM systems, VAXes, etc.  I found out that Storage Computer has just opened
up its new European headquarters in Frankfurt.  The telephone there is
(49) 6917-2145.  The FAX is (49) 6917-2149.  The Vice President-Europe
can be contacted there.  He is in charge of all European countries there.

Standards-based, RAID 7 is designed for enterprise-wide computing and
overcomes performance limitations of earlier RAID architectures, providing
a  "real world sustained application performance improvement of 200% to
400%" and dropping the cost of storage to 16 cents/MB.  Their brochures
say they can "mix and match" up to 48 SCSI commodity (3.5 or 5.25 inch)
drives, up to 150 GB.  The RAID 7 disk array platforms come with an embedded
operating system and up to 12 SCSI-2 based host interfaces.  Besides servers,
Storage Computer's RAID 7 disk array platforms can connect to workstations
and midrange systems in addition to IBM's.  Multiple CPUs can be attached to
same disk array platform.

The RAID 7 platforms come with up to 256 MB of cache, eliminating any
reason for using performance-damaging CPU main memory disk RAM.  The
drives are "hot plugable" for uninterrupted, transparent operation,
with a hot standby drive automatically replacing a failed drive.

There was a lot of activity this week at the Storage Computer RAID 7 booth
at the Boston Banyan show as I walked by.  They were demoing what happens if
a drive goes down, showing the backup drive taking over.

For further information on Storage Computer's RAID 7 for any system, their
key US contact is indicated to be John O'Brien, Director of Technical
Services at Tel. 603-880-3005 or FAX 603-889-7232.  John is the original
"guru" of the RAID 7 advances, and a well-known RAID industry figure.
However, they said it would probably be better to call their European
headquarters first.  Maybe they'll put on a RAID 7 seminar sometime soon
in Dublin if they get enough requests.  If so, let me know and I'll try
to attend also.  I haven't been in Eire now for a couple years now.

----------------- Michael.Willett@OFFICE.Wang.com----------------------
Newsgroups: soc.culture.celtic