6Gb SAS RAID-on-Chip IC by LSI

LSI Corporation is sampling the LSISAS2208 dual-core 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (ROC) IC to OEM customers.

The high-performance LSI SAS ROC is intended to support the forthcoming PCI Express 3.0 specification, currently under development within the PCI-SIG, and provide I/O performance levels that meet the needs of next-generation server platforms based on PCI Express 3.0 and flash-based solid-state drive (SSD) storage.

The draft PCI Express 3.0 specification will extend PCI Express data rates up to 8.0 GigaTransfers per second per lane, doubling the host bandwidth that was achievable with previous generations. Integrating the latest enhancements in PCI Express and SAS technology, the third-generation LSI SAS ROC will deliver performance levels of up to 600,000 input-output operations per second (IOPS), allowing server platforms to take full advantage of the performance benefit of SSDs for applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server, databases, Web serving and business intelligence.

"Performance is becoming more critical in today’s enterprise environments, especially as more enterprise-class solid-state drives are deployed," said Jeff Janukowicz, Research Manager, Hard Disk Drive Components and Solid State Drives at IDC. "Devices such as the next-generation LSI ROC, coupled with PCI Express 3.0-based server platforms, are designed to maximize the performance benefits of flash storage."

The LSISAS2208 ROC integrates a 72-bit DDR3-1333 SDRAM interface, specialized hardware acceleration engines and a high-performance dual-core 800 MHz PowerPC processor for optimized RAID performance. In addition, the LSISAS2208 ROC incorporates enhancements such as single root I/O virtualization (SR-IOV) for greater performance in virtualized environments, improved system performance and data security, and more finely-tuned quality of service (QoS).

"From server generation to server generation, leading OEMs have relied on the LSI SAS portfolio to meet their storage demands," said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president and general manager, Storage Components Division, LSI. "As the industry now begins to look towards the PCI Express 3.0 wave of server platforms, the new LSISAS2208 ROC will enable OEMs to take advantage of the performance capabilities offered by the new specification, once again demonstrating LSI’s ability to help keep our customers at the forefront of industry inflection points."

"We are excited to see LSI implementing the latest PCI Express specifications in their next-generation products," said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG Chairman and President, commenting on the early adoption of the upcoming PCIe 3.0 technology. "LSI has been an active member of the PCI-SIG since its inception participating in numerous technical working groups and developing products which include PCI Express technology."

Since the inception of SAS, LSI has delivered an industry-leading portfolio of products including controller ICs, expanders, host bus and MegaRAID adapters, RAID-on-Motherboard (ROMB) solutions and storage systems. Based on a 25-year track record of hardware and firmware expertise and extensive validation processes, LSI is the silicon-to-systems supplier of choice for OEMs that want to deliver a broad set of storage solutions.