Next-Gen LSI Preamps Up to 5Gb/s

LSI Corporation announced the TrueStore PA5100 and PA5200, the company’s latest preamplifier ICs for the notebook, desktop and enterprise HDD market segments.

These preamplifiers deliver operating speeds of up to 5.0Gb/s, a 25 percent performance improvement compared to the previous generation, and consume less power than their predecessor.

The PA5200 write driver uses a conventional dual-power design, and can deliver more than a 15 percent reduction in preamp write power. The PA5100 write driver operates from a single power supply, which can enable a preamp power reduction of more than 35 percent for next-generation HDDs.

The new preamplifiers provide HDD manufacturers with the flexibility to deploy a common IC capable of serving all major HDD market segments, from 5.4K RPM notebook through 15K RPM enterprise HDDs.

Hard drive makers who integrate PA5100/PA5200 preamps into their drive assemblies can benefit from lower development costs, reduced inventories and an accelerated time-to-market with a single preamp capable of addressing a range of application requirements.

"HDD manufacturers rely on LSI to deliver world-class HDD silicon technologies that raise the bar for hard drive capacity, power and performance," said Phil Brace, senior vice president and general manager, Storage Peripherals Division, LSI. "With operating speeds up to 5.0Gb/s, the new preamps provide HDD makers with high-performance solutions that easily surpass end users’ data rate requirements while offering optimal power-performance balance."