AMI plugs need for compact data systems

The growing need for storage capacity is causing end users to demand increasingly compact data management solutions, according to vendor American Megatrends International.

The growing need for storage capacity is causing end users to demand increasingly compact data management solutions, according to vendor American Megatrends International (AMI).

In an effort to meet the need, AMI has launched a new Raid storage controller. The Megaraid Express 550 is described as an Ultra160 PCI SCSI low-profile Raid controller which is targeted at 1U and 2U servers.

According to Linda Ng, managing director of AMI UK, it solves the space problems that are increasingly hampering big companies as the internet and ecommerce force them to double storage capacity every 90 days.

"Storage is proving to be the technology that ate the business. Not only does the amount of data that needs to be stored double in short and shorter intervals, storage now represents an increasingly large slice of the IT spend," said Ng. "Resellers can win the approval of clients by adding compact and manageable systems."

Customers want smaller, more dedicated task servers, Ng said. Processes such as web management, email, firewalls and caching all generate huge amounts of data and need to be monitored and controlled.

Raw processing power is needed, but this must be tempered with management tools that channel this resource into efficient tackling of these tasks. "Raid is an integral part of any storage strategy, whether you go with storage area networks or network attached storage (NAS). The problem with NAS is its devices frequently leave little space for add-in devices," said Ng.

AMI will distribute the technology through its remaining two distributors, Microtronica and Hammer. AMI's third distributor went into receivership recently.