sunflash-Distributed to mailing list sun/NC/north-carolina sunflash-Send requests, problems to owner-sunflash@suntri.east.sun.com ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Florida SunFlash New Disk Upgrades For SPARCcenter 2000 (2.9Gb) SunFLASH Vol 63 #37 March 1994 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 63.37 New Disk Upgrades For SPARCcenter 2000 (2.9Gb) Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation (SMCC) announces new mass storage upgrade options for customers upgrading to SPARCcenter(TM) 2000. These upgrades consist of the new 2.9-GB 5.25-inch Differential Fast/Wide SCSI-2 disk drive, which offers 38% more capacity than Sun's 2.1-GB DSCSI drive, and higher performance. Customers upgrading to SPARCcenter 2000 can trade in 2 or 4 of their old IPI disk drives and tray for the new drives and new tray, and can upgrade individual IPI disks to the 2.9-GB drive as well. (251 lines) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Also included in the upgrades is the new SBus Differential Fast/Wide Intelligent SCSI-2 (DWIS/S) Host Adapter. Further, SMCC announces the reclassification of current IPI disk upgrades to Sun's 2.1-GB DSCSI from discount category B to category A, with a concurrent repricing. QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS --------------------- Q. Other than the size of the disk, what are the benefits of the new 2.9-GB drive? A. FEATURES BENEFITS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2.9-GB drive ------------ 38% more capacity than previous Enables larger server configurations high-end disk drives Fast and Wide (20 MB/sec.) SCSI-2 More I/O throughput per SBus slot interface (16-bit device) and more disk capacity per SBus slot 3.7 - 5.4 MB/sec. internal data rate Better sequential I/O throughput than 2.1-GB DSCSI drives 10.5 msec average seek Faster random data access than many 5.5 msec average rotational latency 2+ GB drives Differential SCSI-2 (DSCSI) Enables large server configurations supports 25-meter SCSI buses and more configuration flexibility Advanced drive controller and Better I/O performance than third Sun-optimized firmware party drives Q. A customer also receives a new differential wide SCSI tray. What are its benefits? A. FEATURES BENEFITS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Differential Wide SCSI Drive Tray for Data Center Cabinets ---------------------------------------------------------- First Wide SCSI disk packaging for Brings the price/performance Sun(TM) data center systems benefits of the latest SCSI-2 technology to the data center Up to 17.4-GB per tray and Very high storage density in a Up to 34.8-GB per SBus slot compact package and more connectivity per SBus slot Two to 6 drives per tray, with easy Flexible growth mounting of additional drives Tray may be attached to 1 or 2 SCSI Configuration flexibility for tuning busses performance and connectivity according to application needs Front-accessible SCSI ID switches Easier installation and maintenance and status indicators High quality construction featuring High reliability for less down rugged mounting, auto-ranging heavy time duty power supply, and efficient cooling fans Q. How about the benefits of the new DWIS/S controller? A. FEATURES BENEFITS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SBus Differential Fast/Wide Intelligent SCSI-2 (DWIS/S) Host Adapter -------------------------------------------------------------------- Differential Fast/Wide SCSI-2 Connectivity to highest performance Host Adapter SCSI disk drives Built-in intelliget RISC controller Improves system CPU utilization per I/O operation by up to 30%, which improves over all system performance Fast and Wide (20 MB/sec.) SCSI-2 More I/O throughput per SBus slot interface (16-bit address) and twice as many disks per SBus slot Q. Are the 2.9-GB drives compatible with the existing SBus Fast Differential SCSI-2/Buffered Ethernet (DSBE/S) Card? A. Under Solaris(R) 2.3, the 2.9-GB drive is compatible with DSBE/S. However, Sun recommends using 2.9-GB drive with DWIS/S card for optimal performance. Q. Can customers add the new 2.9-GB drives to existing 2.1-GB DSCSI Tray? A. No. Because of the differences between narrow and wide SCSI cabling (internal), the 2.9-GB drives and the 2.1-GB DSCSI drives cannot be mixed in a single tray. Q. Is the DWIS/S card compatible with the existing 2.1-GB DSCSI disk? A. Under Solaris 2.3, the DWIS/S card is compatible with the 2.1-GB DSCSI disk that has the latest firmware in narrow mode only. However, Sun recommends using DWIS/S card with 2.9-GB drive for optimal performance. Q. How much DSCSI capacity is supported on the SPARCcenter 2000 server? A. Under Solaris 2.3, 678.6-GB is supported. As many as 20 DWIS/S cards and 39 Differential Wide Data Center Trays are supported in the Expansion Cabinet. The trays may be mounted in either the System or Expansion Cabinets. The SPARCcenter 2000 System Cabinet can accomodate up to 3 DSCSI Trays. Q. Why is SMCC reclassifying the current IPI to 2.1-GB DSCSI upgrades to category A discount? A. Most SMCC mass storage and memory products were recently reclassified to category A discounts. Mass storage upgrades are reclassifying to maintain consistency. Q. Will a customer pay more for IPI upgrades to 2.1-GB DSCSI upgrades with this repricing? A. No. The repricing was done to ensure customers would not pay more given the new category A discount. Q. What should a customer return to SMCC when ordering one of these ugprades? Customer Orders Customer Receives Customer Returns --------------- ----------------- ---------------- UG-IPI-DSCSI29-1 One 2.9GB DSCSI disk One 911 MB, 1.3GB or 1GB IPI disk UG-IPI-DSCSI29-2 Two 2.9GB DSCSI disks Two IPI disks (from above list) and IPI controller UG-IPI-DSCSI29-4 Four 2.9GB DSCSI disks Four IPI disks (from above list) and IPI controller HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS ---------------------------------- The DWIS/S card and the 2.9GB DSCSI drives require Solaris 2.3 operating environment or higher. PRICING AND ORDERING INFORMATION -------------------------------- Disk Upgrades for SC2000 Upgrade Customers ------------------------------------------ List SunSpectrum Description Marketing I/D Price Silver Price ----------- ------------- ----- ------------ Single IPI disk upgrade to UG-IPI-DSCSI29-1 $3,150/A n/c 2.9-GB disk. Two disk IPI upgrade to 2 UG-IPI-DSCSI29-2 $10,595/A n/c 2.9-GB disks, including tray and DWIS/S card. Four disk IPI upgrade to UG-IPI-DSCSI29-4 $16,495/A n/c 4 2.9-GB disks, including tray and DWIS/S card. Repricing of current IPI disk upgrades: --------------------------------------- List Spectrum Description Marketing I/D Price Silver ----------- ------------- ----- -------- Single IPI disk upgrade to UG-IPI-DSCSI-1 $2,675/A n/c 2.1-GB DSCSI disk. Two disk IPI upgrade to 2 UG-IPI-DSCSI-2 $7,950/A n/c 2.1-GB DSCSI disks, including tray and DSBE/S card. Four disk IPI upgrade to 4 UG-IPI-DSCSI-4 $13,000/A n/c 2.1-GB DSCSI disks, including tray and DSBE/S card. (c) 1993 Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Sun Microsystems Computer Corporation, and Solaris are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. All SPARC trademarks, including the SCD Compliant Logo, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SPARC International, Inc. SPARCcenter is licensed exclusively to Sun Microsystems, Inc. Products bearing SPARC trademarks are based upon an architecture developed by Sun Microsystems, Inc. All other product or service names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners. ********************************************************************** For information about SunFlash send mail to info-sunflash@Sun.COM. Subscription requests should be sent to sunflash-request@Sun.COM. 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