CalDigit Now Shipping the HDPro 8 bay RAID Tower Solution

hdpro_d_00002.jpg(July, 30, 2007 Placentia, CA) CalDigit, a leader in storage is now shipping the HDPro Tower & Rack Mount 8 bay HDPro RAID storage solution.

With capacities from 2.0TB up to 8.0TB, the HDPro is a high performance storage solution at under $2 per gigabyte including host interface card and all the accessories. When you have a need for large storage for your HD projects, or large media files, database, photos, images, the HDPro is your storage solution. Offering RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 with the HDPro you’ll have safe & reliable operation all in one package, warranted for 3 years by a leader in HD storage, CalDigit Inc.

Prices start at $3999 for a 2TB system which includes a CalDigit Controller Card. “With the overwhelming success of the field – proven HDPro Rack Mount version, we’re very please to be announce the much anticipated HDPro Tower is now shipping”, said Jon Schilling, Account Manager of CalDigit Inc.

The CalDigit HDPro’s unique architecture combines the best in value with the newest technology. The HDPro works with MacPro, G5, Mac OS X Server, Windows, and Linux workstations as well as other platforms.

High Speed, Lost Cost, with Virtually Unlimited Capacity
Ready to use with ease of setup and the ultimate in reliability built right in, each system hold up to 8 drive modules in a rack mount enclosure or tower. The swappable functionality of the HDPro allows user to upgrade the drive capacity as needed. There is no capacity limitation to any single chassis. The CalDigit HDPro features SATA 3Gb/s and up to 16MB cache drives for the speed to meet the demands of the most up-to-date video & content editing software. Each 7200-RPM SATA hard drive connects to a dedicated SATA channel to eliminate bottlenecks and maximize the 3Gb/s native SATA connection. With up to 20Gb interface to the host, the HDPro offers 2.5 times faster bandwidth of 4Gb fibre-channel. As you add drives, HDPro scales in both capacity and performance. With our newest software revision, this powerhouse delivers up to 400MB/s PEAK in RAID 5.

RAID Protection
With single parity in RAID 5 mode, the HDPro features an advanced distributed parity algorithm, accessing data and parity blocks across all the drives in the disk array, this removes the limitation that the dedicated parity drive represents in RAID 3, improving write and read performance in RAID 5, HDPro can rebuild itself in the event of one drive failing. When configured in RAID 6 mode, fault tolerance is maintained by the world class CalDigit RAID engine ensuring that the parity information for any given block of data is placed on TWO drives separate from those used to store the data itself. Such double protection is to protect your valuable data even if two drives fail.

Up to 400MB/s. Ultra-fast Sustained data rate.
With a revolutionary 20Gb storage interface, the HDPro delivers up to 400MB/s in RAID 5.

24 hours a day/ 7 days a week/ 365 days a year
The CalDigit HDPro is designed for nonstop operation, with uninterrupted access to your critical data. All components are modular in design & can be replaced quickly with a minimum amount of downtime and give you protection and replacement options to continue to work without losing data or interrupting your project.

Modular Designed Components, Hot Swappable Power
Redundant hot-swappable power supplies, fan, drive modules, enable the system to keep running even if one module were to fail. All active components are modular and designed to be switched in and out of place in seconds all without tools and no interruption of service. Managing the activities of your HDPro is easy with CalDigit’s intuitive LED visual feedback which allows you to easily monitor your RAID’s status with status and indicator lights on the front panel of the unit which gives you status at a glance for fans, drives and power. There is an audible signal to signal any system, controller, drive failure.

Self Monitoring and Reporting Technology.
Should you experience a fan failure, or a drive failure, the CalDigit HDPro solution will notify you audibly through your computers speakers & will also generate an e-mail notifying you of such a condition even if you are offsite of your RAID’s location. Built with redundant & swappable components, drives, power supplies and fans the HDPro is the best choice for both the discerning Video editors and professionals who are looking for nexpensive storage with reliability & minimal of downtime.

An Industry Breakthrough 20Gb/s Interface that leaves SCSI & Fibre Channel Speeds in it’s dust
Unlike Fibre Channel, SCSI, FireWire and eSATA RAID storage, the CalDigit HDPro is using a direct connection to the computers bridge chip and memory system combined with high link speeds. This direct link eliminates latency introduced by the conversion of other interfaces and provides superior bandwidth, availability and deployment flexibility over earlier-generation SCSI and Fibre Channel technology.

The CalDigit controller card includes error correction, and adapts to the speed of the slot automatically. CalDigit HDPro features up to 20Gb bandwidth for ultra-fast data transport between the storage system and the host computer. You get both superb speeds and reliable bandwidth for high-speed data transfer.

The Hefty Cache keeps pumping the data without taking a breath
Because of HDPro’s sustained and high speed data transfer rate, the size of controller cache can act as a bottleneck. For example, the video playback does not keep up with your movements on the timeline, and lag behind. Larger cache size keeps up with you as you edit and buffer the video files. For the critical application, you can increase HDPro controller cache up to 2GB.

Editing on the Go
Many RAID solutions in the marketplace can only be used on your desktop workstation. Because the RAID processor is in the HDPro, the HDPro in combination with the ExpressCard frees you from your studio for editing on the go. This also means that the external RAID storage for your laptop is no longer limited to FireWire and USB connectivites.

The CalDigit ExpressCard easily plugs your HDPro into your MacBook Pro, or PC laptop, and enables you to edit DVCProHD, DVCAM, HDV, uncompressed SD and up to 10 bit uncompressed HD.

Reliability is the Key
We understand that the key element to the success of your projects is reliability. Although the technology behind hard drives has greatly improved, failures can & do happen. The idea of course is that when a drive or component failure has happened that your downtime is kept to the minimum. CalDigit offers in it’s RAID products, modular design, which allows for the user to replace any failed component without having to resort to sending the unit back to the manufacturer for repair.

See the HDPro at IBC
The HDPro will be featured at the CalDigit’s booth # 7.129 at IBC in Amsterdam in September 7-11th of 2007. CalDigit will also be the exclusive storage provider for Matrox at their booth # 7.228 at the IBC show and CalDigit products will also be in several other locations at the show.

Demo video files are available which contain more information on this fast and reliable product at http://www.caldigit.com/hdpro.asp