Introducing FirmTek's Flexible SeriTek/1VE2+2 2-Port Internal, 2-Port External Serial ATA PCI-X Host Adapter
FirmTek Announces the Immediate Availability of Their Latest High-Performance PCI-X SATA Host Adapter for the Macintosh
Union City, CA (PRWEB) June 24, 2005 -- FirmTek, LLC, the leading developer
of ATA host adapter solutions for Apple's Macintosh, announced today the
immediate availability of their newest Serial ATA host adapter: the four-port
SeriTek/1VE2+2 featuring external and internal ports. This solution joins
FirmTek's expansive and innovative line of Serial ATA solutions, which already
includes the world's first Serial ATA adapters for the Macintosh supporting
internal and external drives, the SeriTek "1S" and "1V" series, as well as the
award-winning SeriTek/1EN2 external enclosure.
The SeriTek/1VE2+2 is
designed with a 133MHz PCI-X interface to deliver extreme Power Mac G5
performance with high-performance compatibility on all other PCI-based
Macintoshes. It features direct booting from any attached hard drive or volume,
hot-swap capability, support for native Mac OS X RAID 0/1 (mirroring or
striping), and it works with OS 8, OS 9, and OS X 10.1.5 and later on any PCI
bus-based machine intended to run those OSs.
SeriTek/1VE2+2
Specifics:
This adapter offers four Serial ATA ports; two for internal drives
and two for external. These ports are independently controlled to maximize
performance at all times. The two external ports are fully shielded and support
hot-swapping of drives at any time. This innovation allows for the quick
connection of storage to virtually any PCI-based Macintosh for any number of
applications, and the hot-swap feature means that multiple users or applications
can share the same machine without rebooting between projects. Even a fully
operational RAID volume can be unmounted, disconnected, and replaced with
another volume without powering the Macintosh down, a feature pioneered by
FirmTek. This can be especially useful in applications where large files like
streaming HD video, or other media, are being captured and created.
With
legacy G4 platforms, including most of the "Sawtooth" varieties of Power
Macintosh, SeriTek storage solutions are capable of outpacing the system bus,
where earlier storage technologies were slower than the G4 processor. This leap
in throughput results in impressive performance when the processor is fully
utilized. While the original Sawtooth machines will often exhibit throughput in
excess of 130MB/sec, the later Digital Audio, Quicksilver and MDD systems
deliver RAID performance nearly equivalent to the latest G5 towers. Given these
older systems'greater internal storage capacities, this will be important for
many video professionals and network managers seeking to maximize performance as
well as storage capacity.
"The new SeriTek/1VE2+2 will give Macintosh
users another option for next-generation storage, this one focused on
flexibility," said Chi Kim Stanford, Vice President of Business Development for
FirmTek. "With two internal and two external ports, users can now install
permanent, high-performance volumes and support flexible hot-swappable external
solutions without tying up two slots. This is ideal for users who see the value
in both approaches, but can't accommodate a two-card solution due to budget or
space constraints. As with our other products, each drive can be configured
individually, striped with others using OS X's disk utility, or configured as
high-performance RAID sets with third party solutions such as SoftRAID. This
introduction furthers our belief that Mac users need the freedom to store their
data their way."
For users considering the switch to Serial ATA for the
first time, the SeriTek/1VE2+2 offers the key benefits of speed and capacity
with remarkable flexibility and ease of service. With drives now surpassing
500GB each, there are few applications with requirements too extreme for the
latest SeriTek models. When formatted and controlled by Mac OS X's RAID
software, today's high-performance drives support the storage of uncompressed
high-definition streaming video, which was nearly impossible to accomplish on
desktop systems before the arrival of Serial ATA. The easy and accessible
cabling of Serial ATA drives also makes installing and servicing them a snap
when compared to their predecessors.
SeriTek/1VE2+2 Key Features and
Benefits:
- Four independently controlled Serial ATA ports; 2 internal and 2
external
- Exclusive hot-swap capability of stand-alone drives and entire
RAID volumes; add and remove drives without shutting down the computer
-
Latest 133MHz PCI-X interface technology
- Compatible with all PCI-based
Power Macintosh computers; deliver top performance on "Sawtooth" G4, and all G5
computers
- Supports direct booting from any attached drive
- Boosts
overall system performance with data transfer rates of up to 150MBytes/sec or
1.5Gbits/sec per port
- Supports Mac OS 8, OS 9, and OS X version 10.1.5 or
later
- Provides performance and protection: Supports native OS X RAID 0/1;
OS
9 RAID with third party software
- User-upgradeable firmware for easy
updates
- Large LBA support for drives larger than 137GB
- Includes two
"designed for Macintosh" thin and flexible internal SATA data cables to allow
easy, optimal placement of internal devices
- Ideal for backing up large
amounts of data - perfect for multimedia-intensive applications: audio/video
capture and editing, graphics manipulation and high-end digital
publishing
Pricing and Availability:
FirmTek's SeriTek/1VE2+2 Serial
ATA host adapter is available now and priced at USD $139.95 (SATA-1VE2+2).
Specially priced bundles with external enclosures are available. For more
information on these and other storage solutions, please visit FirmTek's website
at www.firmtek.com.
About FirmTek:
Headquartered in
Silicon Valley and founded in 1998 by former Apple engineers, FirmTek is the
leading hardware and firmware research and development company focusing on
Macintosh ATA storage technologies. The company takes pride in developing the
most reliable and compatible high performance enhancement solutions, offered
through FirmTek's OEM partners and worldwide distribution channels. For
information regarding FirmTek's products and operations, visit FirmTek's website
at www.firmtek.com.
Contact Information:
Chi Kim
Stanford
FirmTek, LLC
www.firmtek.com
FirmTek, UltraTek, AV-Tek, SeriTek
names and logotypes are trademarks of FirmTek, LLC. Apple, Macintosh, Power
Macintosh, Mac OS 8.X, OS 9.X, OS X, and the Mac logo are registered trademarks
of Apple Computer, Incorporated. SoftRAID is a trademark of SoftRAID,
LLC.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2005/6/prweb254270.htm