July 1998

Caching Brings CDs Online

Network attached storage devices mirror your CDs in cache. You get faster, online access and better reliability.

Standalone NAS devices are mid-level solutions that are ideal for departments and small enterprises looking to consolidate their CD storage on one device that provides a faster, more reliable solution than a standalone 7- to 14-disc drive tower. The advantage of NAS devices is that they require less attention for installation. They plug right into the network without installing SCSI cards on a server and without bringing the network down.

Plasmon (Eden Prairie, MN 612-946-4100) now offers NetReady, a network attached storage device that can be bundled with any of the D-Series CD jukeboxes. The NetReady appliance can be used as a solution with server software for any platform, storage management software and/or D-Series CD jukebox. NetReady uses a standard RJ45 network jack for Ethernet or Fast Ethernet connection. The box can be installed without bringing down the network. The IP address is automatically assigned. Users can simultaneously access the storage device on Windows NT, Novell or Unix networks. Administrators can access the device remotely from any HTML browser and Web-based management software.

NetReady has a 9 GB hard drive. Bundled with the D-120, users gain online access to 18 CDs. The use of cache eliminates robotic movement and provides hard-drive access times. The NetReady device acts as a dedicated server without the need for a PC, NT or Novell server.

MDI (Winter Park, FL 407-677-8333) just released their new UltraServe ($5,000-$7,000) device, which plugs directly to the network for hard-drive-speed access to data stored on CDs. Users can store up to 24 GB of data or up to 36 full-capacity CDs. MDI's device is a plug-and-play solution to the Ethernet for network storage. With UltraServe CD, media is used for distribution and not for reading on the network. CDs are inserted into UltraServe from a front mail slot. Upon insertion, the CD is automatically copied to the hard drive and can then be removed and stored elsewhere. By using hard disk technology and its own server processor, the UltraServe offers up to 93X speeds and less than 12 ms average seek times.

MDI's UltraWare software and Web browser interface provides file management and remote administration. The system is OS independent, with full LAN support for Windows 95, NT, Unix, Mac, Novell support will be added in August. It supports TCP/IP or IPX/SPX network protocols. UltraServe can be accessed from the existing network client with the server's CD-ROMs appearing as network drives.

Microtest (Phoenix, AZ 602-952-6400) offers a variety of affordable ways to emulate CD storage. All products support 10/100 Mbytes/sec Ethernet networks and Novell, Windows NT, Unix and OS/2 operating systems. Their latest product, DiscZerver ($1,000), is a thin server for sharing CD-ROM information. The software integrates into a standard tower and can be configured with up to seven SCSI devices. Tower integrators can use the system to offer a solution that can incorporate a variety of SCSI hard drives, CD-ROM drives and DVD-ROM drives.

With DiscZerver, CDs from any client can be loaded to the hard drive. The software creates images of CDs on hard drives that can emulate CD-ROM drive read speeds of up to 66X. A DiscZerver URL offers management and access from any HTML Web browser. It can also be used as a Windows client.

The DiscZerver can be incorporated into Microtest's DiscPort VT; a small appliance that connects right to the network for sharing information migrated from CD-ROM. The box supports about 50 simultaneous users for small businesses and workgroups. Two different hard drive configurations are offered for on-board caching. The 4 GB model holds about seven CDs of information ($2,000). The 8 GB model holds about 14 CDs ($2,500). Microtest's DiscPort 2 ($1,000) is a plug-and-play thin server that acts as a SCSI to Ethernet bridge. This enables CD caching to SCSI-attached hard drives. This makes the capacity for CD caching flexible; you can add up to seven additional devices.

Another entry into the CD emulator market is Optima Technology's (Irvine, CA 714-476-0515) CD-Central. CD-Central also uses a hard disk and software to emulate a CD tower. It can run on any NetWare or Windows 10/100 Base T or 4/16 Token Ring network. It is also capable of appearing as both a Windows NT and NetWare sever. CD-Central is scalable and comes with at least one 24X CD-ROM drive and up to six 9 GB hard drives. Each hard drive can store and serve about 12 CDs for a total of about 72 CDs. As many as 112 CD-ROM drives can be supported by CD-Central.

Also included is Optima's CD-Commander software, which lets system administrators load and unload CD-ROM contents to the internal hard disk and manage user parameters. CD-Central connects directly to the network with no additional server, and it lets clients access the device from a standard network login. It has transfer speeds up to 10 MB per second and seek time of 8.5 ms.

Procom Technology (Irvine, CA 714-852-1000) takes the mixed tower/hard drive approach by giving a 20-disc capacity to their DataForce 200 ($18,000) NAS device. This is a follow up to their DataForce 100, a 10-disc model that was released last year. DataForce 200 caches to the hard drives up to 20 CD-ROMs for network access. The CDs are housed in the device to make it easy to load new CDs to the hard drive and to protect against failures; if the hard drive crashes the data is still readily accessible. The four CD-ROM drives have changers that each hold five discs.

The Dataforce 200 supports TCP/IP and IPX network protocols and Windows NT, Unix and OS/2 platforms. It can also support multiple platforms. The system has plug-and-play Fast Ethernet and Token Ring connection. DataForce comes bundled with Procom's CD Force management software.

It's no secret that hard disk storage is coming down in price. The use of hard drives in conjunction with CD storage lets you take advantage of two inexpensive technologies and extends their usefulness.