Features - Enterprise Data Insights:

MAXTOR, LSI LOGIC, VITESSE DEMO MULTI-TB MIXED SAS/SATA ARRAY

Maxtor Corp, LSI Logic Corp and Vitesse Semiconductor announced that they unveiled the first public demonstration of a multi-terabyte storage array based on the new Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) standard at the Storage World Conference in Long Beach, Calif. The technology demonstration included a combination of both SAS and Serial ATA (SATA) disk drives to highlight the configuration flexibility and scalability of systems based on the SAS standard.

The inherent capability of the SAS architecture to support multiple applications in a single enclosure is expected to have a significant impact on the future of enterprise-class storage systems. This capability, which Maxtor calls Serial in a Box, can lower the total cost of ownership of storage by combining the complementary benefits of SAS and SATA disk technologies in one system. A single storage system can now support both online applications with SAS drives and midline and nearline applications with SATA drives.

The 3TB array was built using LSI Logic's SAS3040X SAS Host Bus Adapter (HBA) and SASx12 12-port SAS expander, first silicon of Vitesse's NexSAS server-series expander line, and a combination of 10 Maxtor MaXLine III, 300GB SATA drives, and six Maxtor pre-production 73GB SAS drives. To demonstrate the unique flexibility of the SAS architecture, the companies showed sustained throughput of LSI Logic's HBA and Maxtor's SAS and MaXLine SATA drives. This was enabled through wide-port links between the LSI Logic HBA and expander and wide-port links between the LSI Logic HBA and Vitesse expander.

"The creation of this array demonstrates the capabilities and flexibility of Serial Attached SCSI architecture," said Kevin Wittmer, director of enterprise storage technical marketing at Maxtor. "SAS will enable enterprise server and storage array manufacturers to develop systems with scalable throughput and capacity that can be configured with both SAS and SATA disk drives. With Serial in a Box storage, customers can deploy a single server or storage system that meets a wide range of price, performance and capacity requirements."

"End-to-end interoperability of products from industry partners such as Maxtor, Vitesse, and LSI Logic is a testament to these three companies' commitment to the adoption of SAS in the enterprise," said David Steele, director of product planning and management at LSI Logic. "Today's demonstration illustrated how the scalability of SAS will meet the ever-increasing demands for performance, capacity, and connectivity within the enterprise market and IT data centers."

"By combining Vitesse NexSAS expander technology with LSI Logic SAS host bus adapters and expander technology, and Maxtor's high-performance SAS and high-capacity SATA drives, system OEMs and designers can embrace the new era of consolidated enterprise storage infrastructures," said Sam Barnett, product line manager for SAS products at Vitesse. "No longer will system designs be limited to single technology and application boundaries. SAS will forever change the way the world thinks of storage."

About LSI Logic Corp

LSI Logic Corp is a designer and manufacturer of storage components and storage, communications and consumer semiconductors for applications that access, interconnect and store data, voice and video. In addition, the company supplies storage network solutions for the enterprise. LSI Logic is headquartered at 1621 Barber Lane, Milpitas, CA 95035. Storage products and technology can be viewed at www.lsilogic.com/storage.