Procom pulls rug from under rivals

Claims to be first to market with plug 'n' play storage unit

Storage manufacturer, Procom, claims to be the first to develop a hot-swappable storage device which can be added to and configured with a network without the need to power down the server. Called NetFORCE 100, the device is simply plugged in, taking about five minutes to configure. It was launched in the US in October and costs between £4,690 and £8,270. The six available models are available through one distributor in the UK - Norfolk-based Mosaic, part of the Store Data Group. Adaptec, a rival to Procom, said it had been working on a similar product that was still under development. Last year the technology was passed onto another company, Chaparral Technologies, Adaptec said, conceding that it had been pipped at the post by Procom. An Adaptec representative confirmed Chaparral was still working on a complete storage product, but was unable to say when it would be completed. Page Tagizad, Procom director of product management, said: "It is the first plug-and-play protected storage for the network. This technology makes it easier and cheaper for companies to add storage." Tagizad added that a similar product aimed specifically at Web sites, NetFORCE 2000, would be launched within the next two months. California-based Procom started 11 years ago, and has 40 per cent of the world attached storage market in CD-Rom and DVD. Last year it purchased Megabite, a high-end storage distributor in Germany, now Procom Europe. ®