Dell, EMC Launch Entry CX200 Disk Arrays

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Only three weeks ago, Dell and EMC announced the midrange CX400 disk arrays that they co-developed and co-branded, and at the time they hinted that an entry disk arrays was imminent. Indeed it was, since the CX200 array was announced this week. This entry CX200 array, which bears the same Dell | EMC logo as the other CX arrays, scales to 2.2 TB of capacity, has a data transfer rate of 200 MB/sec, and has a starting price of $28,000.

The CX400 has two disk controllers, each based on an 800 MHz Pentium III processor. This controller, which is essentially an Intel-based server and, more importantly, almost certainly a Dell PowerEdge server that has a special operating system that converts it into a disk array, can be fitted with up to 2 GB of disk cache memory. The CX400 can support up to 60 disk drives (with a total capacity of 4.3 TB), up to 512 logical disk units, and up to 64 host server connections. It has a peak performance of 60,000 I/O operations per second and an I/O bandwidth of 680 MB/sec. Prices for the CX400 start at $66,000 for a 180 GB configuration; a 1 TB configuration costs $94,000.

The CX200 is essentially a CX400 that has been cut in half. It has a single controller with up to 1 GB of cache memory and support for up to 30 disk drives, or 2.2 TB. Another big difference is that the CX200 only supports attachment to Windows 2000, Windows NT, and Linux servers. The CX400 and its bigger brother, the CX600, support Windows NT, Windows 2000, and Linux, but also support NetWare, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, Tru64, and Irix operating systems.

The Dell-EMC CX600, announced earlier this year, has four 2-GHz Intel-based disk controllers, supports up to 17.2 TB of disk capacity (240 disk drives) and up to 8 GB of cache. The CX600 can handle up to 1,300 MB/sec in I/O bandwidth.

With the delivery of the CX200, Dell and EMC have completed the revamping of the Clarrion line that the two have been working on for a year as part of a five-year deal. Now they have to sell the things.

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