Microsoft and Intel Achieve 1 Million IOPS in iSCSI Performance Using StarWind iSCSI SAN Software at Intel Labs

Microsoft and Intel reach breakthrough benchmark performance with Hyper-V and StarWind SAN software

Burlington, Mass. – March 24, 2010 - StarWind Software Inc., a global leader and a pioneer in SAN software for building iSCSI storage servers, today announced that its StarWind iSCSI SAN software was used in the iSCSI performance tests by Microsoft and Intel which achieved a groundbreaking one million I/Os per second (IOPS).

For storage Microsoft and Intel used StarWind iSCSI SAN software at 10 Gbps. Additionally, Intel and Microsoft used the following configuration: Intel Xeon Server Processor W5580, Windows Server 2008 R2 x64, and Intel Ethernet 10GbE Server Adapters to deliver breakthrough performance and new I/O and iSCSI features. They also used Microsoft’s iSCSI initiator software and Hyper-V with 10 VMs and 2GB allocated RAM. Network Configuration included Cisco’s 10GbE Nexus 5020 switch connected to ten iSCSI targets.

“We thank Microsoft and Intel for using StarWind iSCSI SAN software to build iSCSI storage for this groundbreaking test to achieve 1 million IOPS at Intel labs,” said Zorian Rotenberg, President and CEO of StarWind Software. “We are grateful that our product was part of this major breakthrough in iSCSI networking performance. We have had a good relationship for the past few years with the Microsoft storage team so our iSCSI SAN software works well for building storage for Hyper-V virtual machines and now we look forward to working more closely with Intel and their Ethernet technologies.”

StarWind’s SAN software is used to convert a standard, Intel-architecture x86 or x64 server into a fail-safe, fault-tolerant SAN that will be online and accessible even in the event of failure. Ideal for virtualization environments, StarWind’s true active-active high availability (HA) storage architecture provides continuous and non-disruptive access to storage in the event of failure by synchronously mirroring data between two active storage appliances in real time.

About StarWind Software Inc.
StarWind Software is a global leader in storage management and SAN software for small and midsize companies. StarWind's flagship product is a SAN software that turns any industry-standard Windows Server into a fault-tolerant, fail-safe iSCSI SAN. It is designed for use as networked storage for VMware, Hyper-V, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, Microsoft SharePoint and other server applications configured in server clusters. StarWind Software is focused on providing small and midsize companies with affordable high availability technology which was previously only available in high-end storage products. The advanced, enterprise-class features include Synchronous Mirroring with Automated Failover and Failback, Remote Replication across a WAN, CDP and Snapshots, Thin Provisioning and Virtual Tape management.

Since 2003, StarWind has pioneered the iSCSI and SAN software industry and has been the solution of choice for over 30,000 global users in over 100 countries, from small and midsize companies, to governments, and Fortune 1000 companies.

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StarWind Software and the StarWind logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of StarWind Software Inc. or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Other names are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Press Contacts:
Zorian Rotenberg
StarWind Software Inc.
617.449.7717 x101
zorian@starwindsoftware.com