eSATA Port Selector and Port Multiplier by Exar

Exar Corporation expanded its storage product family with the addition of two devices the 2:1 eSATA port selector (XRS10L210), and 1:2 port selector/multiplier combo (XRS10L220). These devices, as well as, other members of the EXstor family, target a wide variety of data storage environments including data management systems for consumer, industrial, and Small Medium Enterprise (SMB) applications.

"The XRS10L210 and XRS10L220 have superior analog capabilities coupled with fail-over storage functions making them ideal for cost-sensitive High Availability (HA) fault tolerant storage sub-system applications," said Jehangir Parvereshi, product line director, Storage Products. "The XRS10L220 integrates port selector and port multiplier capabilities in a single device for lowered BOM costs as competitive solutions require two discrete ICs to accomplish the same functionality. These new additions to the EXstor family of products offer customers the right mix of industry leading features and value for a wide variety of storage environments."

The XRS10L220 provides the combined advantages of a SATA II port selector and port multiplier implementations at 3.0Gbps and 1.5Gbps.  Combining the 4 SATA II PHYs capability on-chip to address two SATA devices with support for a fail-over path from two independent hosts, the XRS10L220 offers an industry leading solution for extending the range of high data rate SATA data. Also, in addition to the port multiplier functionality, the XRS10L220 port selector is compliant with SATA II: Port Selector, Revision 1.0.

Exar’s XRS10L210 is an active passive SATA-II Host port selector provides an optimal solution for HA applications utilizing redundant SATA host controllers.  In addition to supporting side-band and register based switching, the XRS10L210 supports in-band command based switching and is compliant to SATA II: Port Selector, Revision 1.0.

These devices incorporate industry-leading analog front end with Spread Spectrum Clocking (SSC), substantially reducing the total EMI. The devices also consume under 700mW with several power down modes minimizing power management. The devices support programmable output swing controls as well as both transmit pre-emphasis and receive equalization enabling use over more than 30 inches of backplane or 2 meter cable lengths.  In addition, Exar’s SATA port multiplier products support the SATA II: Port Multiplier 1.1 specification enabling multiple SATA drives to be connected to a single SATA or SAS host bus Adaptor.

EXstor Storage Devices Overview
The EXstor series improves the signal integrity, increases reliability and resolves bandwidth bottlenecks. Comprised of three additional solutions: the XRS10L140/XRS10L120 a SATA port multiplier which supports a single host to connect up to four/two SATA drives targeting next generation enterprise class disk array systems that use SATA mid-planes; also, the XRS10L240 device combines port selector and port multiplier functionality in a single integrated device enabling two SATA or SAS hosts to address up to four SATA drives. All the EXstor devices use PHY technology with adjustable equalization, pre-emphasis and amplitude settings for tuning high-speed long backplane implementations and eSATA cables. The devices also support the SSC schemes to reduce EMI issues.

Packages and Prices
In 1,000 piece quantities for commercial temperatures the XRS10L220 is offered in a 100-pin LQFP package, and priced at mid-$7 per unit.
In 1,000 piece quantities for commercial temperatures the XRS10L210 is offered in a 100-pin LQFP package, and priced at mid-$5 per unit.

Exar Corporation