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Microsemi Expands Its Storage Adapter Solutions

by Adam Armstrong

Microsemi announced that it was expanding its Adaptec Smart Storage 12Gbps SAS/SATA adapters family with two new additions, the SmartRAID 3162-8i and SmartRAID 3162-8i /e. The SmartRAID 3162-8i offers support for write cache data protection by putting a super capacitor on the adapter. The SmartRAID 3162-8i /e is purported to be the industry’s first raid adapter with maxCrypto, controller based encryption.


Microsemi announced that it was expanding its Adaptec Smart Storage 12Gbps SAS/SATA adapters family with two new additions, the SmartRAID 3162-8i and SmartRAID 3162-8i /e. The SmartRAID 3162-8i offers support for write cache data protection by putting a super capacitor on the adapter. The SmartRAID 3162-8i /e is purported to be the industry’s first raid adapter with maxCrypto, controller based encryption.

RAID cache is a fairly common practice of writing data to a controller’s cache before the disk to improve performance. While this is an effective method, power loss can cause all of the data to be lost. Microsemi gets around this issue with its Zero Maintenance Cache Protection (ZMCP). ZMCP leverages a super capacitor that can continue to power the controller, in the event of a power loss, long enough to get the data to the disk. The new SmartRAID 3162-8i comes with the sixth generation ZMCP that integrates the cache backup circuitry, NAND flash memory and the field-replaceable super capacitor all onto the adapter itself. Having the capacity on the adapter can save valuable space in the server. 

With the changing landscapes of security and regulations companies need new tools to protect data while staying flexible enough to hit requirements. Microsemi’s new SmartRAID 3162-8i adapter leverages the maxCrypto CBE solution. This allows data center customers to select 256-bit XTS – Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption for any logical volume managed by the SmartRAID 3162-8i /e at full line rate performance.

Features include:

  • Eight lanes of PCIe Gen 3 connectivity to the host
  • Eight internal ports of connectivity to 12 Gbps SAS or 6Gbps SATA drives, either direct or through an SAS expander, via SFF-8643 miniSAS high-definition connectors
  • 2GB of DDR4 2100 MHz
  • Up to 1.45 million RAID0 4KB random read input/output operations per second (IOPs)
  • Hardware RAID support for levels 0/1/5/6/10/50/60/1 ADM/10 ADM
  • maxCache 4.0 with up to ~2TB solid state drive (SSD) cache
  • Integration with the Microsemi Adaptec tool chain, including maxView Storage Manager graphical user interface (GUI), ARCCONF, uEFI BIOS configuration utilities and the maxView Event Monitor

Availability

Microsemi's Unified Smart Storage Stack, as well as the fourth generation SmartRAID 3100, SmartHBA 2100 and HBA 1100 series board level product families, are available now.

Adaptec Smart Storage 12Gbps SAS/SATA adapters

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