Intel is manufacturing a SCSI-over-IP (iSCSI) host bus adapter card
could go a long way towards building industry wide momentum behind
less expensive and more easily managed storage-area networks
(SAN).
The host bus adapter, an I/O adapter that normally rests between
the host computer's bus and a Fibre Channel loop, manages the
transfer of information between two channels. The Intel PRO/1000T
IP Storage Adapter rests between the host and a Gigabit Ethernet
loop, freeing up server CPU cycles by taking over the TCP/IP stack
processing for the server.
"This is just a foundation for the market. Products and customers
are going to start testing them out. I think it's a good time to
introduce this, and it's an important move," said Jamie Gruener, an
analyst at the Yankee Group. "And it's significant in that it's
Intel."
During initial tests of the iSCSI adapter card, throughput on a SAN
set up by Intel was measured at 300mbps to 700mbps., using only 3%
to 5% server processor capacity. That compared with a typical
Ethernet adapter with a Pentium III chip, which used 100% of a
server's CPU capacity.
The only caveat is that there are a few target devices with which
the host bus adapter can currently interact because iSCSI remains
in the early deployment stage. IBM last year released an iSCSI RAID
storage device, and Cisco Systems began shipping an iSCSI router.
The Internet Engineering Task Force is expected to come out with an
iSCSI specification and protocol by June.
"We do see iSCSI in this stage as a workgroup or departmental-type
solution right now," said Blaine Kohl, Intel's director of
marketing for high-end servers at its LAN Access Division.
Alacritech announced last week that it, too, had created an
"integrated storage" network interface card that it used in its
Gigabit Ethernet server.
Paul Mattson, manager for IP SAN at IBM Storage Systems Group and
co-chairman of the Storage Networking Industry Association's IP
Storage Forum, said: "We expect customers that combine the power of
the IBM TotalStorage 200i and Intel's new adapter to realize
significantly reduced processor utilization."
The storage adapter has been released to manufacturing and will be
available next month for the suggested list price of $695 (£492),
or $3,125 (£2,214) in a pack of five.