EMC aims to bridge the gap between entry and mid-range storage arrays with its latest Clariion line release, the AX4.
Product manager Clive Gold says it is a substantial improvement over the previous AX150 offering, with enhanced scalability, ease of administration and a lot more built into the operating system.
“We’ve continued to build more wizards in to make it simpler to use. There are substantial hardware changes, as it now has serial attached drives.
“With the 150 you could add up to 12 drives, but now there’s an option to expand and scale up to 60.”
The AX4 is also designed for small and medium businesses looking to virtualise, and can integrate with VMWare infrastructure capabilities.
An entry-level configuration with five disks and a single controller costs $8599.
“[The box] spans the entry-level and mid-tier systems without the price penalty or a performance and functionality penalty,” Gold says.
EMC partner Dell is also offering the product under the AX4-5 name
