Accusys > Product > Rackmount ExaRAID HD > Overview

Why PCIe?

PCIe high-tech specification, which provides 250MB/s bandwidth in each channel , the ExaRAID HD has four and eight data transmission channels that is the reason why ExaRAID HD can reach 10Gb/s and 20Gb/s bandwidth. Comparing with Firewire technology’s 250~300MB/s throughput rate,ExaRAID is far faster. The ExaRAID HD’ high performance not only stands for maximizing the utilization of every HDD but also represents the quality、standard and efficiency at film editing process for media workgroup.

Performance of PCIe 1.1

	單向通道頻寬	總頻寬
PCIe X1	250MB/s	0.25Gb
PCIe X4	250MB/s X4	10Gb
PCIe X8	250MB/s X8	20Gb

Designed with Dual Controller

The ExaRAID HD system uses Intel Xscale technology and is a pure Hardware RAID solution. The ExaRAID HD family of products includes 2U 12-bays, 3U 16-bays and 4U 24-bays. The 3U and 4U RAID systems are configured with single-controller and dual independent controller systems. ExaRAID can be used on any of the latest hard disk specifications. Single RAID controller and dual independent RAID controllers can be equipped with a maximum of 2Gigabytes 64bit DDR II cache memory, with battery backup modules to prevent data loss during abnormal shutdown.

The most extreme and outstanding Performance
Disk array system for streaming environment demand

ExaRAID HD is an innovative, highly efficient and cost-effective solution for the entire broadcast and post-production market. External PCI Express technology enables disk arrays to be used in conjunction with editing workstations with a high-bandwidth transfer performance of 20Gbps.The ExaRAID HD family of products includes 2U 12-bays, 3U 16-bays and 4U 24-bays. The 3U and 4U RAID systems are configured with single-controller and dual independent controller systems. ExaRAID can be used on any of the latest hard disk specifications. Coupled with the “zero protocol conversion loss” feature of PCIe, the ExaRAID HD is also capable of maintaining high speeds and reducing transmission delay in continuous read/write, thereby maximizing the utilization rate of every single hard disk.

Amazing read performance of 1400MB/s

ExaRAID HD 3U 16-Bay dual independent controllers RAID system is capable of providing an amazing read performance of 1400MB/s, mainly through a PCIex8 interface that has a transfer bandwidth of 20Gb. As a result of External PCI Express technology, the transfer of data between ExaRAID HD and workstations is similar to that of the workstation’s internal high-speed transmission processes Compared with the higher-priced 8G, 4G FC and 3G SAS disk array systems, not only does the ExaRAID HD solution have the advantage of twice the bandwidth. Coupled with the “zero protocol conversion loss” feature of PCIe, the ExaRAID HD is also capable of maintaining high speeds and reducing transmission delay in continuous read/write, thereby maximizing the utilization rate of every single hard disk. ExaRAID HD also provides an upgradable single-controller system, which boasts a bandwidth of 10Gb. The system transfer rate of the 3U 16-Bay is able to reach 700MB/s and above, which is equivalent to the maximum performance of a dual 4G FC RAID system.


A12S-2U12bays Single Controller	A16S-3U16bays Single Controller A16D-3U16bays Dual Controller	A24S-4U24bays Single Controller A24D-4U24bays Dual Controller

The best scalability framework Design

The ExaRAID HD offers not only the best scalability framework, but also meets the streamlined workflow requirements of a variety of digital editing work and editor can get ready for the next uncompressed HD editing workflow. Combined with Accusys’ unique ExaSAN Gen1 Switch, up to seven ExaRAID HDs can be connected to a workstation. If equipped with a hard drive of 1TB capacity, the high capacity of 168TB can meet the requirements of any ingest, editing, playout and archive application.

More choice for capacity

If you want more requirement for capacity, ExaRAID is designed for more choices on capacity.

Combined with Accusys’ unique ExaSAN Gen1 Switch, up to seven ExaRAID HDDs can be connected to a workstation.If equipped with a hard drive of 2TB capacity, the high capacity can reach up to 168TB.
If there's more requirments for capacity, ExaRAID also provides 12bays. 16bays. 24bays design, user can eauip up to 12.16. 24 HDDs.

ExaSAN is a complete External PCI Express SAN solution that consists of all SAN components required for SAN deployment, such as the disk array system-ExaRAID HD, ExaSAN Gen 1 Switch, ExaSAN Gen2 Switch, Eternal PCIe optical cable and PCIe HBA. In addition to comprehensive quality assurance and a single contact window for customer support, the advantages of a single vendor also include the overall ExaSAN framework efficiency and implementation cost, which compares favorably with FC solutions.

The function for performance

The ExaRAID HD is designed specifically for disk array systems that are used for real-time streaming environment. In addition to having high-bandwidth and high-performance advantages, Accusys has also included a number of application designs for sequential I/Os, such as:

Dual independent controllers

“Disk lag proof technology” can also be activated on RAIDGuard X. In the event of performance degradation or delay of a single disk due to aging, it allows the overall I/Os to resume its transfer response time and to provide stable performance based on the RAID parity.

Performance Equalization mode

This feature can be selected and activated on the ExaRAID HD GUI-RAIDGuard X. The “Performance Equalization mode” will allow the continuous I/Os to operate more smoothly and substantially reduce large fluctuations in efficiency during data transfer. In video editing applications, frame dropping can be prevented.

Disk lag proof technology

RAIDGuard X

RAIDGuard X—offers an intuitive way to configure the RAID in only four simple steps. It boasts remote management functionality. Any event can be sent to users through simple operations such as email or pop-up windows. In addition, protection and monitoring functions are available so that users can easily configure, monitor and manage the RAID and other system status information.
In addition, the ExaRAID HD can be used to configure and monitor the status of the RAID through the LCD panel. The LED lights on hot-pluggable hardware chassis will indicate the usage real-time status of the hard disks. All of these designs work together to optimize the safety of digital data.

Fully Integration and Compatibility

The ExaSAN can be fully integrated with Xsan and Final Cut Pro system, which can implement a shared volume and shared editing SAN environment. In a addition, ExaSAN PCIe HBA is also compatible with the non-MAC workstations such as Windows, Linux and Unix platforms. With SAN management software from MetaSAN and StorNext, user can use workstations with different platforms to access ExaRAID HD media content simultaneously, realizing a viable cross-platform SAN framwork. ExaSAN affords users the most flexible workflows and it meets the requirements of multiple applications.