PMC-Sierra has unveiled maxRAID architecture and the first product in the family, the BR5225-80 RAID adapter designed for solid state disk (SSD) storage in x86 servers.
Based on PMC-Sierra’s multi-core SRC 8x6G RAID-on-Chip (RoC) controller and multi-threaded, performance-optimised RAID stack software, the maxRAID BR5225-80 connects PCI Express 2.0 to eight SAS/SATA ports at up to 6Gb/s and targets data- and transaction-intensive applications requiring highest IOPS and throughput, the company said.
The company claims that maxRAID architecture delivers 136,000 IOPS in a single RAID controller and can achieve up to 300,000 IOPS. The RAID platform includes maxRAID Storage Manager, a web-based graphical app with a user interface that allows users to manage their server storage from a standard browser on any console within the company or VPN.
PMC-Sierra has entered into a joint development agreement with IBM to collaborate on RAID offerings integrating its storage protocol controller family and IBM’s RAID software.
According to PMC-Sierra, the maxRAID BR5225-80 uses a multi-threaded, multi-core architecture combined with a RAID stack based on IBM’s RAID technology that can leverage the performance advantages of SSD storage.
The company said that maxRAID architecture combines multiple RAID processing cores and RoCstar interconnect with the multi-threaded maxRAID stack to create an architecture that scales as more cores and processing power are added to NxG RAID-on-Chip ICs.
In addition, the maxRAID BR5225-80 x8 PCIe 2.0 to eight 6Gb/s SAS RAID adapter features include, maxRAID suite of management utilities; web-based GUI and command line interface tools; boot support for BIOS and uEFI systems; and RAID-on-Chip controller with RoCStar architecture; two x4 internal SFF8087 SAS connectors; and support for Windows and Linux.
Mark Stibitz, vice president and general manager of enterprise storage division at PMC-Sierra, said: “Leveraging the strength and market success of our 6Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip technology, PMC-Sierra continues to deliver industry-leading RAID solutions that provide an advantage to our customers.
“Our first maxRAID SSD solution is outperforming HDD RAID by a factor of 60 to one, demonstrating the value PMC’s maxRAID platform can bring to next-generation server and storage system designs.”
