Rorke Unveils Cost-Effective, Remote SAN and Disaster Recovery at NAB 2004

LAS VEGAS, NV--–Rorke Data a subsidiary of San Jose-based BellMicroproducts, Inc., today announced they would demonstrate seamlesslong-distance SAN connectivity on the NAB show floor at their booth,#SU8072. The key in Rorke’s demonstration will be the integrationof Entrada’s SilverLine CWDM (Coarse Wave Divisional Multiplex)device, which will connect multiple NLE (non-linear edit) systems in aSAN configuration that separates clients with up to 100KM of fiberoptic cable.

The rack mount, 1RU SilverLine CWDM solution costs far less thantraditional metro optic infrastructure connectivity devices and offersusers access to all of the features and advantages SAN has to offer,including the ability for users to collaborate on projects and work inreal-time.

“The CWDM value-proposition is straight forward,” saidJoe Rorke, Vice President of Marketing for Rorke Data. “We canincrease the effective capacity of a given dark fiber connection byleveraging increased bandwidth to port aggregation at a 4:1 utilizationrate. Since CWDM is an `Optical Extender’ for diverse datanetworks, users can mix and match other connections such as GigE orSONET, over this same single dark fiber. CWDM quickly pays for itselfby aggregating multiple types of data over a single strand.”

Prior to CWDM, many in the industry perceived dark diber to be veryexpensive. As a result, although many medium to large size facilities(or project owners) had invested in a SAN, remote SAN connectivity asan option for collaboration through the integration of dark fiber wasnot a financially feasible consideration. Similarly, larger facilitiestypically held the assumption that the current 1:1 ratio and the highcost of using that dark fiber connection, was simply the price of doingbusiness.

“The price of traditional dark fiber solutions is high enoughthat users try any manner of work-around including media couriers andfile transfer managers,” said Bob Herzan, VP of Sales for RorkeData. “Solutions such as those defeat the intended purpose of thelocal SAN environment and are therefore ineffective. CWDM literallyextends the SAN paradigm, by transforming the facility-based workflowand delivering a cost-effective, high-speed data storage networkinfrastructure that in turn, enables more effective real-timecollaboration between users. CWDM,” continued Herzan,“extends the collaborative and real-time benefits of SAN andother data connections, at a cost basis that is reasonable for almostany user.”

Applications for CWDM include:
Remote SAN Connectivity between Post facilities & FilmStudios
Remote SAN Connectivity between Video Post facilities, CorporateClients, & Agencies
University & Corporate Campus
Digital Video Security & Surveillance
Sports/Stadium/Post House connectivity
Higher bandwidth, Remote Back-up & DR for Media or corporate
CATV or Hospitality VOD infrastructure

Visit Rorke Data’s Booth #SU8071 at NAB, April 19–22,2004, Las Vegas Convention Center, and see how the broad range of Rorkeproducts can enable end-to-end storage workflow, from ingest and edit,to broadcast and archive, or visit the website at: www.rorke.com.

Availability
Entrada’s SilverLine CWDM is now available exclusively throughRorke Data starting at $17k - $22k per system depending on theuser’s SFP requirement.

About Rorke Data
Rorke Data is a full digital storage solutions provider with expertisein Fibre-Channel RAID, SAN, DVD, tape and optical libraries, Unix, NTand Mac environments, high bandwidth networks, and related professionalservices. Founded in 1985, Rorke Data, is a subsidiary of BellMicroproducts, San Jose, Calif., and is composed of four divisions:Medical Diagnostic Imaging, Digital Video & Broadcast, DigitalPrepress & Publishing, as well as a Technical Services division.More information about Rorke Data can be found at www.rorke.com. Rorke Data is awholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts, Inc.