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SNS Unveils globalSAN™ – iSCSI Storage Solutions at NAB 2004

Multi-Platform iSCSI Storage Solutions at NAB 2004

Las Vegas, Nevada, April 20, 2004 — Studio Network Solutions® (SNS) will welcome globalSAN™ to its family of shared storage networking solutions during its official introduction at the 2004 NAB show in Las Vegas. Built on the company’s new iSANmp™ volume sharing software, the iSCSI-based globalSAN product is the perfect solution for facilities that require a significant upgrade in networking performance, but do not have the budget for a full-blown Fibre Channel SAN or point to point WAN connectivity. iSCSI is an IP-based storage networking standard that enables rapid and efficient transport of block-level I/O data over high-speed Ethernet. globalSAN works with both Windows and Mac OS X systems and is the first such product available to Mac users.

“globalSAN is a natural extension to our existing line of A/V SAN PRO™ Fibre Channel-based storage solutions,” stated Eric Newbauer, Director of Operations for SNS. “This product is built on a combination of new and existing technologies and provides users with the best of both worlds by offering capabilities similar to a traditional SAN but over an infrastructure that is basically an Ethernet network. Most multi-workstation facilities that don’t have Fibre Channel currently rely on their Ethernet network for file-sharing. They will be more likely to adopt new technology such as globalSAN, because they won’t necessarily have to abandon their entire existing network.”

To bring globalSAN to life required the creation of an iSCSI initiator – a non-trivial piece of software that was previously unavailable for OS X. SNS has included their new initiator, as well as iSCSI support, into its existing SANmp™ volume sharing software for Fibre Channel storage networks. However, SNS has concurrently announced iSANmp™, a less expensive iSCSI-only version of SANmp.

Studio Network Solutions’ globalSAN iSCSI product offers a cost effective pathway towards achieving performance nearing that of Fibre Channel. Internet SCSI (iSCSI) is an IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) approved standard protocol for encapsulating SCSI commands into TCP/IP packets and enabling I/O block data transport over IP networks. globalSAN employs iSCSI to enable an IP-based Storage Area Network. The easy-to-use, yet powerful technology enables a high-speed, lower-cost storage solution that is capable of spanning nearly any stable IP network. When a business needs to grow into a traditional Fibre Channel system, it can start with globalSAN and integrate Fibre Channel at a later date. Additionally, globalSAN is Kerberos-ready and supports up to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. Kerberos is a network authentication protocol designed to provide strong authentication by using secret-key cryptography.

“This is not another simple file-sharing product. One of the key advantages of globalSAN is its ability to offer block-level access to data over widely deployed IP-based networks, allowing secure and easy access over Local, Metropolitan, or Wide Area Networks,” explains Gary Holladay, SNS President and Chief Systems Designer. “This allows a facility in New York not only to share data among its local users, but also to share production information with a sister-company in Los Angeles, or to backup to a remote storage site. Another substantial advantage in terms of performance is the fact that, unlike a typical Ethernet file-sharing network, globalSAN eliminates the overhead of SMB, AppleShare or WebDAV. This means that globalSAN offers the ability to significantly exploit the available bandwidth of Gigabit and multi-Gigabit Ethernet.”

“We believe that globalSAN will have a significant impact on the digital imaging, broadcast, production and post production markets,” says Holladay. “globalSAN will become an indispensable link between digital artists and their data, helping to usher in powerful new workflow models to these industries.”

About SNS

Studio Network Solutions (SNS) specializes in the development of shared storage hardware and software solutions for the Media and Entertainment industry. Since day one we’ve applied unmatched ingenuity and experience to create outstanding products that exceed industry expectations while providing outstanding support to our customers.

Our customers range in size from individual freelance engineers to multinational media powerhouses. Our solutions are used to produce everything from books on tape to full track scoring for major Hollywood films. Our products have been at the technical core of the music you listen to, the games you play, the shows you watch and the movies you see.

We have a valued network of resellers located throughout the United States… and the world. Whether you have a product question or you’re ready to place an order, we encourage you to contact us today.