Clariion

EMC Clariion
Clariion CX500
DeveloperEMC Corporation (1999 - 2011)
Data General (1994 - 1999)
TypeStorage server
Release date1994; 30 years ago (1994)
Discontinued2011
PredecessorData General HADA
SuccessorEMC VNX
RelatedEMC Celerra

Clariion (styled CLARiiON) is a discontinued [1] SAN disk array manufactured and sold by EMC Corporation, it occupied the entry-level and mid-range of EMC's SAN disk array products. In 2011, EMC introduced the EMC VNX Series, designed to replace both the Clariion and Celerra products.[2]

Upon launch in 2008,[3] the latest generation CX4 series storage arrays supported fibre channel and iSCSI front end bus connectivity. The fibre channel back end bus offered 4 Gbit/s of bandwidth with FC-SCSI disks or SATAII disks.[4]

The EMC Celerra NAS device is based on the same X-blade architecture as the CLARiiON storage processor.

The first CLARiiON was developed in 1992 by Data General Corporation,[5] one of the first minicomputer companies. CLARiiON was an early commercial example of a RAID product and initially sold exclusively as an array with the company's Aviion line of computer systems as the HADA (High Availability Disk Array) and later the HADA II [6] before being made available for broader open systems attachment and renamed CLARiiON in 1994.[7] Realizing the enormous potential of storage arrays, Data General created a separate Clariion division and began selling the product as an OEM offering to its systems competitors. While this somewhat lessened the advantages of Aviion in the marketplace, and was a source of internal corporate friction, it allowed the company to sell higher volumes and popularize the brand. The strategy paid dividends as the company was acquired by EMC in 1999, primarily for the CLARiiON line of products.

In 2011, EMC introduced the new VNX series of unified storage disk arrays intended to replace both CLARiiON and Celerra products. Internally the VNX is labeled the CX5.[8] In early 2012, both CLARiiON and Celerra were discontinued.

  1. ^ "EMC Discontinues Clariion, Celerra Storage Lines". Archived from the original on 2012-07-12. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
  2. ^ EMC, 2011 http://www.emc.com/about/news/press/2011/20110118-05.htm
  3. ^ "EMC's Flashy New Clariions". pcworld.com. Retrieved 24 March 2011.[permanent dead link]
  4. ^ "EMC Clariion CX4 model 120 specification sheet" (PDF). emc.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 December 2010. Retrieved 24 March 2011.
  5. ^ Hoover, Gary (1996). Hoover's Guide to Computer Companies. Hoover's Guides. ISBN 978-1-878753-80-9.
  6. ^ http://www.networkworld.com/archive/1992/92-07-20dg_s.html[permanent dead link]
  7. ^ "Top Ten Innovative Enterprise Storage Hardware Products". 15 November 2008.
  8. ^ "EMC combines Clariion, Celerra line in VNX, revamps entire storage line". computerworld.com. 18 January 2011. Retrieved 24 March 2011.