CNT Charges Back to the Edge

Hoping to keep its edge in the SAN extension equipment market, CNT (Nasdaq: CMNT) today rolled out the latest generation of its flagship UltraNet Edge storage router line, claiming the new model boosts overall performance as it adds support for 2-Gbit/s Fibre Channel, Ficon, and FC routing, among other features.

The new model represents the biggest refresh to UltraNet since CNT first added Fibre Channel over IP (FCIP) support to its routers two years ago. One significant new feature of the UltraNet Edge 3000, to be generally available this week, is that it allows port-level configuration of protocols. Brian Larsen, CNT's senior director of connectivity and extension products, says this allows the same router to be used for multiple SAN extension applications.

"Before, units were either dedicated to disk or tape -- we've broken all those rules with the Edge 3000," he says. "It's a single platform, one model, that's configurable to customer needs." [Ed. note: The product should in no way be confused with The Edge, who is not in the least bit configurable.]

The four-port UltraNet Edge 3000 uses a new application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), replacing the field programmable gateway array (FPGA) chip CNT was using in previous models. Because of this, Larsen says, the raw performance of the unit has increased 30 to 40 percent -- from 55-65 MByte/s, up to 95-110 MByte/s. The router also includes new bandwidth-management features, including the ability to change application priority based on time of day.

CNT has also added multipoint routing of Fibre Channel traffic, with the ability to handle up to 256 LUN (logical unit number) connections per box and up to 12 UltraNet Edge 3000 routers in a network.Other vendors that offer competing SAN extension products include Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), McData Corp. (Nasdaq: MCDTA) -- which recently completed its acquisition of IP storage startup Nishan Systems -- and LightSand Communications Corp. (see Cisco Implants IP in SANs, McData Speeds Out IP Switch, and LightSand Buys SANcastle).

But unlike McData, which has decided to standardize with Internet Fibre Channel Protocol (iFCP), CNT says it's sticking with the more widely supported FCIP spec (see McData Sticking With iFCP).

CNT is using the F-port state change management specification in the Fibre Channel spec, which handles point-to-point connections, to provide application fault isolation in conjunction with FCIP. This feature allows device failures in a given Fibre Channel domain to be isolated, rather than propagated across a WAN link. McData offers this capability through the iFCP standard, and LightSand uses a similar technology called AR/DAT (autonomous region/domain address translation).

Larsen argues that McData is standing alone in its use of iFCP, while the rest of the industry is backing FCIP. "We're dispelling the fallacy that FCIP is not a good protocol to use," he says, adding: "Why would Cisco support it if they weren't sure it was going to be the industry standard?"

The UltraNet Edge 3000 is priced starting at $28,000 for a two-port device. CNT says Japanese carrier NTT Communications Corp. has deployed the router to offer a managed "WIDE SAN" service to its customers.Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch