PMC/Adaptec With 12Gb SAS Expander Card

PMC-Sierra, Inc. announced a 12Gb SAS expander card to enable density-optimized servers, the fastest growing segment of the worldwide server market according to IDC.

The Adaptec 12Gb SAS expander card enables flexible, high-density server architectures that can expand as data center storage needs grow. It provides 36 ports in a PCIe low-profile form factor, with internal connectivity for up to 24 SAS or SATA drives and eight additional external ports to connect JBODs for greater capacity expansion on a single RAID controller or HBA.

The expander card enables modular passive backplane architectures to reduce server variants and increase data center operating efficiency.

“Server density is a key design goal for data center architects, and a solution like the Adaptec expander card that enables modular designs, is compatible with existing infrastructures and can provide maximum scalability and throughput will be very attractive,” Jed Scaramella, research director, enterprise servers and data centers, IDC. “Density-optimized servers, which are increasingly an optimal choice for hyperscale environments, will continue to gain share of server deployments and spending.”

The 12Gb SAS expander card fits in a low-profile MD2 form factor and is within the PCIe power envelope of less than 25 watts. It mounts internally to any available PCIe slot away from the backplane, and features mini-SAS HD connectors out the top for added cabling flexibility in dense server environments. It can receive power either from the PCIe slot or through a standard 4-pin auxiliary power connector. The card supports SGPIO and SES2 enclosure management, allowing enclosure information to be routed from all daisy-chained expander cards to the HBA or RAID adapter.

“With growing deployments of scale-out architectures in data centers, our customers are looking for solutions that will give them maximum scalability, flexibility and compatibility within their power target,” said Pete Hazen, VP of data center and server group, PMC. “Our new Adaptec expander card is the only solution that meets all of these needs, and it enables our customers to deliver a wide range of configurations tailored to specific storage workloads.”

The 12Gb SAS expander card’s buffering capabilities improve performance of 6Gb SAS+SATA, allowing data centers to leverage their existing drives in addition to the newest 12Gb SAS devices to achieve maximum throughput. The expander card is compatible with all HDDs and SSDs, existing active and passive backplanes, as well as all Adaptec Series 8, Series 7 and Series 6 RAID adapters and HBAs. It is also compatible with several 3rd party RAID adapters and HBAs.

The Adaptec 82885T 12Gb SAS expander card will be available in October 2014 through distributors and storage channel partners.