Promise 6Gb SAS RAID Controller Card

PROMISE Technology, Inc. announced its SuperTrak 6G SAS RAID controller cards with enterprise-level features for use in the entry, SMB and OEM markets.

According to a recent research report published by Gartner in August, "RAID systems have become pervasive for data storage and are recognized as a ‘needed’ feature rather than an ‘additional’ feature in storage systems." This introduction provides enterprise-class performance, reliability and versatility at an affordable price; it marks the next advancement in storage, whereby customers have more choice, value and a wider range of technology features than available before.

The 6G SAS RAID controllers feature PMC-Sierra Inc.‘s PM8011 SRC 8x6G 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (RoC) with up to 512 MB of DDRII memory and are capable of delivering over 2GB of bandwidth with a single controller in HBA mode over the PCI Express 2.0 bus. The controller is an intelligent and robust solution offering RAID 6 data protection features along with advanced error handling that meet today’s enterprise level data storage requirements. In addition, the controllers offer onboard cache memory with a battery backup option for 72-hour data retention.

"This new family of RAID controller cards combines PMC-Sierra’s industry-leading RAID-on-Chip architecture with PROMISE’s market-tested RAID stack to deliver a robust, enterprise-class 6G SAS solution," said Zaki Hassan, director of product marketing for PMC-Sierra’s Enterprise Storage Division. "The SuperTrak 6G SAS RAID controller cards enable OEMs to seamlessly transition from 3G to 6G technology and provide the increased performance, scalability and reliability that today’s IT professionals require."

The high performance architecture supports flexible connectivity to both SAS and SATA hard drives delivering enterprise-class availability, performance and reliability for Windows and Linux environments. The solution can do up to four levels of JBOD cascading in each port for a total of up to eight JBOD connection and 256 HDDs. Up to four 24-bay J-Class units can be connected to a single SAS HBA for a total of 96 drives. The solution is also forward upgrade compatible between the SuperTrak to the PROMISE VTrak.

"In bringing our new RAID card to the market we provide real end-to-end 6G solutions for the customer," said Chi Chen Wu, CTO, PROMISE Technology. "We are the only vendor responding directly to the demands for improved efficiency and expansion capabilities coupled with a dramatically improved host bus interface and RAID performance."

Data center demands for expanded capacity and support for virtualization applications are driving system requirements for improved host bus interface and RAID performance. The PROMISE RAID controller card, with 6Gb/s SAS and PCIe is a key part of meeting these demands. SuperTrak SAS controllers provide a comprehensive list of OS support including Windows, Linux, Free BSD, VMware and Solaris operating systems, while its RAID features support greater than 2TB per array and per logical drive.

The SuperTrak series includes WebPAM Pro, PROMISE’s Web 2.0 browser-based GUI which provides such outstanding features as remote RAID management over a TCP/IP network, on-demand and scheduled media patrol and online RAID controller firmware upgrades.

The PROMISE 6G solutions are ideal for server-level customers who require affordable storage coupled with enterprise-level performance and features. Today everyone is trying to solve the ongoing dilemma of cutting costs without sacrificing performance; with this introduction, PROMISE has solved that challenge. Today’s announcement is another example of how PROMISE is redefining the dynamics of data storage in response to customer and market requirements.

Customer benefits include:

• Outstanding Compatibility: Fully backward compatible with 3G drives, users have the ability to deploy 3G, 6G, SAS and SATA drives for tiered-storage applications.
• Easy-to-Use GUI: New Web 2.0-based GUI management software (WebPAM PRO) provides an intuitive, easy-to-use interface for RAID volume configuration and management.
• Reliability at an Affordable Price: With a no single point of failure design, the 6G SAS and 6G RAID solution offers enterprise class reliability at a revolutionary price. All system components are redundant and are constantly monitored using industry standard protocols for trouble-free operation and ease-of-use in heterogeneous environments.

Service and Support
The offering is backed by the PROMISE 3-year limited warranty with 24/7 (Americas and EMEA) telephone and email support. PROMISE offers extended warranty and onsite parts replacement options with service levels as low as four hours.

Availability
The PROMISE 6G SAS RAID controller cards are available in limited distribution and will be commercially available through distribution in Q1, 2010.