Six Big Storage Companies Select LSI RAID-On-Chip and 6Gb SAS Technology

LSI Corporation announced that Dell, Fujitsu Siemens Computers, IBM, Intel, NEC and Sun Microsystems have selected its 6Gb/s SAS RAID-On-Chip (ROC) solution to enable next-generation entry- to enterprise- server platforms. According to IDC estimates, 6Gb/s SAS market adoption will begin in mid-to-late 2009 and is linked to the broad availability and production volume shipments of SAS ecosystem components and devices.

"Server manufacturers face constant pressure to engineer increases in performance and scalability across increasingly diverse applications – from retail to real-time business analytics to delivery of content-on-demand. To succeed, underlying technologies must be robust and highly reliable," said David Reinsel, IDC group vice president, storage and semiconductors. "Technology alignment paves the way for a smooth transition to the 6Gb/s SAS generation."

The new LSI 6Gb/s SAS solution builds upon the market-leading LSI SAS 3Gb/s technology products, delivering performance and power-saving advantages as compared to other silicon alternatives, along with the added assurance gained from robust interoperability testing.

"LSI has deep hardware, firmware and validation competencies combined with a 25-year track record of successfully bringing forward business-critical storage technologies," said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president, Storage Components Group, LSI. "As a SAS market segment leader, our validation across the industry’s broadest spectrum of OEM platforms is unmatched, allowing us to leverage this experience in each new generation of solutions. It’s a fundamental and powerful advantage."

Key milestones toward preparing the market for the broad adoption of 6Gb/s SAS solutions include multi-vendor interoperability ‘plugfest’ events and silicon product sampling. The next plugfest will be held during the week of Nov. 10 at the University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory (UNH-IOL). Individual 6Gb/s SAS components and devices are expected to appear in the market over the next 12 months, with widespread adoption occurring as 6Gb/s SAS-enabled servers ship in volume.

The LSITM 6Gb/s SAS ROC IC (SAS2108), and 6Gb/s SAS RAID adapters (LSI MegaRAID SAS 9280-8e and SAS 9260-8i) are now sampling to OEMs worldwide.

Since the inception of SAS, LSI has delivered market-leading products across its portfolio of controller ICs, expanders, host bus and MegaRAID adapters, RAID-on-motherboard solutions and storage systems. By offering best-in-class SAS technologies, assured interoperability, and single vendor support, LSI is the silicon-to-systems supplier of choice for OEMs that want to deliver a broad set of storage solutions.

"Dell and LSI enjoy a long relationship of delivering technology and
solutions that drive industry standards, growth and improved customer
experience," said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager,
Dell storage. "We are excited about the introduction of 6Gb/s SAS with
the stability and benefits that customers will be able to reap as the
entire ecosystem develops."

"Fujitsu Siemens Computers is committed to addressing market needs with
products engineered for high-reliability and cost-efficient
performance. Relying on strong storage partners such as LSI to provide
technology solutions is one way we deliver on this commitment," said
Jens-Peter Seick, Senior Vice President, Enterprise Server Business at
Fujitsu Siemens Computers. "As customers begin evaluating 6Gb/s SAS,
Fujitsu Siemens Computers will provide well-matched solutions as soon
as the transition makes business sense."

"As the SAS interconnect evolves, IBM is deploying robust,
first-to-market SAS RAID solutions that provide increased performance
and help clients better protect their data," said James Northington,
vice president IBM System x. "IBM’s support for 6Gb/s technology from
LSI is part of our work to help clients develop a new enterprise data
center, which offers dramatic improvements in IT efficiency and
provides for rapid deployment of new IT services to support future
business growth."

"Intel is committed to delivering leading RAID products to our channel
customers and LSI 6Gb/s SAS RAID-On-Chip silicon and MegaRAID are key
elements," said David Brown, Intel General Manager, Channel Server
Products. "Our forthcoming SAS/SATA solutions based on these
technologies will allow our customers to better service the growing
market for systems requiring advanced data protection, enhanced
performance and superior usability."

"LSI and its market-leading RAID technology enable NEC, who is
aggressively promoting 6Gb/s SAS, to engineer Japan’s most advanced
servers," said Tadashi Takizawa, Chief Manager, Client And Server
Division, NEC. "Our tradition of cooperation and technology integration
benefits both our companies, and our customers."

"LSI’s introduction of 6Gb/s SAS technology will enable Sun to offer
customers compelling, feature-rich SAS-based server and storage
solutions," said Victor Walker, vice president of Storage Development,
Sun Microsystems. "Sun was among the first to adopt 3GB/s SAS
technology, and we are pleased to extend that leadership as the
industry transitions to 6Gb/s SAS."

More information on the LSI SAS portfolio