Hitachi’s SANs are not as prevelent in North America as are offerings from EMC and others. Here is some info (from a Hitachi page) of the lineup. We use the 500 series. It has been great. Yes, there have been 2 bad disks in the 6 months we’ve had it, but both times, the Hitachi service rep was over to replace them the next day.

The Hitachi Adaptable Modular Storage models 1000, 500, and 200 deliver the best price/performance, availability and best-in-class scalability in the modular storage market space! Leveraging many high-end features such as cache partitioning and RAID-6, the Adaptable Modular Storage systems are easily managed by Hitachi’s Storage Navigator Modular software. These systems are ideal for any small, midsized or larger businesses that requiring high-availability and high-performance solutions.

Adaptable Modular Storage 1000: With up to 450 disk drives and the ability to virtually connect to a maximum of 1,024 servers, this model delivers enterprise-class performance and capacity at a mid-range price. The 1000 is ideal for larger companies.

Adaptable Modular Storage 500: This model is the solution for mid-sized companies that need tiered storage in a single rack. Mix up to 225 fibre channel and SATA hard drives to store data for both high performance applications and near-line or back up applications.

Adaptable Modular Storage 200: This entry level model is ideal for small business or branch offices. Configurations scale from 4 to 105 hard drives. The 200 is a great choice for companies or departments that are implementing their first storage area network (SAN).
Features

Flexibility
* Upgradeable, data-in-place growth from Adaptable Modular Storage 200 to 500 to 1000 models
* Multi-protocol support for consolidating storage between two types of server interfaces:
o Adaptable Modular Storage 1000 models have dual protocol support for Fibre Channel and iSCSI host connections
o Adaptable Modular Storage 200 and 500 models have dual protocol support for Fibre Channel and iSCSI host connections
* Vertical scaling allows LUNs to span over multiple drive trays
* Scalable design to add capacity, connectivity and/or performance as needed
* Support for all major open systems operating systems as well as host bus adapter and switch models combinations from major vendors

Availability
* No single point-of-failure, all dual-controller models fully redundant
* Major components hot-swappable
* Battery back-up for cache
* Non-disruptive microcode updates
* Host failover with HiCommand Dynamic Link Manager software
* Multipathing support for Windows (MPIO) and Solaris (MPxIO)
* Supports in-system volume backups and snapshots
* Remote site replication (AMS500 and AMS1000)
* Supports RAID-6 dual parity for highest reliability
* RAID-5, RAID-1 and RAID-1+0 and RAID 0 also supported
* Hi-Track® “call home” service/remote maintenance tool

High Performance
* Cache partitioning to optimize application performance
* Allows up to 1024 virtual ports with Host Storage Domains and 4096 LUNs for concurrent support of large heterogeneous open systems environments
* 4Gbit/sec host Fibre Channel connections
* Four fibre channel loops per drive tray to ensure maximum bandwidth

Simplicity
* Includes easy-to-use utilities for configuration and management
* Integrates seamlessly with Hitachi storage systems, managed with a single set of tools using HiCommand Suite software
* Virtually all Hitachi software products run identically on Hitachi modular models and on Hitachi enterprise storage system
* Supports Plug-and-play SAN Kits compatible with Microsoft Simple SAN

Security
* Role based access to Adaptable Modular Storage management systems
* Audit logging keeps track of all system changes

Ideal Applications

* Storage consolidation or storage area network (SAN)
* Primary storage for small or medium sized businesses and branch offices
* Lower tiered storage for large enterprises when used with an Hitachi Universal Storage Platform V™ or Universal Storage Platform VM
* Business Continuity Solutions
* Microsoft environments
* ERP/CRM
* Databases

Benefits

Tiered Storage in a Single Rack
* Intermix Fibre Channel disk drives for high performance with SATA disk drives for lower cost bulk storage in the same system
* Non-disruptively migrate data within the system and without using host resources
o Move data between tiers of storage
o Move data to match drive types with performance requirements
o Move data between RAID groups to balance workloads
* Serves as backend storage for the Hitachi Universal Storage Platform ™ V or Universal Storage Platform VM

Eco-friendly solutions
* Power Savings option that spins down unused or infrequently used RAID groups
* Volume migration to 1000GB, 7200rpm SATA hard drives that provide the lowest energy consumption per GB
* All models are RoHS compliant

HDS: Storage Systems> Adaptable Modular Storage (AMS), AMS1000, AMS500, AMS200.

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