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Conference 7.286::digital

Title:	The Digital way of working

Moderator:	QUARK::LIONELON

Created:	Fri Feb 14 1986
Last Modified:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Last Successful Update:	Fri Jun 06 1997
Number of topics:	5321
Total number of notes:	139771

5237.0. "Bob Glorioso and others" by ROM01::OLD_CIPOLLA (Bruno Cipolla) Mon Apr 14 1997 05:21

+     MARATHON HAS NEW APPROACH TO HARDWARE FAULT-TOLERANCE 

Full hardware redundant fault-tolerant systems have somewhat 
gone out of fashion nowadays. They are expensive and difficult 
to build, and only Tandem Computers Inc and Stratus Computer 
Inc ever made a success out of selling them. Now, Boxborough, 
Massachusetts-based Marathon Technologies Corp reckons it has 
found a new approach to hardware fault-tolerance using 
commodity parts that could change things. Endurance 4000, sold 
as a kit to resellers and OEM customers, enables any four 
standard Pentium or Pentium Pro systems to be linked together 
to form a single, fault-tolerant server with no single point of 
failure or repair, so that failures are transparent to the 
user. User applications, and the Windows NT operating system 
Marathon uses, need no modification. And, using Marathon's 
SplitSite facility, the redundant halves of the systems can be 
located remotely, up to a mile away from each other. The 
Endurance 4000 kit includes software, PCI cards and cabling, 
and can also be used to add fault tolerance to an existing 
cluster through Marathon's ClusterPlusFT technology, which can 
be made to work with Microsoft's WolfPack or other clustering 
software. It's out now, with complete kits starting at $25,000. 

          Compute elements and input-output processors  

So how does it work? The reseller or OEM customer takes four 
personal computers and ties them together using the Marathon 
cabling and software. Two are used as compute elements, and 
need no disks or input-output devices, mouse, screen or 
keyboard. Each compute element runs a copy of Windows NT in 
parallel, fully synchronized. This gives the system fully 
fault-tolerant CPU and memory. The other two units act as 
input-output processors. Below the level of Windows NT, 
Marathon software replicates the input- output subsystem, 
mirrors disks, adds redundant Ethernet connections, and makes 
everything seem like a single server. The four systems become 
the equivalent of a single, though fully fault-tolerant, 
system. It is possible to use the input-output processors for 
other applications as well, but software running in this way 
won't get the benefit of the fault-tolerance. Marathon admits 
its PCI cards and cabling, which act as a high speed, 25Mb/sec 
backbone with data integrity, are proprietary. But Joost 
Verbofstad, the company's vice president of business 
development, says that it uses commodity parts and is therefore 
very cheap, unlike alternatives such as Asynchronous Transfer 
Mode, Gigabit Ethernet or Tandem's ServerNet. Marathon intends 
to work mostly through channels, selling its kit to others who 
put the actual systems together. Early takers include Perot 
Systems Inc, General Automation Inc and, as an OEM customer, 
Intergraph Corp. Others are on the way, says Verbofstad. 
Endurance 4000 currently supports single processor systems, 
though work is underway to support symmetrical multiprocessors, 
which will improve price-performance. Marathon was formed by a 
number of refugees from Digital Equipment Corp's VaxFT 
fault-tolerant business when it was closed down, including 
company founder Bob Glorioso.

T.R	Title	User	Personal Name	Date	Lines
5237.1		DV780::DIFIORE		`Mon Apr 14 1997 14:08`	85
	Alliance Between Advanced Modular Solutions and Marathon Technologies Corp. Adds New Dimension to Fault-Tolerant Computing RELEASE: Immediate DATE: August 26, 1996 CONTACT: Jeanne Marquis PHONE: 508-266-9700 ext. 178 E-MAIL: [email protected] Alliance Between Advanced Modular Solutions and Marathon Technologies Corp. Adds New Dimension to Fault-Tolerant Computing (Boxborough, MA) August 26, 1996 -- Advanced Modular Solutions, Inc., a PC server manufacturer, today announced a business partnership with Marathon Technologies Corporation as the first New England-based VAR for Marathon's unique fault-tolerant system technology. Developed for the Windows NT environment, Marathon's technology enables a highly protected, redundant platform and provides the industry's first-ever warranty coverage for electronic data loss of a company's data. The data protection feature of the warranty was arranged by Willis Corroon Corporation of Massachusetts, a subsidiary of Willis Corroon Corporation, a global risk management and insurance services company. When coupled with Modular's scaleable compute and storage systems, Marathon's data integrity technology enables a range of comprehensive solutions suitable for mission critical applications. These solutions lower the total cost of ownership of fault resilient, fault tolerant and disaster tolerant systems by leveraging existing commodity hardware and software technologies. Built on custom-integrated platforms based on a standard Windows NT servers and workstations, the new range of computing solutions is another in a series of products developed by Modular to increase the level of fault resilience and tolerance for equipment and application data. Modular's President and CEO, Lyn Benton, elaborated on the significance of the partnership between the two companies, saying "The data protection made possible by Marathon's technology adds an exciting new dimension to data integrity. We're pleased to team with Marathon in bringing revolutionary fault tolerant solutions to the marketplace at low cost." Marathon brings storage stability into a new era, as evidenced by the availability of data loss protection. "The advent of Marathon enabling technologies brings a series of long-overdue industry firsts," said Marathon President and CEO Robert M. Glorioso, Ph.D. "This is the first time that data protection, fault and disaster tolerance have been seamlessly woven into standard PC server platforms, with no costly modifications to the operating system or applications. And it's the first time in the history of data processing that a company has warranted its data protection technology." Commenting on the relationship between the Marathon and Modular, Glorioso said "We believe Modular's expertise in designing and integrating solutions based on standard PC server technology will be immensely valuable in bringing Marathon's technology to address the wide range of needs required by customers with mission-critical applications." As an integrator of Marathon's software-based fault tolerant technology, Modular provides a total solution with its Pentium servers for customers requiring the highest possible levels of data integrity. ******** Headquartered in Boxborough, MA, Modular is a computer systems and consulting company that offers platform-independent solutions which combine the best attributes of mainframe, client-server and open-environment technologies. The Modular logo is a trademark of The Modular Group, Inc. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners. Marathon, also based in Boxborough, Mass., Marathon Technologies Corporation develops and markets mission-critical enabling technologies for PC systems worldwide through direct sales, strategic resellers and partners. A privately-held company, Marathon founders and engineers represent more than two centuries of combined experience engineering fault-tolerant systems and software. Advanced Modular Solutions, Inc. 60 Codman Hill Road Boxborough, MA 01719 1-800-2MODULAR (1-800-266-3852) URL http://www.mod.com/marathon.html Advanced Modular Solutions, Inc. Copyright � 1996. All rights reserved. Last updated: August 28, 1996
5237.2	it beats the pants off wolfpack	WOTVAX::SHARKEYA	LoginN - even makes the coffee@	`Fri Apr 18 1997 13:01`	6
	I saw this working yesterday. It is SUPERB. Alan [A friend is one of the designers]