Hitachi To Debut First Interoperable 12Gb/s SAS SSD Interface

HGST has achieved interoperability between their 12Gb/s SAS drive, 12Gb/s SAS HBAs and expanders from LSI and PMC-Sierra. Doubling the data transfer rates of current-generation SAS interfaces is not enough to ensure broad adoption of 12Gb/s products — vendors like HGST that can guarantee backwards compatibility with existing enterprise storage systems will have an advantage as the first new SAS interfaces come to market in 2013. With 12Gb/s SAS on each of these ports, the total available interface bandwidth increases to 4.8GB/s per drive.

HGST has achieved interoperability between their 12Gb/s SAS drive, 12Gb/s SAS HBAs and expanders from LSI and PMC-Sierra. Doubling the data transfer rates of current-generation SAS interfaces is not enough to ensure broad adoption of 12Gb/s products — vendors like HGST that can guarantee backwards compatibility with existing enterprise storage systems will have an advantage as the first new SAS interfaces come to market in 2013. With 12Gb/s SAS on each of these ports, the total available interface bandwidth increases to 4.8GB/s per drive.

SAS 6Gb/s Hitachi Ultrastar SSD400S.B Shown

Current SAS solid state drives (SSDs) and hard disk drives (HDDs) are already the building blocks of choice for enterprise and cloud storage, so interoperability is critical when preparing for the adoption of a new interface standard. HGST’s new interface delivers twice the throughput of current solutions while maintaining backwards compatibility with 6Gb/s SAS infrastructures. Enterprise SAS drives often provide a second interface port for additional bandwidth.

Today’s announcement highlights the value of HGST’s partnerships with LSI and PMC-Sierra, both working with HGST to ensure that their SAS expanders will benefit from interoperability with the new interface. HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, now a Western Digital company) will host the storage industry’s first demonstration of the interoperable 12 gigabit per second (12Gb/s) SAS SSD at the SCSI Trade Association (STA) showcase on May 9 where StorageReview will be on hand. 

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