ANDATACO Product Brief
RAPID-Tape & RAPID-Tape Stacker Arrays
To meet the performance, fault tolerance and capacity needs of demanding video,
geophysical and aerospace applications, ANDATACO offers RAPID-Tape arrays for UNIX servers and workstations. A cost effective alternative to expensive 3480, 3490 and D2 tape products; RAPID-Tape arrays incorporate industry standard 4mm, 8mm and Digital Linear Tape (DLT) tape drives as well as advanced Redundant Array of Parallel Independent Devices (RAPID) technology to provide up to four times the capacity and data transfer rate of a single tape drive.
RAPID-Tape includes up to five tape drives and an ANDATACO tape array controller packaged in either a desktop or rackmount enclosure. Together, they can appear to the host or network as a single tape drive with a storage capacity of up to
160GB and a sustained data transfer rate of up to four times the speed of conventional tape drives.
For increased capacity, RAPID-Tape is also available in stacker versions. Incorporating the most popular and reliable stackers, RAPID-Tape stacker arrays allow
storage of up to 1.12TB in desktop or rackmount enclosures.
All RAPID-Tape units include a variety of functions that are not
available in single tape drives or single stacker units. These
functions include the ability to stripe data to two or four drives.
Furthermore, all RAPID products are capable of striping with parity
for maximum protection of data. Parity allows the recreation of
stored data even if one of the tapes should be unavailable or
unreadable. The missing or damaged tape can be fully reconstructed
off-line, independent from the host.
Another unique function is the ability of each individual drive
to be accessed in pass-thru mode utilizing one SCSI ID with multiple
LUNs. Each RAPID subsystem includes a powerful set of diagnostics
that permit quick detection and isolation of failing components
to ensure maximum reliability.
To ensure your RAPID-Tape works reliably for years to come, ANDATACO
offers a full suite of support services including Express Exchange,
a Help Desk staffed by UNIX experts, as well as On-Site Installation
and Maintenance.

Summary of Key Features & Benefits
- Supports Multiple Tape Technologies including 4mm, 8mm and DLT.
- Capacity up to 1.12TB with a 4+1 array of DLT4700 stackers and 2:1 compression.
- Maximum Data Transfer Rate of up to 12 MB/second with a 4+1 array of DLT4000 drives. Actual data transfer rates depend on several factors including CPU, network bandwidth, source disk, files size, and others (see RAPID-Tape Performance.
- Crippled Channel capability on Striping with Parity which allows operations to continue even when one drive or tape becomes unusable.
- Up to Five Parallel Array Channels provide the parallelism behind the high data throughput.
- Mirroring allows up to five simultaneous copies.
- Data Striping assures maximum data throughput of the cumulative transfer rate of 2 or 4 tape drives.
- Data Striping with Parity adds parity information using an extra drive. Should one tape or drive fail, data can be reconstructed.
- Pass-thru mode allows independent access to any drive in the system through multiple LUNs on one SCSI ID.
- Menu driven Display for setup and configuration.
- Off-line Copy and Verify provides high speed media duplication operations via front panel. This process does not degrade system performance due to its independence from the host.
- Off-line Diagnostics perform read and write tests via the front panel.
- No device Drivers Required. A SCSI-1 and SCSI-2 compliant (wide/narrow) interface provides plug compatibility with a ride range of UNIX servers and workstations.
- Desktop & Rackmount enclosures to fit the space requirements of the office or a data center.
- User Replaceable Power Supplies allow for easy replacement of failed units.
RAPID-Tape Architecture
RAPID-Tape employs an innovative parallel tape architecture similar to RAID architectures offered in disk array products. The ANDATACO Tape Array Controller can stripe data and parity across as many as five drives to provide capacity, data transfer rates and fault tolerance far superior to individual tape drives.
The RAPID-Tape architecture includes a Fast, Wide SCSI-2 host interface allowing for a maximum transfer rate of 20MB/second.
The ANDATACO array controller inside each RAPID-Tape consists of an Array Interface and Array Controller. The array interface provides the connection between the tape drive array and the array controller. The array interface includes five single-ended SCSI tape drive channels, up to four for data and one for parity.
The RAPID-Tape Front Panel consists of a 4-line by 20-character display and a 4-button key pad which allows you to monitor the system as well as select operating modes and invoke off-line operations.
RAPID-Tape Architecture

RAPID-Tape Performance
The RAPID-Tape controller is designed to maximize the throughput
of a fast-wide SCSI-2 host interface at 20MB/Second. The actual
transfer rate of the RAPID-Tape array will vary depending on a
number of factors that may impact performance (see chart below).
The chart below illustrates the possible bottlenecks that effect
actual backup speeds. RAPID-Tape is a fast backup solution that
performs optimally in a fast environment.
Factors Effecting Tape Array Performance

Model 4000 DDS-2 4mm Tape Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Five DDS-2 Array tape drives
Fast-Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 4 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 32GB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Standard 19" rackmount enclosure
Redundant power supplies
Drive Pass-thru Mode
Offline Copy/Verify
Diagnostics
* Assumes 2:1 compression


Model 8000 8mm Tape Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Five 8mm tape drives
FasT-Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 4 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 56 GB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Standard 19" rackmount enclosure
Redundant power supplies
Drive Pass-thru Mode
Offline Copy/Verify
Diagnostics
* Assumes 2:1 compression


Model 6000 DLT2000XT Tape Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Up to five DLT 2000XT tape drives
Fast-Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 10 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 120 GB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Enclosure temperature indicator
Drive Activity indicators
Standard 19" rackmount enclosure
Redundant power supplies
Drive Pass-thru Mode
Offline Copy/Verify
Diagnostics
* Assumes 2:1 compression


Model 6000 DLT4000 Tape Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Up to five DLT4000 tape drives
Fast-Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 12 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 160 GB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Enclosure temperature indicator
Drive Activity indicators
Standard 19" rackmount enclosure
Redundant power supplies
Drive Pass-thru Mode
Offline Copy/Verify
Diagnostics
* Assumes 2:1 compression


RAPID-Tape Array Specifications

Model 6700 DLT2700XT Tape Stacker Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Up to five DLT 2700XT tape drive stackers
FAST Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 10 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 840 GB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Enclosure temperature indicator
Drive Activity indicators
Standard 19" rackmount enclosure
Redundant power supplies
Drive Pass-thru Mode
Offline Copy/Verify
Diagnostics
* Assumes 2:1 compression

Model 6700 DLT4700 Tape Stacker Array Family
Intelligent tape striping controller
Up to five DLT 4700 tape drive stackers
FAST Wide SCSI host interface
Maximum data transfer rate of 12 MB/second*
Maximum Capacity of 1.12TB*
Striping
Striping with Parity
Mirroring
Crippled Channel Operation
Bad Tape Reconstruction
Enclosure temperature indicator
Drive Activity indicators
* Assumes 2:1 compression

RAPID-Tape Stacker Array Specifications




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