Xyratex With 12Gb SAS Storage System

Xyratex Ltd introduced 12Gb SAS technology into its OneStor line of enterprise modular storage enclosures.

This industry-first technology doubles the data transfer speed between the storage enclosure and the host server, increasing the performance of I/O and bandwidth intensive applications. The availability of 12Gb SAS technology enables OEM customers to get to market faster with an advanced storage solution.

It allows the OneStor line to support 12Gb SAS EBODs and 12Gb host connectivity, which permits a theoretical maximum I/O bandwidth of 28.8GB/s from SAS hosts to the installed disk drives in 2U12, 2U24, 4U24 and 5U84 storage enclosures.

"Xyratex has a long history of innovation in OEM storage, and our OneStor solutions are top-rated in the OEM marketplace because of their ability to deliver the best in performance, reliability and value," said Ed Prager, SVP and GM of OEM storage solutions, Xyratex. "Our 12Gb support extends these benefits through the ability to integrate high-performance flash storage in a seamless manner over the fastest interconnects and accelerate existing 6Gb rotational devices, all within our standard density and unique high-density enclosures. As technology and the storage industry both continue to evolve, we’ll stay aggressive about integrating the best in storage value so that our customers are able to satisfy their most pressing and challenging data center demands."

Xyratex demonstrated its 12Gb OneStor solution at the IDF at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco, CA, September 10-12. The IDF demonstration consists of Xyratex’s 2U24 12Gb SAS enclosure with 12Gb SAS I/O modules utilizing PMC-Sierra, Inc.‘s 12Gb SAS expanders connected to multiple Intel PCIe 3.0-based servers installed with LSI Corp.‘s 12Gb SAS HBAs. The 12Gb SAS enclosure houses twenty-four 12Gb SAS SSDs from contributing participants HGST and Seagate Technology LLC. I/Ometer will run on the attached servers during demonstration to show I/O performance to/from the installed SSDs.

"The new Xyratex 12Gb solutions, compatible with Seagate 1200 Series SSDs, bring next-generation levels of performance and reliability to cloud and enterprise customers," said Scott Horn, Seagate VP marketing. "Xyratex’s innovative technologies as well as its industry position and thought leadership make them a key partner in Seagate’s cloud Builder Alliance."

"HGST has a long history of working with Xyratex, and we are excited about the announcement of their new 12Gb SAS solution as well as their interoperability with our 12Gb SAS Ultrastar MLC SSDs," said Brendan Collins, VP of product marketing, HGST. "We are pleased to be participating with Xyratex in its demonstration at IDF, which will illustrate the advantages of 12Gb SAS performance, scalability and ease of integration, along with SSD reliability and efficiency, into new or existing enterprise storage systems and designs."

"Working closely with key industry ecosystem partners such as Xyratex, LSI has ramped 12Gb SAS solutions to production, allowing customers to take advantage of the exciting performance and feature advantages 12Gb SAS technology offers," said Robin Wagner, senior director of marketing, LSI Corp. "12Gb SAS is the preferred enterprise interface, helping traditional and cloud hyperscale datacenter environments contend with massive data growth and accelerate application performance."

"We’re pleased that our 12Gb SAS technology, in partnership with Xyratex, is a part of this first to market announcement for their 12Gb SAS enclosure," said Kevin Burbank, senior director of product marketing and applications, PMC’s enterprise storage division. "The use of PMC’s 12Gb SAS expanders within the new Xyratex solution and the demonstration highlights the advantages of low power consumption, robust signal integrity and high performance in optimizing the use of 6Gb/s and 12Gb SAS SSDs and HDDs."

"STA applauds Xyratex for advancing the implementation of 12Gb SAS within its next generation platforms," said Chris Lyon, executive director, SCSI Trade Association. "This technology ensures optimal performance and efficiency for cloud and enterprise datacenters by doubling I/O storage performance and alleviating bottlenecks to help manage explosive data demands."

The OneStor family of storage systems from Xyratex offers a series of storage building blocks that end users can deploy in a variety of ways to accommodate their most demanding storage requirements. In addition to standard JBODs, these next-generation storage solutions are able to consolidate both server and storage into a single storage computing platform. This unique architecture eliminates additional hardware costs, minimizes footprint requirements, and simplifies cabling and installation, enabling OEMs to deliver more powerful intelligent storage solutions along with their most advanced software capabilities directly to end users.