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Raidtec Chooses QuickLogic PCI For Advanced Storage Area

Raidtec Corp, a leader in NAS and SAN storage networking, has chosen QuickPCI from QuickLogic Corp, a leader in embedded system product (ESP) technology, for the new RAID Offload Engine used to power their next generation 2Gbps Storage Area Network (SAN) controller. QuickPCI was selected for its performance and the strong design support from QuickLogic's engineering team.

Raidtec Corp provides advanced storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) hardware and management software for data storage in video, database and enterprise computing environments -- all of which demand the highest performance for data throughput and reliability. Raidtec chose the QL5064-66, a 64-bit, 66 MHz fully embedded PCI controller with 90K FPGA gates as an SDRAM-PCI+XOR engine for RAID and cache memory management.

The Raidtec design required two independent FIFOs to operate in real time on a PCI BUS with two initiators. In addition, an XOR engine was needed to read SDRAM blocks and generate an XOR product, which is then written back to SDRAM. The internal SMA controller is used to push data from one PCI bus to other PCI buses. The main challenge encountered was getting the design to run at the speed required to process 200 Megabytes of data every second so as to take full advantage of Raidtec's end-to-end Fibre Channel architecture. To achieve this, it was necessary to use interconnected library blocks instead of high level VHDL state machine constructs.

"Our design simply didn't work in devices from some manufacturers and others couldn't deliver the required performance," said William Oppermann, director of engineering at Raidtec. "QuickLogic's QL5064-66 offered us guaranteed and consistent performance as well as a stable PCI block and easy compatibility. The ease of use features built into QuickLogic's QuickPCI and QuickWorks development toolset along with the pro-active support of the applications staff were also important in overcoming the design challenges in the shortest possible time."

Oppermann added, "According to some analysts, the SAN market is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2005. To achieve success in such a rapidly changing field, we require not only the latest in technology but strong support to get our products to market faster than ever before. QuickLogic certainly delivered for us."

QuickLogic ESP Advantages

QuickLogic's ESP families represent a system-level IC approach based on optimized, pre-characterized embedded functionality surrounded by usercustomizable logic. The performance and size advantages provided by these embedded functions and QuickLogic's ViaLink logic architecture make these families ideal for high-speed, low-power applications such as military communications systems, radar, target recognition and critical weapon systems. QuickLogic ESP families include QuickPCI, QuickDSP, QuickRAM, QuickFC, QuickSD and QuickMIPS.

About QuickLogic

QuickLogic Corp began developing the Embedded Standard Product (ESP) architecture in 1998, an innovation that delivers the guaranteed performance and lower cost of standard semiconductor products and the flexibility and time-to-market benefits of programmable logic. QuickLogic's ViaLink metal-to-metal interconnect technology offers high performance and is the foundation of the company's ESP families as well as our core FPGA products. Founded in 1988 by the inventors of the PAL, the company is located at 1277 Orleans Drive, Sunnyvale, CA. 94089-1138.

For more information visit the www.quicklogic.com.

About Raidtec Corp.

Raidtec Corp, founded in 1992, is a leading Storage Networking technology designer and manufacturer. By owning its own IP, Raidtec has the distinct ability to react quickly and aggressively to take advantage of market changes and opportunities. Raidtec products are available through Distributors, System Integrators, and VARs in over 45 countries worldwide. For more information, please contact Raidtec Corp. in the US at 888/724-3910 or by e-mail at raidtec@raidtec.com. In Europe more information can be obtained at 353-21-4353-440 or by e-mail at raidtec@raidtec.ie or via the World Wide Web at www.raidtec.com.