Price Drop Makes Sonnet Fusion™ F2 Portable Storage More Appealing Than Ever

May 16, 2008

Source: Sonnet

Sonnet Technologies, a leader in providing local storage systems for professional users of Macintosh®, Windows®, and UNIX® systems in the film, video, and broadcast industries, today announced a price reduction for the company's award-winning Fusion™ F2 portable RAID storage system, which provides exceptional speed, proven reliability, and 640GB capacity in a rugged low-profile design measuring 5.9 by 6.2 by 0.72 inches. Now available at $695, a savings of $200, the Sonnet Fusion F2 is an ideal fit for flexible, cost-effective on-location video capture or remote use when grid power is unavailable.

"Fusion F2 is a one-of-kind storage solution for professional content creation and editing, and in the short time the system has been on the market, it has made a tremendous impact on how media is stored and edited," said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet Technologies. "The Fusion F2 offers an unprecedented combination of speed and convenience in a durable, low-power package that's easy to transport and can be used in virtually any environment. Through this price reduction, we hope to make the unique benefits of the system accessible to a broader base of media professionals."

Sonnet's Fusion F2 features two 320GB/5400 RPM 2.5-inch drives, mounted side by side in a rugged ¾-inch-thin aluminum enclosure that fits easily into a briefcase or camera bag. Each drive is individually shock-isolated to protect against cross-coupled vibration during operation and ensure secure storage. Side-by-side placement of the drives increases the metal case's cooling surface area, thereby eliminating the need for a fan. Although Fusion F2 communicates via eSATA, it draws power from a FireWire® port for truly portable operation.

The storage system features two eSATA data connections and is designed for use with the Sonnet Tempo™ SATA ExpressCard/34 adapter for the MacBook® Pro and Windows® notebooks. By transmitting data via its 2-port SATA interface, Fusion F2 handily supports portable video capture in conjunction with an AJA® Video Systems' Io HD, which requires dedicated use of FireWire bandwidth.

To protect priceless field footage, users can configure Fusion F2's drives in RAID 1 mirrored mode and still capture Apple® ProRes HQ HD fed from an AJA Io HD. This protected mode also allows for safe field transfer of media from Panasonic® P2, Sony® SxS Pro, or similar memory cards. Footage verification by a MacBook Pro/Fusion F2 system gives users peace of mind when erasing and reusing cards on location.

With its drives configured as a RAID 0 striped volume, Fusion F2 is capable of 126 MB/sec read and write sustained data transfers (compared with 66 MB/sec connecting via FireWire 800), thus providing the ability to capture and play more streams of compressed video for portable video editing.

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