Montilio and Penguin Computing have announced that Penguin Computing will offer Linux server configurations that include Montilio's RapidFile storage-to-LAN gateway on a PCI card for fast file server access. One RapidFile-enabled Penguin Computing server will be able to provide the I/O throughput of four traditional multi-processor systems without the configuration cost of a 4-CPU or 8-CPU system. These Penguin Computing servers with RapidFile cards are ideal solutions for customers in the high performance computing (HPC) or enterprise markets with significant storage capacity and performance needs.

Montilio's RapidFile server I/O engine plugs into file servers, network attached storage (NAS) gateways and NAS appliances, increasing data transfer performance by 200 percent to 500 percent, the most of any comparable solution on the market, according to the company. Combined with cost-effective Linux servers from Penguin Computing, these file servers are capable of exceeding 400 MB per second of file protocol bandwidth, reducing total cost of ownership and increasing the return on investment of existing disk arrays and storage area network (SAN) installations.

"While Penguin Computing customers will not notice a change to our easy to deploy and manage servers, they will definitely notice an improvement in file server performance that makes Penguin Computing servers the only logical choice for price and performance conscious customers," said Pauline Nist, senior vice president of Product Development and Management of Penguin Computing. "Integrating Montilio's record-setting file server technology with our platforms is another example of Penguin Computing's commitment to giving customers the latest, most useful technology as soon as it is available -- at a price point that is affordable for every type of customer."

"Montilio's top-performing RapidFile card and Penguin Computing's highest quality servers are a powerful combination," said Michael Tsuk, CEO of Montilio. "With Penguin's growing market share in high performance computing and storage-demanding applications utilizing their best-of-breed Linux servers, they are an ideal partner for Montilio."

"IT uses NAS over a regular server acting as a file server primarily for two reasons: simplicity and performance," said Arun Taneja, founder and consulting analyst of the Taneja Group. "Well, if you live in the world of Linux servers, you now can get blazing NFS and CIFS performance simply by adding the Montilio card into a regular server. The performance you get is greater than what you would expect from a powerful and much more expensive NAS box. HPC customers cannot ignore this product if they want to maximize their ROI."