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AMCC Demonstrates SATA RAID StorSave Platform At SC2004

Applied Micro Circuits Corp demonstrated its new AMCC StorSave Platform for its line of 3ware 9000 series RAID controllers at SC2004. The AMCC StorSave Platform combines firmware and a Battery Backup Unit (BBU) enabling maximum data protection and high performance Serial ATA (SATA) network storage solutions for super and cluster computing applications.

Over 20 partners also featured solutions utilizing AMCC SATA RAID controllers including Pogo Linux, Rackable Systems, HPC Systems, Western Scientific, and Penguin Computing.

The AMCC StorSave Platform is ideal for mission critical environments where the ability to get the data to disk quickly and reliably allows the cluster to perform its primary task of crunching numbers.

"The AMCC StorSave Platform has dramatically reduced the cost of cluster nodes, while significantly increasing the overall efficiency and reliability of the RAID infrastructure," said Tim Lee, CEO of Pogo Linux. "The AMCC StorSave Platform catapults SATA-based RAID into an entirely new class of installations through its combination of data protection and performance, providing superior throughput from node to hard disk without the worry of data loss."

The AMCC StorSave Platform supplies power to the cache memory module in the event of a system power loss and includes proprietary features that utilize a write journaling technique. AMCC delivers this ability for SATA RAID, allowing the controller to use both controller and drive write caching for best performance while still preventing data loss in the event of a system power failure. When fully charged, the battery preserves the contents of the controller cache memory for up to 72 hours. When power is restored, cached data is then written to the disk array providing uninterrupted data storage.

"SC2004 is an important show for us to demonstrate the new AMCC StorSave Platform because SATA is becoming an integral design into newer super computing architectures," said Scott Cleland, director of marketing at AMCC Storage Business Unit. "AMCC's SATA-based RAID combines high performance, capacity and unparalleled protection, allowing system designers and integrators to build more reliable, capable and affordable solutions for cluster environments."

Traditionally in RAID 5 environments without BBU, manufacturers recommend setting controller cache to "write-through" and disabling "disk cache." This practice mitigates system and drive resets and/or power failures that may put the data in disk cache and controller cache at risk. However, with "cache off," system performance suffers during standard I/O operations. Disk "cache off" also contributes to lower system performance during RAID 5 degraded mode operations and rebuilds.

AMCC StorSave Platform-enabled products protect data that has not been committed to disk media in both controller and disk caches and increases the reliability of a 3ware SATA RAID subsystem environment. The AMCC StorSave Platform enhances performance by enabling "disk cache" to remain on during all RAID operations and also maintains the controller cache setting to "write- back." AMCC recommends controller cache and disk cache remain on during SATA RAID operations as well as providing increased levels of array performance during degraded RAID 5 operations.

The AMCC StorSave Platform includes proprietary, advanced data protection features such as disk drive power on reset protection, dynamic sector repair, extensive drive timeout recovery, out of band signaling retry, write journaling and BBU.

About 3ware SATA RAID Controllers 3ware SATA controllers, based on AMCC's innovative StorSwitch switched RAID architecture, provides scaleable capacity up to 4.8 TB per controller, using 400GB drives, and total system capacity limited only to available PCI slots. The 3ware 9000 series, available in 12, 8 and 4 port configurations, delivers substantial performance increases over previous industry leading 3ware RAID controllers. AMCC's advanced hardware RAID architecture features an on-board processor and an integrated RAID ASIC that offloads RAID controller functions from the host CPU, dedicating the server processing to its core applications and enhancing overall system performance.