Sonnet Designed Two 6Gb SATA PCIe SSD Cards

Sonnet Technologies Inc. announced its Tempo SSD and Tempo SSD Pro 6Gb/s SATA PCIe 2.5-inch SSD cards, the new member of the Tempo family of high-performance 6Gb/s SATA host controllers.

They allow users to purchase one or two SSDs separately and then mount them on PCIe cards. Unlike other PCIe SSD cards, they utilize 2.5-inch SATA SSDs (sold separately), giving users flexibility in selecting the SSD capacity and performance that best suit their needs and budget, as well as the option to upgrade as required.

Delivering performance that cannot be matched by spinning-disk drives, SSDs have become important components in systems requiring fast data transfer speeds and large numbers of I/O operations. Instead of relying on proprietary SSD modules, Sonnet chose to support standard 2.5-inch SATA SSDs to allow users access a variety of SSDs and HDDs, which are generally available at better prices than proprietary SSD modules.

The Tempo SSD card uses a 6Gb/s SATA controller and a PCIe 2.0 interface, and it features a modular design that supports one SSD with the card at half-length or two SSDs with an included bracket that extends the card to full length. Tempo SSD supports sustained read speeds of up to 470MB/s from a single SSD or up to 660 MB/s from two SSDs configured as a RAID-0 set.

With full-length Tempo SSD Pro card, users can mount two SSDs in a full-length PCIe slot. It features a 6Gb/s SATA SSD controller that supports sustained read speeds of up to 900MB/s from two SSDs configured as a RAID-0 set.

The Tempo SSD and Tempo SSD Pro cards install into a Mac or Windows computer’s PCIe slot or into a Thunderbolt expansion chassis for PCIe cards such as Sonnet’s Echo Express or Echo Express Pro, respectively. SSDs attached to these Sonnet cards can be configured as boot drives under Windows. With SSDs attached, both cards are narrow enough to occupy the space of only a single-width card. Installed in a Mac Pro, the Tempo cards offer twice the bandwidth of the native 3Gb/s SATA bus for superior performance.

Both cards include an optional PCIe bracket that supports the installation of two BNC connectors for HD-SDI output like those supplied with RED Digital Cinema’s RED Rocket card. This bracket enables users to add a Tempo SSD and a Red Rocket card in two slots and route the HD-SDI out the back without needing a third slot.

"Our Tempo SSD and Tempo SSD Pro cards offer a fresh twist on high-performance storage, supporting the performance of the fastest 2.5-inch SSDs and providing our customers with complete price/performance flexibility," said Robert Farnsworth, CEO of Sonnet. "We believe these products will appeal to both Mac Pro and Windows workstation and server users, as well as PCIe Thunderbolt expansion chassis customers, who will find it very convenient to add extremely fast SSD storage directly into the chassis."

Compatible with OS X 10.6.8+ (including Mountain Lion), Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, and Server 2008, the Tempo SSD (part number TSATA6-SSD-E2) is available at a suggested retail price of $149.95, and the Tempo SSD Pro (part number TSATA6-SSDPR-E2) will be available in late August at a suggested retail price of $299.95.