Comments on: Sun’s X4500 Architecture http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/ Data storage info & analysis Mon, 13 Oct 2008 13:39:20 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: Robert Pearson http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/#comment-3995 Robert Pearson Sun, 23 Jul 2006 08:39:11 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=199#comment-3995 I have just made my first pass through the preliminary announcements for the "Thumper". I am excited! This looks very much like Gene Amdahl's conceptual Storage box design I saw in 1998 and never saw again. The comments at "http://www.c0t0d0s0.org/archives/1792-Do-it-yourself-X4500.html#extended" set my alert bell ringing. In particular the comment: "Now you have a different problem. Find a PCI-X board with 3 logical separate PCI-X busses. Every configuration sharing busses will see the bottleneck described . So you have to find a board with two AMD8132 Bridges, something i doubt you find on el-cheapo mainboards." There were some implementation problems with Gene Amdahl's design but the concept was breath-taking. So is the "Thumper". I have just made my first pass through the preliminary announcements for the “Thumper”.
I am excited!
This looks very much like Gene Amdahl’s conceptual Storage box design I saw in 1998 and never saw again. The comments at “http://www.c0t0d0s0.org/archives/1792-Do-it-yourself-X4500.html#extended”
set my alert bell ringing. In particular the comment:
“Now you have a different problem. Find a PCI-X board with 3 logical separate PCI-X busses. Every configuration sharing busses will see the bottleneck described . So you have to find a board with two AMD8132 Bridges, something i doubt you find on el-cheapo mainboards.”

There were some implementation problems with Gene Amdahl’s design but the concept was breath-taking. So is the “Thumper”.

]]> By: Robert Pearson http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/#comment-3993 Robert Pearson Sun, 23 Jul 2006 08:11:24 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=199#comment-3993 I found this interesting entry at: > "The new metric I find I’m measuring what used to be considered huge amounts of data not in Megabytes, or Gigabytes, or even Terabytes, but in “thumpers”, with a thumper equaling 24 terabytes of raw storage. 48TB is 2 thumpers For those that aren’t familiar a thumper is and why I would associate it with 24 TB of data you can get more information at x4500 aka thumpers home page posted by jamesd_wi at Thursday, July 13, 2006 0 comments" Anybody think this will catch on? I found this interesting entry at:
>

“The new metric

I find I’m measuring what used to be considered huge amounts of data not in Megabytes, or Gigabytes, or even Terabytes, but in “thumpers”, with a thumper equaling 24 terabytes of raw storage.

48TB is 2 thumpers

For those that aren’t familiar a thumper is and why I would associate it with 24 TB of data you can get more information at x4500 aka thumpers home page

posted by jamesd_wi at Thursday, July 13, 2006 0 comments”

Anybody think this will catch on?

]]> By: Robin Harris http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/#comment-3966 Robin Harris Sat, 22 Jul 2006 20:08:09 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=199#comment-3966 Evidently, neither does Sun! Sun has a long history of lousy storage marketing. I competed against them when I was at DEC, worked there for several years and have since watched the circus continue unabated. I hope Schwartz and Yen can turn this around after years of McNealy's indifference. We'll see. In my <a href=http://www.computerworld.com/blogs/node/2984 target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Computerworld blog</a> I commented a bit about why you won't hear about this from Sun. Seems like I was more right than I knew. One solution would be for Schwartz to ask Andy Bechtolscheim, a Sun co-founder, to set up a small, dedicated "Data Appliance" marketing team reporting to him. Andy's no marketing guy, but he has a visceral instinct for what makes sense and the X4500 makes loads of sense. He's also got the clout to protect a nascent product line from the infighting that sucks the life out of most Sun marketing. A small "Data Appliance" guerilla marketing team, 3-5 people, is all that is needed. Get it rolling with the smartest customers and the battle is half won. Evidently, neither does Sun!

Sun has a long history of lousy storage marketing. I competed against them when I was at DEC, worked there for several years and have since watched the circus continue unabated. I hope Schwartz and Yen can turn this around after years of McNealy’s indifference. We’ll see.

In my Computerworld blog I commented a bit about why you won’t hear about this from Sun. Seems like I was more right than I knew.

One solution would be for Schwartz to ask Andy Bechtolscheim, a Sun co-founder, to set up a small, dedicated “Data Appliance” marketing team reporting to him. Andy’s no marketing guy, but he has a visceral instinct for what makes sense and the X4500 makes loads of sense. He’s also got the clout to protect a nascent product line from the infighting that sucks the life out of most Sun marketing. A small “Data Appliance” guerilla marketing team, 3-5 people, is all that is needed. Get it rolling with the smartest customers and the battle is half won.

]]> By: M.E. http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/#comment-3939 M.E. Sat, 22 Jul 2006 11:15:05 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=199#comment-3939 Booked a meeting with our Sun Account / Tech Rep, mentioned I was interested in the cheap storage options of the Sun X4500. I am thinking real cheap NFS Vmware (ESX 3) Dev storage. Anyways, he brings along the Sun Storage Guy to the meeting and they try to sell me some NAS gear. Basically hardly spoke about the x4500. They called the X4500 a "Data Server" - I have no idea what that is! Booked a meeting with our Sun Account / Tech Rep, mentioned I was interested in the cheap storage options of the Sun X4500. I am thinking real cheap NFS Vmware (ESX 3) Dev storage.

Anyways, he brings along the Sun Storage Guy to the meeting and they try to sell me some NAS gear. Basically hardly spoke about the x4500.

They called the X4500 a “Data Server” - I have no idea what that is!

]]> By: Tatjana Heuser http://storagemojo.com/2006/07/19/suns-x4500-architecture/#comment-3763 Tatjana Heuser Thu, 20 Jul 2006 12:14:50 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/?p=199#comment-3763 Let's hope it's lugged to try and buy customers soon, and I'm sure I'm not the only one eager to read their reports! Let’s hope it’s lugged to try and buy customers soon, and I’m sure I’m not the only one eager to read their reports!

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