Buyer's Guide for Clustering Solutions

Cluster Availability Solution (CAS) v.1.1
Contact: Tandem Computers
Sales: 408-285-6000
Technical Support: 800-255-5010
Web: http://www.tandem.com
Price: $3995 for a 2-node system
Warranty: 6 months
Cost of technical support: Per-incident fee structure
Provide Windows NT support? Yes, 24*7*52
CAS comes with an API set for easy migration to Microsoft Wolfpack, and an active/active DLL for Microsoft SQL Server 6.5. The product supports ServerNet and lets you incorporate IP addresses on one Ethernet port.

Convoy Cluster Software
Contact: Valence Research
503-531-8718
Web: http://www.valence.com
Price: $995 to $1245 per host
Warranty: 30-day free trial
Cost of technical support: $250 to $310 per host for 12 months of priority
Provide Windows NT support? No
Convoy Cluster Software enhances the availability and scalability of TCP/IP services. The software transparently combines multiple computers to handle incoming client requests. This combination lets mission critical, Internet/intranet servers provide uninterrupted service and scale performance to meet increased demand.

Digital Clusters for Windows NT
Contact: Digital Equipment
Pre-sales: 800-344-4825
Post-sales: 800-354-9000
Web: http://www.windows.digital.com
Price: List price $995 per server
Warranty: 90-day conformance with documentation
Cost of technical support: Contact local Digital MCS rep, or call 800-354-9000
Provide Windows NT support? Yes
Digital Clusters provides high availability for Alpha and Prioris servers running Windows NT Server 3.51 and NT Server 4.0. Coupled via a shared SCSI bus, these two servers are accessed and managed as a single system. Digital Clusters offers automatic failover for MS SQL Server, Oracle7, Lotus Notes Domino, IIS, Netscape Enterprise Server, and file services and shares. The product is Wolfpack-compliant and a migration path will be available in the future.

Endurance 4000
Contact: Marathon Technologies
Sales: 800-884-6425, 508-266-9999
Technical Support: 888-682-1222
Web: http://www.marathontechnologies.com
Price: $24,999
Warranty: 1 year
Cost of technical support: Free for 1 year
Provide Windows NT support? No
Endurance 4000 lets you interconnect standard, off-the-shelf Pentium Pro systems running Windows NT. The interconnected PCs operate as one fault-tolerant server, providing continuous computing to all NT applications. Requires no modifications to the PCs, NT, or NT applications.

HP High-Availability Clustering Solution for NetServers
Contact: Hewlett-Packard
800-752-0900
Technical Support: 800-633-3600
Web: http://www.hp.com/go/netserver
Price: $25,000
Warranty: HP NetServer standard 3-year warranty
Cost of technical support: $100 per call or several contract options available
Provide Windows NT support? Yes
Hewlett-Packard's NT Clustering solution consists of two NetServers coupled using Microsoft's Wolfpack. This solution offers the ClusterView Management tool, and a choice of support products for mission critical environments. HP certifies several configurations for both midrange and high-end systems.

NTServ/IS
Contact: Cubix
800-829-0551
Web: http://www.cubix.com
Price: $15,000
Warranty: 3 years
Cost of technical support: By contract
Provide Windows NT support? Yes
NTServ/IS integrates multiple dual-processor subsystems in one secure, scalable, fault-tolerant chassis. Each subsystem consists of dual 200MHz Pentium Pros, super VGA graphics, up to 512MB of RAM, dual IDE controllers, dual SCSI, dual 10/100Mbps Ethernet controllers, and COM and LPT ports. Wolfpack support will be offered in the future.

PowerSwitch for NT
Contact: APCON
503-639-6700
Web: http://www.apcon.com
Price: $995
Warranty: N/A
Cost of technical support: Free
Provide Windows NT support? N/A
PowerSwitch for NT is a high-availability alternative to server clustering. The product installs on OS environments running Windows NT Server or Workstation and supports up to 16 servers. In the event of server failure, PowerSwitch for NT reconfigures the operating system to a secondary server, ensuring full data availability. An evaluation copy is available on the Web site.

RADIO Cluster
Contact: Stratus Computer
800-458-0042
Web: http://www.stratus.com
Price: $70,000 to $150,000
Cost of technical support: Varies based on system configuration
Provide Windows NT support? Yes, level one
Stratus RADIO Cluster's fault tolerance and high-availability features overcome both hardware and software failures without disruption of critical services. RADIO Cluster is a standard Pentium Pro-based PC server that delivers the availability and performance of n-way multinode clustering in an expandable package.

Recovery Server Option Contact: Compaq Computer
800-345-1518
Technical Support: 800-652-6672
Web: http://www.compaq.com
Price: $1699
Cost of technical support: N/A
Provide Windows NT support? Yes
Recovery Server offers online active/active or active/standby clusters of either ProLiant or ProSignia servers. Both servers connect to a shared ProLiant storage system via Smart-2 Array Controllers; the heartbeat goes through a dedicated proprietary switch. The server supports only Windows NT 3.5. Compaq's future cluster offering will include Microsoft Wolfpack and Tandem ServerNet.