Dot Hill Brings New Features, Functionality to Storage Arrays

PRESS RELEASE – LONGMONT, Colo., June 23, 2015 – Dot Hill Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: HILL), a trusted supplier of innovative enterprise-class storage systems, today announced that Dot Hill’s next-generation RealStor™ storage operating system is now available with all AssuredSAN^® 3004 arrays. This break-through innovation, combined with enterprise-level features and functionality delivered at a very cost-effective price point, enables Dot Hill OEM partners to compete effectively with hybrid cache-only arrays on the market.

Ideal for remote and branch offices, small businesses, general purpose server applications (Web, file, database, email) and backup appliances, AssuredSAN 3004 arrays with RealStor allow OEMs to deliver entry-level storage systems with enterprise-level features such as faster disk rebuilds, easy-to-manage pooled storage, cost-optimized provisioning and SSD read-cache performance at a starting price point of less than $10,000.

“Research shows that storage IT decision makers are looking for highly reliable storage at the lowest price per terabyte and solutions that optimize application performance for key business processes. They also want features that reduce operational costs such as staff, power and cooling requirements,” said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president, products and solutions, Dot Hill. “In a VMware environment, the 3004 array can support three times the number of VM’s at half the cost per VM when SSD caching is enabled. With RealStor technology, our 3000 Series hybrid storage systems deliver real-time access to data for constantly changing workloads common in virtualized SMB environments and workloads associated with the Internet of Things and third platform technologies.” 

 “Small businesses invariably don’t have the resources to dedicate to managing storage systems,” said Mark Peters, practice director and senior analyst at ESG. “Featuring an improved user interface in its RealStor storage operating system, Dot Hill has made significant improvements to the total user experience. AssuredSAN 3004 solutions are easier than ever to install and manage, without requiring storage experts.”

Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3004 storage systems are available with multiple host interface options including Dot Hill’s unique, flexible 16Gb Fibre Channel/10Gb iSCSI converged interface as well as a new two-port 12Gb SAS interface option.

 RealStor features include these advantages:

• RealCache allows solid-state device (SSD) cache to become an extension of the controller cache, increasing effective cache capacity by up to 100 times.
• RealPool enables users to simplify system management without complex policy settings to allow configuration for capacity expansion in less than 10 minutes with no downtime.
• RealThin thin provisioning optimizes capacity management and offers file-system integrated space reclamation which reduces the cost of capacity investments by up to 50 percent.
• RealSnap virtual snapshots dramatically streamline the action of creating point-in-time images, providing capabilities to snap volumes multiple times with no performance impact, resulting in improved backup and recovery.
• RealQuick rebuild improves system uptime and data protection by reducing the risk of data loss after a drive failure and providing up to 10 times faster restore time.

About AssuredSAN 3004 Storage Solutions

Dot Hill AssuredSAN 3004 solutions are built on the company’s proven RAID architecture with sustained sequential read performance of up to 3,300 MB/second, writes of up to 2,400 MB/second and 40,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) from disk. The Dot Hill RAID Companion Processor (RCP) allows AssuredSAN 3004 solutions to deliver dramatic performance gains at very aggressive price points. Unlike some competitive arrays that utilize an active-passive controller design, all AssuredSAN arrays support dual active-active controllers for the highest reliability and availability. Dot Hill’s latest firmware utilizes a proprietary Adaptive Read-Ahead Algorithm that analyzes workloads and fine-tunes options for optimal performance, delivering better response times to meet IT service level agreements. For future upgrades, 3004 customers can upgrade to 4004 controllers, with no data migration, and achieve performance up to 120,000 IOPS for transaction-oriented workloads.

About Dot Hill

Leveraging its proprietary AssuredSAN family of hybrid storage solutions with RealStor—the next generation real-time storage operating system—Dot Hill solves today’s storage workload challenges created by the Internet of Things and third platform technologies. In today’s interconnected world, Dot Hill storage solutions support people accessing information, and machines collecting sensor data—all in real time. Dot Hill’s solutions combine innovative intelligent software with the industry’s most flexible and extensive hardware platform and simplified management to deliver best-in-class solutions. Headquartered in Longmont, Colo., Dot Hill has offices and/or representatives in the United States, Europe, and Asia. For more information, contact Dot Hill at http://www.dothill.com/ or @Dot_Hill.