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Mercury Jupiter mini-SAS Photo: http://eshop.macsales.com/NewsRoom/images/PR_Jupiter.jpg

OWC Demos New Jupiter mini-SAS Shared SAN Solution with Bandwidth to 48Gb/s and Capacities to 3600TB at NAB

Up to 6x Faster and Up to 6x Lower Infrastructure Cost than Fibre Channel

April 16, 2012, Las Vegas, NV - Other World Computing (OWC®) http://www.macsales.com, a leading zero emissions Mac® and PC technology company, announced today it will showcase its new line of Jupiter mini-SAS™ shared storage solutions at NAB this week. Built upon the mini-SAS interface for blazing bandwidth up to 48Gb/s, the Jupiter family of racks, towers, and workgroup switches combine the highest level of data sharing performance and scalable capacity of up to 3600TB at a cost that is up to 6x less than fibre channel infrastructures. The Jupiter mini-SAS solutions also offer straight-forward installation in Mac and Windows OS environments with the simplicity of direct attached storage (DAS) using a single cable connection. OWC will demonstrate the high performance and scalability of the Jupiter mini-SAS shared storage solution at its NAB booth #14110 in the lower level of the LVCC's South Hall.

With its amazingly fast throughput and high capacity, OWC's Jupiter mini-SAS is a compelling shared storage solution for production studios and broadcast facilities that are striving to meet their growing performance and backup/storage demands with limited budgets. It handles all production storage workflow needs, from capture direct to final mastering and everything in-between with speed to spare for less bandwidth intensive tasks as well.

What makes the Jupiter mini-SAS so compelling is the ultra-fast mini-SAS interface, which is ideal for video professionals that depend on sustained, stable performance to prevent the possibility of dropped frames. For example, uncompressed 1080p HD video may need an average constant speed of 165MB/s. If that speed cannot be reached, frames may be dropped. With the high throughput of Jupiter mini-SAS, dropped frames are virtually eliminated. In fact, with it's unsurpassed bandwidth, Jupiter mini-SAS can stream multiple video feeds of HD video to multiple workstations.

At the heart of the Jupiter mini-SAS is the Jupiter workgroup switch that provides the super-fast simultaneous connection to multiple workstations, Jupiter expanders, or RAID subsystems with each device connecting via a single 24Gb/s mini-SAS cable. For increased user access and configuration options, the Jupiter workgroup switch can then connect to an LSI® SAS6160 Switch.

Jupiter mini-SAS Key Features:
  • Optimized to Support Today's High-Resolution Media and Entertainment Content Creation Workflows
  • Scalable pooled (shared) storage solution combines the simplicity and performance of direct attached storage (DAS) with a cost up to 6x less than fibre channel
  • mini-SAS interface for bandwidth up to 48Gb/s-up to 6x faster than fibre channel-via the use of two 24Gb mini-SAS cables
  • Available in eight-bay tower, eight-bay rack, and 16-bay rack models
  • Enterprise-level capacity-up to 3600TB (3.6 Petabytes) with enterprise-class drives and expander units
  • Connects to a servers or workstations using a single 24Gb/s mini-SAS cable
  • Hot-swappable, redundant power supplies can be replaced without shutting down or restarting
  • Mac OS X and Windows OS compatible
  • Five-year warranty
Centralized Storage for Efficient Collaboration, Increased Productivity
  • Allows open collaboration by providing multiple workstations access to the same drive simultaneously
  • Streamlines workflow and processes
  • Can be configured to provide zoned/allocated drive access privileges for specific workstations
Also Available as a RAID Storage Subsystem
  • Supports RAID configurations 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, 60 and JBOD
  • Multiple RAID configuration support to provide speed, performance fault tolerance, or a combination of both
Flexible, Adaptable for any Infrastructure
  • Integrates into an existing IT infrastructure
  • Lays the foundation for building a new infrastructure
  • A user-friendly management and monitoring application is included to monitor Jupiter's overall system health, performance, maintenance and diagnostics.
Budget-friendly Growth Path to the Future
  • Users can start with a single tower direct attached storage solution with 4TB of space
  • Storage can be added with Jupiter expander units, hubs and switches to accommodate up to 3600TB (3.6 Petabytes)
  • A four-workstation, 48Gb/s Jupiter mini-SAS setup consisting of the Jupiter nine port workgroup switch, four PCIe cards, and six meter active cabling has infrastructure costs starting around $4,200 vs. $25,000 for comparably configured 8Gb/s fibre channel infrastructure.
The OWC Support Difference
OWC has been a leader in the storage and computer upgrades industry for more than 24 years, and its 24/7 free lifetime US-based support has been praised by users around the world. Further instilling confidence in Jupiter mini-SAS is an OWC 5-year warranty and an expert support staff trained specifically on the Jupiter family of storage. Unlike other piecemeal SAN systems that require multiple vendor support, all the components of Jupiter mini-SAS come from OWC and are engineered to work seamlessly together.

"By leveraging our expertise in direct attached storage, the Jupiter mini-SAS brings simplicity, implementation flexibility and a much higher performance to SAN for over 80 percent less than the price of the leading standard of fibre channel," said Larry O'Connor, Founder and CEO, Other World Computing. "Then, when you consider the scalability it provides, our single-contact support and 5-year warranty, the Jupiter mini-SAS is clearly the best shared storage solution not just for production houses of all sizes but for businesses across all industries."

Availability, Pricing
Backed by a five-year warranty and OWC's 24/7 free lifetime US-based support, the OWC Jupiter mini-SAS will be available from OWC in June in a variety of configurations with solution pricing starting at $3,995.00. For added value, OWC includes a user-friendly management and monitoring application to monitor Jupiter's overall system health, performance, maintenance and diagnostics.

The new Jupiter mini-SAS shared storage solution joins OWC's existing line of performance-leading portable and desktop external storage solutions and its Mercury brand of Solid State Drives for Macs and PCs. For more information on the OWC catalog of over 2,900 performance upgrades and accessories, or for reseller inquires, visit: http://eshop.macsales.com/

About Other World Computing (OWC)
Other World Computing (OWC) has been providing quality hardware products and support to the computer industry since 1988 and features one of the largest online catalogs of computer, iPod®, iPhone®, and iPad® enhancement products through its e-commerce portal www.macsales.com. As a member of the Apple Developer Program, OWC also provides extensive US-based technical support for Macintosh® users around the world as well as Internet access via www.fastermac.net and www.owc.net

OWC's industry awards and recognition include: Crain's Chicago Business 2009 and 2011 "Fast 50" List of 50 Fastest Growing Companies in the Chicago Area; Inc. 5,000 "Fastest Growing Privately Owned Companies in America" list honoree 2007-2011; Reseller Ratings Elite Member 2009-2011; Better Business Bureau Top Rating of A+ 2010-2011; About.com 2012 Readers' Choice Award for best Mac Peripheral Reseller; Computerworld Magazine Top Green-IT Companies for 2008; and McHenry County Economic Development Corporation 2008 & 2011 Business Champion Award.

Contact:
Company Contact:
Jennifer Myers: (815) 502-5640 or jmyers@owcdigital.com
Jupiter mini-SAS is a trademark and OWC is a registered trademark of New Concepts Development Corporation. LSI is a registered trademark of LSI Corporation. Apple, Mac, iPod, iPhone, and iPad are the trademarks of Apple, Inc., registered in the U.S. and other countries. All other trademarks or registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.