Microsemi Launches SmartRAID-3162-8i and 3162-8i/e Adaptec Smart Storage 12Gb SAS/SATA Adapters

Microsemi Corporation, subsidiary of Microchip Technology Inc., announced two additions to its recently announced lineup of Adaptec Smart Storage 12Gbps SAS/SATA adapters: the SmartRAID-3162-8i and SmartRAID-3162-8i/e.

The SmartRAID-3162-8i offers an industry-leading level of integration by offering an integrated super capacitor directly on the adapter to support write cache data protection. The SmartRAID-3162-8i/e introduces a 12Gb SAS/SATA RAID adapter with maxCrypto, a line rate controller-based encryption (CBE) solution offering superior security and flexibility compared to disk-based encryption solutions.

“Flexibility, ease-of-use and security continue to be top priorities for our customers. Our new SmartRAID-3162-8i ensures enterprise data availability in a highly integrated standard adapter form factor, providing all the required cache protection hardware directly on-board,” said Andrew Dieckmann, VP, marketing, data center solutions, Microsemi. “Our turnkey maxCrypto encryption solution provides superior flexibility and security compared to the most common alternative solution, self-encrypting drives, all within the easy-to-use Adaptec management tool suite.“

About SmartRAID-3162-8i
With the SmartRAID-3162-8i data centers can deploy an available RAID adapter with a complete cache backup solution entirely within one low profile MD2 PCIe Gen 3 server slot.

RAID caching is frequently used in enterprise storage to improve I/O performance by writing data to a controller’s cache before it is written to disk. However, in the case of a power loss, the write cache may be lost. The company’s Zero Maintenance Cache Protection (ZMCP) leverages a super capacitor (versus a battery) to power critical components long enough to transfer cached data to NAND flash. When power is restored, the data is restored to the cache as well and normal operation resumes. The use of a super capacitor versus a lithium ion battery eliminates hardware maintenance associated with battery-based adapter cache backup solutions.

The SmartRAID-3162-8i introduces the firm’s sixth generation of ZMCP. This generation of ZMCP integrates the cache backup circuitry, NAND flash memory and the field-replaceable super capacitor all onto the adapter itself, with no need to tether an external super capacitor to the adapter. This ultimately saves space in the server, an ingredient to deploying high-density data centers. Numerous studies have been conducted on high density data centers, with some showing as much as 50% savings in capital expenditures and 20% in operating expenditures versus less dense data center rack deployments.

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About SmartRAID-3162-8i/e
Encryption for data-at-rest is a requirement for multiple markets, with government legislation in place mandating data security and privacy. The SmartRAID-3162-8i/e with the maxCrypto CBE solution enables data center customers to select 256-bit XTS-AES encryption for any logical volume managed by the SmartRAID-3162-8i /e at full line rate performance. The firm’s maxCrypto CBE solution provides a higher level of security and improved deployment flexibility compared to the most common alternative solution, self-encrypting drives (SEDs).

SmartRAID-3162-8i and 3162-8i/e are optimized for enterprise storage applications which require the highest level of data availability in an optimized footprint.

Features include:

• Eight lanes of PCIe Gen 3 connectivity to the host

• Eight internal ports of connectivity to 12Gb SAS or 6Gb SATA drives, either direct or through an SAS expander, via SFF-8643 miniSAS high-definition connectors

• 2GB of DDR4 2,100MHz

• Up to 1.45 million RAID-0 4 KB random read IO/s

• Hardware RAID support for levels 0/1/5/6/10/50/60/1 ADM/10 ADM

• maxCache 4.0 with up to ~2TB SSD cache

• Integration with the firm’s Adaptec tool chain, including maxView Storage Manager GUI, ARCCONF, uEFI BIOS configuration utilities and the maxView Event Monitor

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The company’s unified Smart Storage Stack, SmartRAID and SmartHBA, HBA product families and the SXP family of SAS expanders provide a server solution for storage management and connectivity.

Unified Smart Storage Stack, as well as the fourth generation SmartRAID-3100, SmartHBA 2100 and HBA 1100 series board level product families, are available in volume production quantities.

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