Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Storage

    Seagate to Release Own FATA Drive at Entry Level

    By
    Mark Hachman
    -
    April 8, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      PHOENIX—Seagate Technology LLC will likely introduce its own branded version of its new FATA drive later this year, a product that will be uniquely designed for entry-level servers, executives said Thursday at the Storage Networking World show here.

      The Fibre Attached Technology Adapted (FATA) drives, developed jointly with Hewlett-Packard Co. and introduced earlier this week, initially will be sold and branded under the HP name.

      The addition of the FATA drive came as a surprise to many in the industry, given that the enterprise storage market is already saturated with competing interfaces: the Ultra160 and Ultra320 SCSI, Serial Attached SCSI, Fibre Channel and Serial ATA.

      But Seagate executives said FATA drives would primarily target entry-level servers. At the show here, Seagate also demonstrated multiple Serial ATA and SAS drives interoperating in the same enclosure, which could help simplify a storage design.

      Put simply, FATA is a Fibre Channel interface bolted onto a Serial ATA-2 drive, according to Willis Whittington, senior manager of interface planning for the marketing and planning department of Seagates Enterprise Storage Group. “Id call it a server-friendly Serial ATA,” Whittington said.

      John McArthur, a storage analyst with IDC, said a need “absolutely” exists for what he called a “Fibre Channel interface on top of a high-capacity, low-cost, low-spindle-speed drive.” According to dealers and resellers, for example, a 73GB, 15,000 rpm Fibre Channel drive can cost about $500, while 10,000 rpm or 7,200 rpm Serial ATA drives cost hundreds of dollars less.

      McArthur also said he anticipated that other drive vendors would follow suit with their own FATA drives, although he said there is “not a clarion call” for them.

      /zimages/1/28571.gifClick here to read about the focus on SMBs at the Storage Networking World show.

      Seagate officials declined to discuss specifics of the new drive interface or its implementation, or when Seagate would launch its own FATA drive. HPs FATA drives will offer capacity up to 250 GB, using a dual-ported version of the 2-Gbit Fibre Channel interface.

      “One of the complaints with Fibre Channel is that you cant get high-capacity drives,” said Charlie Kraus, director of marketing for host bus adapters at LSI Logic Corp., based in Westborough, Mass.

      According to industry sources, the upcoming Seagate FATA drive will offer a mean-time-between-failures (MTBF) rating roughly midway between the rating of a Serial ATA drive and that of a Fibre Channel enterprise drive, which are typically ruggedized to minimize vibration and are designed for 24/7 operation. Some Serial ATA drives, such as the Maxtor Maxline II, are also rated for continuous operation. Others, such as the Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9, also include a Serial ATA interface but are designed to run about eight hours a day. Some enterprise vendors that have tried to ship Serial ATA drives inside of enterprise-class servers have been bitten by frequent returns, industry sources said.

      The FATA interface will be specifically designed for entry-level servers, combining the advantages of Serial ATA and Fibre Channel, Whittington said. Pure Fibre Channel interfaces will remain the “top end of the top end,” he said.

      IDCs McArthur said that to reduce cost, storage vendors would probably choose a mix of Serial ATA and SAS drives or commit completely to Fibre Channel, a trend Seagate officials said the SAS/Serial ATA interoperability demo this week attempted to anticipate.

      “It depends on the workload,” IDCs McArthur said. “If that entry-level server is in a shared file space–and theres an awful lot of entry-level servers used for shared files sitting on the network with low-density, low-performance requirements—it would probably be perfect. If that low-cost server was in a highly parallel clustered environment where performance was key, then probably not.”

      /zimages/1/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Storage Center at http://storage.eweek.com for the latest news, views and analysis on enterprise and business storage hardware and software. Be sure to add our eWEEK.com storage news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page: /zimages/1/19420.gif http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo2.gif

      Mark Hachman

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×