Volume Deployment and Final Standardization of 12Gb SAS Interface

As enterprise storage continues to demand higher performance to meet rising workload levels and higher reliability to push down TCO, the SCSI Trade Association (STA) announced two 12Gb SAS storage interface technology milestones, signaling the technology’s continued success in meeting these industry needs.

First, STA reported the T10 Technical Committee forwarded the SAS 3 specification, which includes 12Gb SAS, to the International Committee on Information Technology Standards (INCITS). This move marks the final phase of the 12Gb SAS specification.

STA also reported record participation of its 15th SAS Plugfest event held October 21-26, 2013, at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). The event marked the third plugfest organized by STA that focused on 12Gb SAS technology.

Twenty-seven companies, including both STA members and non-members, conducted testing at the plugfest to verify their SAS solutions preserve existing storage investments, deliver a favorable end-user experience, demonstrate interoperability and support both forward and backward compatibility.

The turn-out at the plugfest followed a number of industry and STA member announcements in 2013 of volume deployment of 12Gb SAS products.

“SAS is a proven storage interface based on the SCSI protocol that has the stability to tackle the most critical storage demands, without unnecessary complexities and integration challenges,” said Marty Czekalski, president, SCSI Trade Association, and interface and emerging architecture program manager, Seagate Technology LLC. “As expected, this plugfest insured interoperability of 12Gb SAS products and demonstrated a high degree of stability that instills continued confidence in the ecosystem and infrastructure.”

15th STA Plugfest was highlighted by the following activities:

Physical level testing of 12Gb SAS technology
Interoperability testing of SAS products, including SAS Initiators, Host Bus Expanders and SAS targets such as HDDs, SSDs, Solid State Hybrid Drives, and enclosures for these devices
Compatibility testing of hosts with multiple device types including SSDs and HDDs running at 12Gb SAS
Interoperability ramifications of the transmitter and receiver training algorithms inherent in the specification
Testing of SFF-8680 SAS and the SAS portion of the SFF-8639 multi-function backplane connector
Testing of the new 12Gb SAS managed cable capability that allows each port to support short passive copper cables, active cables and optical cables up to 100m
Testing of the latest 12Gb SAS PHY power saving modes during times of no link activity
Testing of the latest12Gb SAS test and measuring equipment and protocol analyzers

“With the emergence of 12Gb SAS technology, the market is demanding much more from the SAS interconnect to service these more complex storage systems,” said Greg McSorley, VP, SCSI Trade Association and business development manager, Amphenol Corp. “The need to manage these large topologies becomes critical, as does the increasing need for substantially longer cabling distances. As such, the SAS community has responded with advanced solutions that were validated and tested during this plugfest.”

Companies participating in the October, 2013 Plugfest: