SGI fires up fancy NAS for dummies

SGI has pumped out a fresh set of storage gear aimed at customers that would like a helping hand setting up large-scale NAS (network attached storage) systems.

The new InfiniteStorage Nexis NAS family of storage systems will start shipping in the next few weeks. The hardware ranges from a compact 2U/3TB system on up to systems with .5PBs of capacity. In all, there are about seven Nexis boxes available with various disk, capacity and feature options.

The latest NAS gear updates the NAS 4550 and 4050 systems released last year by SGI.

SGI claims to have made high-end NAS setups easier by combining its venerable XFS file system with a new InfiniteStorage Appliance Manager package. The GUI-based management software can handle most of your basic NAS retooling tasks and is easy enough for just about any admin to use, according to SGI. So, big businesses in need of serious storage horsepower but lacking IT geniuses can turn to SGI's software for help - in theory.

"InfiniteStorage Nexis NAS packages are designed for areas of enterprise HPC [high-performance computing] that include database transactions, data mining, media rich online social networks, departmental consolidation and vertical market applications including media production, oil and gas exploration, scientific and engineering modeling, business intelligence, satellite and medical imagery," SGI marketing manager Don Grabski told eWeek.

Then, Grabski took a deep breath and wondered if any other markets might exist that could benefit from SGI's storage genius. ®