Silicon Storage Bridges enable plug-and-play SATA HDDs.
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Press Release Summary:
Providing transparent, canister-level emulation of Fibre Channel (FC) disk drives, BR-2401 endow SATA HDDs with plug-and-play functionality in FC storage environments. It features dual 4 Gb FC ports, SATA-II NCQ support, ARM 966 processor, and built-in data integrity algorithms. Product lets users select various SATA HDDs and deploy multiple SATA HDD types within one storage enclosure. Data path and other memories are integrated into chip.
Original Press Release:
Sierra Logic(TM) Unveils New Family of Silicon Storage Bridges
New Technology Makes SATA Hard Drives 'Plug-and-Play' in Fibre Channel Systems
ROSEVILLE, Calif., Feb. 7 -- Sierra Logic, a leading supplier of intelligent silicon storage solutions, today announced a new family of highly integrated Fibre Channel to Serial ATA silicon storage bridges to complement its widely popular silicon storage router unveiled last year.
The new family of silicon storage bridges debuts with the Sierra Logic Storage Bridge(TM) (BR-2401), which makes lower-cost SATA Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) plug-and-play in Fibre Channel storage environments.
The new Sierra Logic bridges provide the first-ever transparent, canister-level emulation of FC disk drives to deliver a versatile, high-performance, low-cost storage solution ideally suited for multiple applications within the enterprise storage market. The BR-2401 allows SATA HDDs to be inserted into any FC drive slot and be mixed with FC disk drives within a storage system, in either modular JBODs or integrated RAID controllers.
With the BR-2401, storage OEMs are able to select from numerous SATA HDD vendors, choosing best-of-class technology and, more importantly, multi-sourcing their supply chain. Dual 4Gb FC ports deliver state-of-the-art performance, while SATA-II NCQ support takes advantage of the very latest drive features.
"High-capacity SATA drives are fast becoming a commodity item due to their utility in everything from consumer electronics to PCs to enterprise storage," said Arun Taneja, principal at The Taneja Group, an analyst and consulting group focused on storage and storage-centric server technologies. "The beauty of Sierra Logic's approach is that it allows the use of HDDs from various vendors, even within the same system, because the new silicon actually hides the differences and makes them all function like a unified Fibre Channel drive."
"For the storage industry and its enterprise customers, this approach provides an intelligent, powerful and cost-saving alternative to Fibre Channel HDDs," continued Taneja.
"Sierra Logic is thrilled to once again be at the forefront in delivering Fibre Channel-level functionality and features at SATA-level value," said Bob Whitson, co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Sierra Logic, Inc. "Our new family of silicon storage bridges, combined with our proven firmware, again changes the landscape for enterprise storage customers and manufacturers by providing them yet another option for leveraging their earlier investments, deploying new storage environments quickly, and realizing significant savings both up-front and over time."
Sierra Logic's Silicon Storage Router(TM) (SR-1216), the industry's first-ever silicon Fibre Channel to Serial ATA solution, debuted last fall and, like the new storage bridge, enables storage OEMs to offer true enterprise availability and networked infrastructure at a fraction of the cost of traditional Fibre Channel or SCSI subsystems. Sierra Logic's router is already deployed in products by several tier-one customers, including Dot Hill Systems, Engenio, and Xyratex.
The Market Drivers for Storage OEMs
With a tremendous installed base of Fibre Channel-based storage systems, storage OEMs more than ever need to be able to offer cost-effective bulk storage options which match their customers' application requirements. These applications demand two main attributes: high availability and high data integrity. ILM, fixed-content, secondary storage, and even primary storage applications are well-served with a low-cost SATA solution in which users can trust their data is safe.
The new Sierra Logic BR-2401 was designed with dual 4Gb FC links, enabling two significant benefits: High availability of data through the use of redundant ports, and fast performance -- backup applications complete in half the time of a 2Gb FC solution. Further, built-in data integrity algorithms mean that user data is as safe on SATA drives as it is on traditional FC HDD technology.
More broadly, the BR-2401 allows storage vendors to select SATA HDDs from a wide selection of drive vendors, and even deploy multiple SATA HDD types within one storage enclosure. The result is that storage vendors preserve multiple HDD sources, can realize greater volume economics and -- conversely -- avoid the high-cost and short-supply environments that currently plague the FC HDD market.
About the Sierra Logic Silicon Storage Bridge (BR-2401)
The Sierra Logic BR-2401 features dual 4Gb Fibre Channel ports which function nearly identically to traditional FC drives. Commands can be sent simultaneously to both ports, thus providing all of the high-availability features of an expensive native FC device. A 3Gb SATA link connects to the HDD, and all links have support for legacy speeds.
For performance, all data movement through the chip has been implemented using hardware acceleration for high performance, while an integrated ARM 966 processor provides flexibility for configuration and error recovery. All data path and other memories are integrated into the chip -- only a small FLASH memory is required to complete the solution.
The BR-2401 and its flash occupy less than 0.5"(2), allowing them to easily fit within a 1" x 3.5" sized circuit board. This in turn enables the entire solution -- HDD plus BR-2401 electronics -- to fit within today's existing mechanical form-factors.
Sierra Logic is currently sampling a 2Gb version of the BR-2401 to qualified OEMs, with availability of the 4Gb version set for the second quarter of 2005.
About Sierra Logic
Sierra Logic, a venture-backed fabless semiconductor company, is leading the SATA revolution with its sophisticated semiconductor and firmware solutions for enterprise storage vendors (OEMs). Sierra Logic's technology enables these vendors to offer an innovative class of storage products to their customers at significantly lower prices than existing Fibre Channel or SCSI platforms, without compromising reliability, manageability, or performance. Headquartered in Roseville, California, Sierra Logic can be reached at: info@sierralogic.com, sierralogic.com, and 916-772-1234.
NOTE: Sierra Logic, Silicon Storage Router, and Silicon Storage Bridge are trademarks of Sierra Logic, Inc. All other trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
