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February 25, 1998

Hitachi Releases Disk Array Subsystem Using the World's Fastest Disk Drives

- With twice the performance of current models, can be used for mainframes and open systems -

The continuing move toward wide-ranging deregulation is giving rise to the development of new businesses, while at the same time, the ability of a company to be able to offer existing and potential customers a full array of services is an essential element for success against the competition. This has led to a massive increase in demand for systems that enable corporations to process and manipulate giant databases at high speed. International Data Corporation estimates that by year 2001, the worldwide market for disk array subsystems will be 450 thousand terabytes, eighteen times larger than in 1997.

To cope in this new environment, there is also a need for seamless integration between the existing mainframe-based and open systems-based new systems such as datawarehouse systems, which is generating strong demand for disk storage subsystems that can be used with both types of systems.

Hitachi began shipping disk array subsystems for open systems in 1992, and followed this with disk array subsystems for mainframe environments in 1995. Hitachi continued to enhance the functionality of these products, and in 1997 started shipping disk array subsystems that can be used with both types of platform.

The H-6593/6596, the most advanced disk array subsystem, is comprised of 6.1-gigabyte hard-disk drives that rotate at 12, 030 rpm, making these the world's fastest disk drives. The use of 32-channel data paths provides a four-fold improvement in data transfer capabilities between host and disk subsystem. The overall result is up to a two-fold improvement in performance over current subsystems, and a maximum subsystem storage capacity of 3 terabytes, which is four times larger than that of present subsystems.

These increases in performance and storage capacity translate into dramatic improvements in large-scale database processing performance that will enable companies to provide customers with faster, more comprehensive services, and to support the development of new businesses. The H-6593/6596 can be used not only with Hitachi computers but also with mainframes made by other companies, as well as UNIX servers, PC servers and other open systems, making it possible to exchange data between both types of platform. For open systems, the H-6593/6596 also supports a Fibre-Channel interface (FC-AL) with data transfer rates of up to 100 megabytes a second.

^*Performance comparisons are to Hitachi's H-6592/6595 disk array storage subsystem.

Pricing^** and availability
1. H-6593/6596 Disk Array Subsystem

Pricing (per month):	From 2.62 million yen
	(RAID5 system with 9. 2-GB drives)
Availability:	End of March 1998

2. WDCP/ES Staticizer software

Pricing (per month):	90,000 yen
Availability:	End of April 1998

^**With respect to the software, the License Charge by Usage Tier system(LC/UT) is applied. Pricing is the monthly charge when used with the MP5600/180 processor.

Trademarks
-UNIX is a registered trademark licensed exclusively by X/ Open Company Ltd. in the U.S. and other countries.
-Other names of companies, organizations and products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Main Specifications of the H-6593/6596 Disk Array Subsystems

1. Host Interface and Maximum Data Transfer Rate

- Mainframe:	ACONARC (17 MB/s), BLMPX (9 MB/s)
- Open Systems:	SCSI*1-2 (40 MB/s), Fibre Channel (100 MB/s)

2. RAID Levels Supported and RAID Configurations

- 9.2 GB Drive:	RAID5 (6D+1P), RAID1 (1D+1P)
- 18.4 GB Drive:	RAID5 (3D+1P)
- 6.1 GB Drive:	RAID5 (3D+1P), RAID1 (1D+1P)

3. Cache Capacity

- 2356 MB to 16 GB

4. Subsystem Capacity

- Mainframe:	11 GB*2 to 2,943 GB*3
- Open Systems:	9 GB*4 to 2, 963 GB*5

5. Disk Drive Specifications (Custom RAID Drives for Mainframes)

- Physical Drive Capacity:	9.2 GB	18.4GB	6.1GB
- Average Seek Time:	11.5 ms	11.5 ms	6 ms*6
- Average Latency:	4.76 ms	4.76 ms	2.49 ms
- Data Transfer Rate(MB/s):	7.6 to 10.7	9.9 to 15.2	13. 7 to 16.0

6. Physical Specifications (mm)

- Width:	718 (DKC)/ 550 (DKU)
- Depth:	800
- Height:	1,790

7. Power Consumption

- 0.014 W/MB

Notes:
*1: Small Computer Systems Interface
*2: RAID1, H-6588/87-3 emulation
*3: RAID5, H-6588/87-3 emulation
*4: RAID1, logical unit size: 2.4 GB
*5: RAID5, logical unit size: 7.3 GB
*6: Read operation

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