Chatsworth, California-based Micropolis Copr has integrated IBM Corp’s new high-speed Serial Storage Architecture interface with its Capricorn 4.3Gb 3.5 disk unit into a drive that supports a maximum bandwidth of 80M-bytes per second with very low overhead delays. The product will be the first in a series of based on IBM’s architecture. Micropolis says that Serial Storage Architecture lowers integration costs; up to 128 such devices canreside on a single loop at distances of up to 60 feet apart. The host automatically configures these devices upon installation, removing the necessity for address jumpers. It is one-tenth the size of parallel Small Computer Systems Interface cables and the need for terminators has been eliminated. Fault tolerance is built in via multiple layers of error checking and redundancy. The dual-port operation enables devices to be connected in a loop and the host can use either port to access devices. Hot plugging of Serial Storage Architecture devices is possible without any additional hardware or loss of data integrity, says the company. The overall cost of disk arrays is lowered by reducing the number of host adapters; up to 127 Capricorn SSA drives can be directly addressed by one host adapter, giving a total system capacity of more than 500Gb. Evaluation units are being shipped to OEM customers, the unit cost is $2,025. The drive will be in volume production in the first quarter of 1995.
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