Special Section: SNW, Fall 2004 - More News From SNW:

Broadcom Announces HyperTransport I/O Bridge With RAID5

Broadcom Corp announced the industry's first single-chip server I/O controller for HyperTransport-based server platforms featuring RAID5 functionality. This unique HyperTransport bridge incorporates enterprise-class storage functions such as RAID5, controller spanning and online capacity expansion which are accessible directly from software through Broadcom's XelCore RAID software stack. This allows system designers to converge communications and storage technologies into a single platform design, while also offering the ability to seamlessly add and integrate new I/O technologies to an existing RAID configuration.

For Broadcom's OEM customers, the HT-1000 server I/O controller is a costeffective way to introduce RAID5 into the entry-level server market. By reducing the number of chips on the motherboard to a single chip, the Broadcom HT-1000 platform solution can reduce OEM costs by 20 percent. These savings now allow small-to-medium-sized businesses (SMBs) to provide enterprise-class RAID5 data protection, enabling cost-effective backup for their business critical information. As a result, the HT-1000 controller has all of the I/O requirements for an entry-level server product. In addition to the HyperTransport interface, the HT-1000 has a full-speed PCI-X bus, a 32-bit PCI bus, four SATA-II (Serial-ATA) ports, and an integrated southbridge for the industry's most complete I/O bridge solution.

"Broadcom is the only silicon provider who owns all of the necessary IP to integrate computing, communications and storage technologies into a singlechip. This competitive advantage provides a significant price and performance benefit to all of our OEM customers," said Gary Thomas, vice president and general manager of Broadcom's ServerWorks Subsidiary. "Through our XelCore software stack, users can now access RAID functionality directly from the HT- 1000 controller while maintaining compatibility with all other Broadcom storage products as well. This provides IT professionals with a single vendor for all of their hardware and software requirements and a scalable, architectural storage platform that enables future product compatibility and investment protection."

Storage I/O products have historically been designed to operate in narrowly defined environments, limiting the flexibility and scalability of the overall platform. Adding storage capacity or new I/O capabilities to an existing platform typically involves replacing or disabling the existing storage products with costlier and incremental purchases.

Whether upgrading an existing embedded RAID solution to shared storage, networked attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN) or a mid-tier backup appliance, the HT-1000 server I/O controller, in conjunction with the XelCore RAID stack, provides seamless integration of new technologies while retaining existing storage hardware and RAID software. When adding new hardware to an existing storage subsystem, whether it is storage technologies such as SATA, serial attached SCSI (SAS), PCI cards, or embedded RAID controller cards, the controller spanning capability of the XelCore software spans RAID functionality across all of the attached storage devices, like the HT-1000, while simultaneously adding more RAID functionality across the entire solution.