EqualLogic Inc, a provider of iSCSI-based, self-managing networked storage solutions, announced that the PeerStorage array now has the option of high-performance 10,000 rpm Serial ATA (SATA) drives, delivering on its strategy to offer a range of price/performance choices to customers.

EqualLogic has chosen the new Western Digital WD Raptor hard drive -– the industry's only 10,000 rpm SATA drive -– for its high-speed SATA offering for the PeerStorage Array 100E. Billed as the world's fastest SATA drive, the WD Raptor drive offers EqualLogic customers a PeerStorage array optimized for more stringent performance requirements demanded by high-end database applications, such as online transaction processing. With its high rotational speed and 4.5 millisecond seek time, the WD Raptor delivers 30 percent greater random I/O than the 7200 rpm SATA drives that are standard on the PeerStorage array.

"Some of our customers require higher performance in the SAN to provision certain high-demand applications," said John Joseph, vice president of marketing at EqualLogic. "With the new high-rpm drives, we now offer another enterprise-quality SATA solution to accommodate those needs without introducing the cost and complexity of Fibre Channel."

"The EqualLogic PeerStorage array is an ideal application for our new WD Raptor enterprise SATA drive, as it complements EqualLogic's focus on offering a high-performance, high-reliability alternative to the high cost and complexity of traditional enterprise-class technologies," said Hubbert Smith, director of enterprise product marketing at Western Digital.

EqualLogic is the only standards-compliant IP SAN solution provider to offer a comprehensive and fully integrated standard feature set at no additional cost to the customer. Each PeerStorage Array 100E supports up to 3.5TB of storage capacity, comes with fully redundant fault-tolerant hardware and includes full-featured automatic storage-management software. Up to 32 arrays can be combined to form a scalable enterprise storage Grid of more than 100TB.

The WD Raptor 10,000 rpm SATA drives are available immediately as an ordering option for the EqualLogic PeerStorage Array 100E.

About EqualLogic

EqualLogic is a provider of iSCSI-based, all-inclusive storage area network (SAN) solutions that enable businesses –- from Fortune 500 to small and mid-size organizations –- to realize the economic benefits of consolidated, self-managing storage. The company's flagship product, the PeerStorage Array 100E, is an automatic storage platform that delivers operational simplicity, functional integration and high data availability in a single, scalable pool of storage. EqualLogic is headquartered in Nashua, N.H. For more information, please visit www.equallogic.com .