PMC-Sierra With 6Gb SAS Chipset

PMC-Sierra, Inc. announced volume production of its maxSAS end-to-end chipset for 6Gb/s SAS enterprise storage systems.

PMC-Sierra 6Gb/s SAS Storage Chipset:
SAN Application Example

PMC-Sierra’s complete 6Gb/s SAS chipset, which includes the Tachyon SPC 8x6G SAS protocol controller, SXP 36x6GSec 36-port and SXP 24x6GSec 24-port SAS Expanders, and system management firmware, is shipping in volume to multiple leading storage and server OEMs.

“Market momentum for 6Gb/s SAS storage and server solutions is ramping on time as semiconductor providers execute to the 6Gb/s SAS roadmap,” said Shane Rau, research director, Computing and Storage Semiconductors, IDC. “Having the tested and qualified SAS chipsets in place is critical if OEMs are to build the solutions that meet the end-market demand for increased performance, improved manageability, and lower datacenter cost. The benefits of 6Gb/s SAS equipment, including improved power-performance profile, enhanced manageability and scalability, and lower total cost of ownership, are very compelling for IT managers as they look to increase the performance and value of their storage infrastructure.”

As the first company to sample 6Gb/s SAS solutions, PMC-Sierra worked with OEM customers, industry standards organizations, and ecosystem partners to complete the qualification and interoperability test process necessary to ensure robust, enterprise-class system design and deployment of 6Gb/s SAS technology. In January 2009, PMC-Sierra announced the production release of its 6Gb/s SAS SRC 8x6G RAID-on-Chip controller, which is shipping with HP’s new G6 line of ProLiant Servers. PMC-Sierra has also announced chipset interoperability with leading 6Gb/s SAS disk-drive vendors including Seagate and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies.

“PMC-Sierra has shipped more than six million 6Gb/s SAS ports for both Enterprise servers and storage systems since beginning volume production earlier this year, and we continue to see increasing market adoption of our SAS-2 product portfolio,” said Mark Stibitz, vice president and general manager of PMC-Sierra’s Enterprise Storage Division. “All of the top six external storage systems OEMs and two of the top three server OEMs have selected PMC-Sierra’s 6Gb/s maxSAS solutions.”

Complete 6Gb/s SAS Chipset Solution
The PM8001 Tachyon SPC 8x6G protocol controller is SAS-2 and PCI Express 2.0 compliant, enabling robust, high-performance, and scalable storage system designs. The device leverages PMC-Sierra’s market-leading Tachyon protocol controller technology, preserving storage OEMs’ software and hardware investments. The SPC 8x6G device supports both native SAS and SATA protocols as well as STP (SATA Tunneling Protocol), which allows support of SATA devices directly attached to the SAS fabric.

The PM8004 SXP 24x6GSec and PM8005 SXP 36x6GSec, 24- and 36-port 6Gb/s SAS expanders, are fourth generation devices in PMC-Sierra’s expander switch product line. These highly integrated devices include advanced diagnostic and system fault isolation capabilities to improve system manageability and lower total cost of ownership. An advanced, integrated enclosure management application framework enables the flexibility and functionality required for next-generation storage solutions. Combined with the Tachyon SPC 8x6G protocol controller or SRC 8x6G RoC, these devices enable an end-to-end 6Gb/s solution, greatly enhancing system performance.

Comprehensive Embedded Software Support
PMC-Sierra’s 6Gb/s SAS chipset includes the industry’s most comprehensive and flexible Software Development Kit solutions, designed to accelerate time to market, reduce engineering costs and allow maximum flexibility of implementation. The SAS Tachyon Software Development Kit (sTSDK), used with the SPC 8x6G protocol controller, enables OEMs to leverage their software investment from existing Tachyon-based Fibre Channel solutions and an easy migration path to future PMC-Sierra controller products, while providing the flexibility and functionality required to enable the advanced error recovery and manageability features offered by PMC-Sierra’s 6Gb/s SAS chipset. The maxSAS Enclosure Management SDK provides a highly extensible and versatile platform that scales effectively from basic to the most complex SAS expander applications. These SDK solutions allow OEMs to efficiently and seamlessly integrate multiple components of PMC-Sierra’s 6Gb/s chipset as part of a highly manageable enterprise-class system solution.

Industry Leader in 6Gb/s Signal Integrity
PMC-Sierra’s best in class high-speed signal integrity performance enables robust operation in the most challenging system cabling and backplane environments without the need for external buffers or signal redrivers. Configurable output driver control and intelligent decision feedback equalizer technology available in PMC-Sierra’s maxSAS products enable increased system reliability and decreased cost versus competing solutions.