LSI 6Gb SAS MegaRAID for IBM System x Servers

LSI Corporation announced its 6Gb/s SAS MegaRAID products are shipping on two new IBM System x servers, enabling new levels of server storage performance, reliability and scalability.

The IBM rack-mount servers, with integrated LSI 6Gb/s SAS technology, provide end customers with cost-effective solutions for Web serving, e-business, collaboration, distributed database, SAP deployments and virtualization.

The LSI 6Gb/s SAS MegaRAID products demonstrated a 190 percent throughput improvement for RAID 5 writes and a 240 percent throughput improvement for RAID 6 writes compared to products based on 3Gb/s SAS technology, translating to significant system performance gains.

"Our collaboration with LSI allows us to deliver robust, first-to-market storage solutions that improve performance, IT efficiency and data protection for our customers," said Bob Galush, vice president, IBM Systems & Technology Group. "IBM selected LSI as our 6Gb RAID supplier based on their market segment leadership."

The LSISAS2108 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (ROC) and MegaRAID software are integrated into IBM ServeRAID controllers found in IBM Systems x3650 M2 and x3550 model servers. The ServeRAID controllers, which are designed for inside-the-box connectivity, feature eight internal 6Gb/s SAS ports and support both SAS and SATA hard disk drives. An additional level of data security is available by using LSI SafeStore encryption services with self-encrypting drives (SED).

The ServeRAID controllers provide high-performance RAID 6 support to protect against data loss in the event of dual-drive failures. The controllers also feature LSI MegaRAID Storage Manager software, for quick and easy access to disk encryption and RAID setup and management, as well as an intelligent battery backup unit that provides extremely accurate battery capacity monitoring.

"LSI has collaborated with IBM to provide market-leading storage technologies and software management solutions," said Kelly Bryant, DAS RAID business line director, Engenio Storage Group, LSI. "LSI SAS and MegaRAID technology provide the performance, scalability and data protection that IBM System x Server customers require to achieve the best return on their IT investments."