FREMONT, CALIFORNIA, USA (November 10, 1997) - ZNYX Corporation today announced RAINcluster™, a new product line for businesses that demand fault tolerant network computing. RAINcluster for Windows NT, UNIX and Mac OS servers and workstations consists of a PCI-based multi-channel network adapter and software to provide continuous intranet connectivity (24x365 service) in environments where unexpected downtime is not acceptable. RAINcluster seamlessly adds high availability and high performance to server-to-server (cluster) interconnects, and server-to-switch (server farm and network backbone) connections.

RAINcluster minimizes network downtime and relieves network bottlenecks by enabling automatic failover/convergence, port aggregation, and load balancing across multiple channels. By capitalizing on IEEE standards for Fast Ethernet and providing compatibility with Cisco Systems’ Fast EtherChannel technology, RAINcluster leverages current investments in Ethernet infrastructures.

RAINcluster provides transparent network connectivity for clustering software from Microsoft, Vinca, Qualix Group, VERITAS and popular UNIX vendors. ZNYX's Virtual Smart Channel design intelligently manages network channels using RAINcluster's on-board Intel RISC processor and zero wait-state memory. This minimizes host CPU overhead and increases system efficiency.

RAINcluster is the Level 2 offering of ZNYX's Redundant Array of Independent Netports (RAIN™) technology. RAIN is an innovative, scalable technology that provides five service levels in a "building block" fashion using industry standards for switching, clustering, security, data integrity and multimedia data streams. Since the introduction of RAIN and its Level 1 product (RAINswitchTM) earlier this year, RAIN has gained strong market acceptance in the networking industry similar to RAID in the disk drive industry.

"Cisco is working with ZNYX to deliver interoperable, high availability, high performance solutions for corporate intranets. ZNYX's server-centric RAIN technology and Cisco's Fast EtherChannel are complementary to Cisco's gigabit-ready Catalyst 5000 family of switches," said Steve Pomeroy, Fast EtherChannel Program Manager, Cisco Systems. "By combining Cisco's Fast EtherChannel with ZNYX RAINcluster, customers can now have high performance connections to their mission critical intranet server cluster interconnects."

RAINcluster offers active redundancy in which channels, ports and adapters serve as back-ups for others in the event of failure while continuing their normal operation. The multiple 10/100 Fast Ethernet channels of each RAINcluster adapter ensure one or more network channels are available to maintain highly available network connections. When a channel fails, RAINcluster detects the failure and re-routes traffic to available channels. When a channel is re-established, RAINcluster automatically resumes traffic on the link. Fast failover and convergence provides uninterrupted service between servers, switches and workstations with no user intervention.

By incrementally adding 200 Mbps full duplex Fast Ethernet channels, RAINcluster can provide up to 800 Mbps of flexible, aggregated network bandwidth. The multiple channels of RAINcluster appear to the host operating system as a single virtual channel, providing transparent interface to the standard user and network applications. RAINcluster distributes (load balances) packets evenly across channels to prevent channel saturation and optimize performance.

"RAINcluster satisfies three important user needs: high availability of mission-critical applications, high performance for network backbones, and protection of current investments in Ethernet and Fast Ethernet technologies," said Connie Austin, President and CEO of ZNYX Corporation. "In the future, RAINcluster will offer redundancy and port aggregation capabilities for high speed network technology, such as Gigabit Ethernet, to deliver improved reliability and network bandwidth up to 8,000 Mbps."

Network managers can manage the expansive functionality of RAINcluster by using RAINmanager™, ZNYX’s comprehensive network management and configuration software. RAINmanager is designed to run independent of platform and can be accessed from any Java-enabled system—even from remote locations.

There are two configurations in the RAINcluster product line: RAINcluster ZX346acs (four-channel) and ZX348acs (two-channel) for Windows NT, UNIX and Mac OS servers and workstations. ZNYX RAINcluster will begin shipping in November. Retail price of the RAINcluster product line starts at $2,499 (U.S.) and is available from ZNYX's worldwide resellers, distributors and OEM partners.

"Server clusters have emerged as the technology of choice for business critical computing environments. RAINcluster is an ideal high availability cluster interconnect solution, providing fault-tolerant server-to-server communication within a cluster."

Carlton G. Amdahl
Founder of Amdahl Associates

"ZNYX RAINcluster appears to be a reliable and scalable architecture to interconnect servers in a cluster. The RAINcluster offering is compatible with Microsoft Server Cluster Software and enters the market when there is increasing interest in cluster computing."

Steve Triggs
Vice President, Consulting of Technology Business Research

"The marriage of RAIN and the Fast Ethernet technology specifically for the Windows NT clustering marketplace creates an appealing business proposition and a compelling place for ZNYX Corporation in the market"

Dwayne Shirakura
Senior Analyst of Dell'Oro Group

"As mission-critical applications have been moving down from mainframes to minicomputers to UNIX systems, and now to WINTEL clusters, one thing is becoming clear: Performance is not an issue, but absolute availability is."

Tom Tansy
Director, OEM Sales of Qualix Group, Inc.