LSI Announces DataBolt™ Technology to Accelerate Datacenter Performance

MILPITAS, Calif., May 8, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) today announced DataBolt™ bandwidth optimizer technology, a unique performance acceleration feature for LSI® 12Gb/s SAS solutions designed to allow users to take advantage of 12Gb/s speeds while using existing 6Gb/s drive infrastructure.

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The explosive growth of data in cloud and enterprise datacenters is driving the need for a higher-performance storage interface to enhance the ability of critical applications to rapidly access data. 12Gb/s SAS helps to address this challenge by doubling the performance of current 6Gb/s SAS solutions, delivering the performance to unlock the full potential of PCI Express 3.0-based systems and solid-state storage solutions.   

"The market adoption of 12Gb/s SAS systems begins with the availability of individual ecosystem components like SAS controllers and expanders," said Benjamin Woo, program vice president of IDC's Worldwide Storage Systems Research. "Technology like LSI's DataBolt feature that enables early access to 12Gb/s SAS performance will help pave the way for a smooth technology transition."

LSI DataBolt technology is designed to:

• Deliver up to a 2x increase in throughput performance for 6Gb/s systems
• Aggregate bandwidth from 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s end devices to a 12Gb/s data stream
• Intelligently buffer data and transfer it to drives at speeds that match the performance of the host with slower SAS or SATA end devices
• Support 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s hard disk or solid state drives
• Utilize proven LSI SAS/SATA bridge technology
• Deliver full compatibility with the 12Gb/s SAS T10 specification

DataBolt technology demonstration

LSI is demonstrating leading 12Gb/s SAS server storage performance utilizing DataBolt bandwidth optimizer technology at the SCSI Trade Association (STA) Technology Showcase on May 9, 2012, at the Hyatt Hotel in Santa Clara, Calif.

The demo consists of a PCIe 3.0-based server with LSI 12Gb/s SAS HBAs connected to multiple 12Gb/s SAS enclosures, including the next-generation Xyratex OneStor™ storage enclosure supporting 12Gb/s SAS host connectivity. The drive enclosures house a mix of 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s HDDs and SSDs, and utilize LSI 12Gb/s SAS expanders featuring LSI DataBolt technology to achieve significant throughput and IOPS performance improvements compared to an end-to-end 6Gb/s SAS storage solution.

"The transition to 12Gb/s SAS technology will be essential to unleashing the full performance potential of PCIe 3.0 platforms using 6Gb/s drives and flash-based storage," said Bill Wuertz, senior vice president and general manager, RAID Storage Division, LSI. "By accelerating server storage performance, DataBolt technology provides users with a time-to-market advantage in achieving 12Gb/s performance benefits and allows them to meet the demands of I/O-intensive applications, cloud datacenters and virtualized server environments."

The LSI 12Gb/s SAS product portfolio includes:

• LSISAS3108: 8-port 12Gb/s SAS/SATA ROC
• LSISAS3008: 8-port 12Gb/s SAS/SATA I/O controller
• LSISAS3x36R: 36-, 28-, 24-port 12Gb/s SAS/SATA expander
• LSISAS3x48: 48-, 40-, 36-port 12Gb/s SAS/SATA expander
• LSI SAS HBA solutions ranging from 8 to 16 ports
• LSI MegaRAID® SAS solutions ranging from 4 to 28 ports

LSI 12Gb/s SAS products are currently sampling to OEM customers, with general availability expected in the fourth quarter. 

Since the inception of SAS, LSI has delivered an industry-leading portfolio of products including SAS ROC, controller and expander ICs, host bus adapters, MegaRAID and 3ware® RAID controllers, 6Gb/s SAS switches, advanced software options and the Nytro™ portfolio of intelligent flash-based solutions.

More information on the complete LSI SAS portfolio is available at www.lsi.com/12GBSAS. Connect with LSI via Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

About LSI

LSI Corporation (NYSE: LSI) designs semiconductors and software that accelerate storage and networking in datacenters and mobile networks. Our technology is the intelligence critical to enhanced application performance, and is applied in solutions created in collaboration with our partners. More information is available at www.lsi.com.

LSI, the LSI & Design logo, DataBolt, MegaRAID, Nytro and 3ware are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation.

All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

SOURCE LSI Corporation