Teledyne LeCroy Sierra T244 SAS 4.0 Analyzer Platform

Teledyne LeCroy, Inc. has announced a SAS 4.0 protocol analyzer platform supporting protocol testing and debugging of the emerging 24Gb SAS standard.

The Sierra T244 analyzer platform leverages company’s cutting-edge TAP4 probe technology to provide early-adopters with visibility into the next-generation SAS 4.0 protocol.

SAS is a high-performance, full-duplex storage protocol that today operates at speeds of up to 12Gb/s with next generation 24Gb/s systems on the horizon. SAS remains the market leader within the data center as a result of its enterprise features, price/performance point, and scalability. With the SAS 4.0 specification currently in letter ballot and the first 24Gb/s Plugfest targeted for mid-2017, the announcement of the Sierra T244 SAS Protocol Analyzer demonstrates Teledyne LeCroy’s leadership in the high-speed serial storage technology ecosystem.

“For storage OEMs seeking fast, flexible and reliable data access, SAS continues to be the proven platform for innovation,” said Rick Kutcipal, president, SCSI Trade Association, and director, industry marketing, Broadcom Corporation. “Teledyne LeCroy’s SAS 4.0 protocol analyzer represents an important building block for early-adopters working on the next evolution of SAS technology.“

“The key challenge SAS 4.0 developers face is capturing the 24Gb/s link training coefficients without affecting the dynamic equalization process,” said Joe Mendolia, VP, marketing, protocol solutions group, Teledyne LeCroy. “With our new T.A.P.4 probe technology, the Sierra T244 will introduce minimum interference on the signal-under-test so compensation mechanisms in the SAS 4.0 chipsets can be observed without distortion.“

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Company’s protocol analyzers have been at the forefront of SAS development since 2004. The Sierra T244 analyzer features both sequential and hierarchical displays, protocol traffic summaries, detailed error reports, and raw views of the 150-bit SPL packet structures allowing developers to troubleshoot low-level problems and deliver the high quality SAS 4.0 solutions.

Optimized for SAS wide port, the Sierra T244 can analyze four lanes of SAS 4.0 protocol traffic simultaneously with visibility into link training and the dynamic equalization process. A complement of hardware, based triggering tools are available to pinpoint protocol traffic of interest. A completely upgraded analysis software suite provides comprehensive decoding of SSP, SMP and STP traffic. Common protocol errors are flagged automatically including forward error correction (FEC) errors and incomplete commands. The Sierra T244 platform is available with SAS 4.0 support and up to 128GB of recording memory. Configurations are also available with SAS 3.0 (12Gb/s) support that are upgradeable to 24Gb/s in the future.

The Sierra T244 is schedule for shipment in November, 2016.