Overland Data Inc. , a market leader in both enterprise class and mid-range tape automation solutions, has announced dual-path capability for its embedded Fibre Channel Neo series automated tape libraries.
Overland’s LXN2000 and LXN4000 Neo series tape libraries lead the industry in delivering the highest possible availability through their non-stop operation features. In a modularly scalable tape library, the Neo series now leads in Fibre Channel performance and connectivity by providing the first built-in 1 or 2 Gb/s native Fibre Channel interface with dual-path connection capability. Mission-critical applications can now take advantage of Neo’s ability to support host connections through both a primary and secondary path, increasing overall system reliability and availability.
Overland’s unique distributed card approach provides two independent Fibre Channel access paths to any Neo series embedded Fibre library. This input path independence increases system availability and bandwidth and further eliminates potential points of failure. Traditionally, libraries have offered a single, dual-ported Fibre Channel input. These connection facilities are subject to single points of failure that can disrupt a host data path and make the tape library inaccessible to the system.
Neo’s on-board remote library management tool (WEB TLC(TM)) makes it easy for system managers to configure a non-stop, dual-path Neo system. The redundant dual-path architecture ensures that no physical cable reconfigurations are necessary to invoke dual-path failover. Neo’s Web TLC remote management functionality further ensures that dual input paths can be configured locally or remotely over a LAN or the Internet.
The LXN2000 is currently shipping in volume. Volume production of the LXN4000 is planned for Q1 2002.