LSI Releases Update to 3994 Controller

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LSI has announced the release of a new enhancement to their 3994 controller model.  The new version, called the 4900, offers dual controllers and an interface bump to 8Gbps fibre channel connectivity.  Just like its 3994 predecessor, the 4900 can host up to 112 disk drives using the FC4600 disk shelves commonly found throughout the LSI disk products.  Mixtures of SATA [up to 1TB] and fibre channel drives are permitted.  Connectivity can also be enhanced via four 1Gbps Ethernet iSCSI ports.  You heard it, the controller supports native iSCSI.

Customers with previous LSI Engenio arrays using the 4600 disk shelf can use these shelves if they migrate to a 4900. LSI says that four 3994 arrays – with 3.8TB of 10K FC drive capacity and 26TB of SATA drives – can be replaced by a single 4900, with a 64 per cent decrease in power and cooling costs and a 62 per cent reduction in rack space. Your mileage may vary.

LSI says all the changes will bump baseline performance as well.  Read IOPS jumped 25% to 50,000 and read bandwidth jumped 60% to 1.6GB/s.  For more info on the new disk digs, read the full article at TheRegister here.