EMC Clariion
CLARiiON is a mid-range SAN disk array manufactured and sold by EMC Corporation. Occupying the entry-level and mid-range of EMC's SAN disk array product palette, it is complemented by the high-end Symmetrix. It is now in its fourth generation (denoted by model numbers beginning AX4 / CX4).
It supports fibre channel and iSCSI front end connectivity, with a fibre channel back end. Storage is currently FC-SCSI at 2 or 4Gb/s or SATAII at 3Gb/s arbitrated to 2 or 4.
The CLARiiON storage processor also underpins the EMC Celerra NAS device, which is based on the same X-blade architecture as the CLARiiON storage processor.
The first CLARiiON was developed in the early 1990s by Data General Corporation, 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. 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.