EMC's Celerra family of storage platforms include both integrated (combined X-Blade data movers and storage arrays) and gateway (works with existing EMC storage arrays) offerings for Windows or UNIX-based networks. The integrated packages offer single, dual, or quad X-Blades in combination with CLARiiON arrays (the user's choice of Fibre Channel or ATA/SATA storage), while the gateways offer from 1 to 8 X-Blades (depending on model) with support for 128 TB - 1.8 PB of raw storage based on RAID 1 configurations.

The X-Blades control the data movement to and from the disks, and themselves include the vendor's DART operating system, which provides support for multiple access protocols including NFS v2/v3/v4, CIFS, FTP, SNMP, NDMP, NTP, SNTP, TFTP, and iSCSI. FC connections are also (optionally) available and supported in the integrated packages. Dual X-Blade deployments can be configured for primary/standby (for HA) or primary/primary usage; while models offering 3 or more X-Blades can be configured as N+1 clusters.

Management of the products is via the vendor's Web-based EMC Celerra Manager, which is available in both Basic (common configuration and management functions, statistics viewing, basic user/group quota controls) and Advanced (data migration and monitoring across multiple Celerra environments) Editions. In addition to the Web-based GUI, the Manager can also be accessed via CLI or the Microsoft Management Console.

Key current offerings in the EMC Celerra family include:

- Celerra NSX: A gateway platform with dual Intel Pentium 4 CPUs per X-Blade. From 4 to 8 X-Blades can be loaded into the chassis, each supporting dual FC ports for tape connections and dual FC ports for switch connections, as well as copper (6) and Optical (2) GbE connectivity for network hosts. An enhanced blade, the X-Blade 65, adds an optical 10 Gig port and 4 Gb/sec FC connections.

- NS80/NS80G: Similar to the NSX, but with support for from 2 to 4 X-Blades. Available in both integrated and gateway configurations.

- NS40/NS40G: Based on the X-Blade 40; each with dual 2.8 GHz Pentium IV processors, 2 FC ports for tape and 2 FC ports for switches, a single copper 10/100/1000 port for management, and the user's choice of four copper 10/100/1000 ports, or two 10/100/1000 and two optical GbE ports for hosts. Four FC ports for host connections are also optionally supported. Both single and dual X-Blade configurations are possible and the NS40 can be purchased in both integrated and gateway configurations.

- NS20: Available as an integrated platform only, the NS20 is based on the X-Blade 20; each with dual 2.8 GHz Pentium IV processors, two FC ports for tape and two FC ports for switches, a single copper 10/100/1000 port for management, and four copper 10/100/1000 ports for hosts. Eight optional FC ports for host connectivity are also supported.

- NX4: The newest entry in the family, the NX4 is an integrated offering targeted to SMBs/remote offices and based on the CLARiiON AX4 architecture. The NX4 is loaded with 1 or 2 X-Blade 4s, each with two FC ports for switches and a single FC port for tape; dual 2.8 GHz Pentium IV CPUs; a single 10/100/1000 port for management; and four 10/100/1000 ports for hosts. Up to 60 drives are supported in SAS and/or SATA flavors.

The Celerra platforms are available now; the new Celerra NX4 starts at $20,375 (list).

Contact EMC Corporation for further information.