eStorage Offers 70 GB iSeries Disk Drive for $995

by Alex Woodie

eStorage, the only independent provider of internal disk for OS/400 servers, last week announced three new 70 GB iSeries disk drives. The new drives include one 15K RPM model, one 140 GB, 10K RPM drive that has been "shortstroked" to boost access time, and one standard 10K RPM model that eStorage says is 65 percent less expensive than the comparable 70 GB disk from IBM.

The Irvine, California, storage vendor says that its new 4327-15K, 4327F-10K, and 4327-10K disk drives are the industry's first third-party 70-GB internal disk solutions for the OS/400 server. IBM introduced its own 70 GB drive, the Model 4327, with the refurbishing of the iSeries line, along with the new PCI-X I/O architecture, in January 2003. The line of 4327 drives from eStorage emulates IBM's 4327 drive.

If large capacity, fast response time, and affordability are important to your applications, eStorage's new 4327-15K drives should be on your short list of iSeries drives. With a list price of $1,995 (or 2.9 cents per MB), it is almost $900 (31 percent) less expensive than IBM's comparable 70 GB, 15K RPM drives, following the price action IBM took in April. The company eStorage was the first vendor to offer 15K RPM drives for the iSeries, and the 4327-15K joins eStorage's stable of 17-GB and 35-GB 15K-RPM drives.

The company's shortstroked 4327F-10K, 70-GB drive features comparable performance to that of its new 15K RPM, 70 GB drive, and it also costs the same: $1,995. The company's FAST technology, which works by restricting the movement of the drive actuator to the outer 1/3 or 1/2 cylinders of the disk, can deliver response times as low as 2.4 milliseconds. In addition to fast response times, the drive will be upgradeable to a 140 GB drive, with 4.7 millisecond seek times in the future.

Budget-conscious shoppers looking for large capacity drives that aren't necessarily the fastest on the block may want to check out the new eStorage 4327-10K drive, which operates at 10K RPM and features a 4.7 millisecond seek time. With a list price of just $995, or 1.4 cents per MB, this drive sets a new standard for cost per MB in the iSeries market, eStorage says.

Large drives aren't suggested for I/O intensive workloads, such as online transaction processing, but they fit in well in other areas. These new 70 GB drives from eStorage are "especially ideal for application in which large capacities are paramount," eStorage's executive vice president, John Gimpl, said. "These new 70 GB disk drives provide a nice balance of capacity and performance at a very reasonable price, which makes them perfect for applications like program development, disk-based backup, and high-availability backup systems."

The new eStorage drives can be installed in iSeries Model 800, 810, 825, 870, and 890 servers, and in older 270, 820, 830, and 840 servers equipped with the appropriate PCI-X expansion tower. The new disks require OS/400 V5R2 and a PCI-X disk controller, such as IBM models 2757, 5703, and 5705.

The new 70 GB drives are available from eStorage now. Go to www.estorageinc.com for more information.