Active Storage has introduced a device for Xsan installations with a look and pedigree that should satisfy even the most stalwart Xserve holdouts. The ActiveSAN is expected to be released some time in the second quarter of 2011.
[ad#Google Adsense 300×250 in story]While the ActiveSAN isn’t a complete parity replacement for the Xserve, it does fill an important niche where Xserves are commonly used: as a Storage Area Network (SAN) metadata controller.
The Xserve is, of course, no more – January 31, 2011 marked the official end of the line for Apple’s venerable server product. Xserves – long known for being bulletproof, trouble-free rack-mounted servers – will surely continue to chug along for years to come, but organizations interested in new installations need to find new solutions.
“The Xserve is a bulletproof metadata controller,” said Alex Grossman, CEO of Active Storage. “Everybody uses Xsan, and Apple has done a terrific job of getting it out there.”
While Grossman’s company produces devices that ostensibly compete with Xserve installations, he speaks of the Xserve with a certain level of parental pride, as well. He’s a former senior director at Apple where he was responsible for the development of products including the Xserve.
The ActiveSAN is designed for Xsan and Quantum StorNext RAID installations. It sports a 1U rack profile and an industrial look that is remarkably evocative of the Xserve, though Grossman insists the resemblance is coincidental. The ActiveSAN is created to be a plug-and-play replacement for an Xserve as a metadata controller.
“Literally out of the gate, you plug our box in, our software copies information in from the Xserve and you’re up and running,” said Grossman.
Although the ActiveSAN looks like an Xserve, it doesn’t run Mac OS X. Instead, it’s running a Linux installation. Also under the hood is an an Intel Quad-core Xeon microprocessor, 8GB of RAM, an available PCI-e expansion slot, dual-port 8Gb Fibre Channel card, mirrored 1TB hard drives, hot-swappable power supplies, 4 USB 2.0 ports, a serial port for connecting to an uninterruptible power supply, VGA graphics port, and lights out management capabilities.
Pricing has not yet been announced.