Anandtech looks at how the new MacBook Air uses a scaled back Thunderbolt controller versus the other Macs that include the bus. Of note, the chips in the other Macs have four 10Gbps duplex channels each, meaning there is already more bandwidth baked in than advertised.

Xsan 2.3 was released this morning -- as a component of Lion. To commemorate this event, Apple published several KB articles. Check them out below:

• Xsan volume may not mount, fsmpm may not run after migrating from Mac OS X v10.6 to OS X Lion
• Xsan: Manually configuring Xsan after promoting OS X Lion to Lion Server
• Xsan, Lion Server: Use case sensitive volumes for StorNext and pre-Lion clients
• Xsan 2.3: Deactivating a storage pool

As always, we encourage patience and research before upgrading your Xsan!

Apple released Thunderbolt Mac mini Servers today, with Lion Server preinstalled (which now includes Xsan). Standard kit is a quad core 2.0 GHz Core i7 CPU with dual 7,200 RPM 500 GB HDDs and 4 GB of RAM. BTO options include dual 256 GB SSDs with TRIM support, and up to 8 GB RAM.

Unsurprisingly, the Gigabit Ethernet on board no longer claims jumbo frame support (no Core iX Mac thus far as supported jumbo frames on its built-in Gig-E NIC).

85 Watts. That's it. Near silent operation, trivial heat output. Now we just need Promise to ship SANlink.

Bone stock list price is $999, fully loaded hardware (8 GB RAM and dual SSD options added) lists for $2,199.

Fiprecon is a connector for Final Cut Server and Archiware PresSTORE. I've been working on extending fiprecon to especially support these new features:

• recursive archiving and restoring of productions and FCP projects
• stores id, label and barcode of the tape on which an asset has been archived in the asset’s FCSvr metadata
• sends a mail to an administrator, if a tape needed for a restore process is not available. Includes a list of missing tapes, supports authorized mail sending

It's available for free at http://www.andre-aulich.de/en/perm/extended-fiprecon-version-available-for-free including a pretty manual step-by-setp setup instruction.
It's slower than the original fiprecon version, as it needs to extensively talk to Final Cut Server on the command line, though, but this shouldn't be a problem in most environments.

Enjoy.

Promise Technology today announced that their Pegasus R4 and R6 Thunderbolt RAID systems are now shipping. These deliver over 800 MB/s over the new Thunderbolt port.

The Pegasus user manual is good for perusing. They've included quite a bit more functionality in the Mac admin app than your typical desktop RAID. In additional to full power and environmental monitoring, you can configure background tasks and low level drive settings, similar to their x30 rack mountable systems.

Prices range from $999 to $1,999.

Be sure you install yesterday's Thunderbolt Firmware Update before installation!

The press release is after the jump...

Tonight Quantum Corp. announced their first appliance, the M330 metadata controller appliance. It includes is a pair of Xeon servers with StorNext pre-installed plus shared storage for metadata.

Also included:

• 10 StorNext client licenses of your choice: Linux, Unix or Windows
• Xsan client compatibility (Mac clients don't count against the 10 StorNext licenses)
• 2 additional licenses plus HA for the metadata controllers
• Web management
• New setup, performance tuning, and logging enhancements
• Upgradability to advanced features such as Storage Manager HSM, deduplication, and LAN sharing

The M330 is priced at $75,000 and Quantum says it is available now from resellers. (Disclaimer: my employer is a StorNext reseller and would love to sell this to you.)

Thanks to Matt Geller for bringing this announcement to our attention.

Comments should be posted in our forum, please.

Intro videos and the press release are after the break...

Important Information about Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Server

Effective June 21, 2011, Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Server have reached end of life. Resellers may return any unsold inventory to Apple. If resellers opt to return unsold inventory, it will not count against the reseller return cap. See standard policies and procedures regarding returns for more information.