Promise Technology* Introduces Intelligent RAID 6-Ready Controllers for Two Independent Parity Schemes in SATA Arrays Intel® IOP333 I/O processor provides hardware acceleration for superior performance
As a worldwide leader in SATA storage solutions, Promise designs and builds a range of products for desktop PCs, workstations, server and network storage environments, including storage sub-systems, host-bus adapters, RAID controllers, RAID-on-motherboard solutions and customized ASICs.
The Application:
RAID 6 is an emerging technology for shared storage systems and the large, high-capacity SATA disk arrays used in many servers today. With double parity coding, RAID 6 provides an extra layer of redundancy, delivering the highest level of reliability and data protection.
Development Issues:
Keeping performance high while implementing the RAID 6 parity scheme requires hardware acceleration, encoding, high bandwidth, and XOR offloading in a complete I/O subsystem. Ideally that system would be built onto a single I/O processor, saving board space and development work to keep costs low. For its new line of intelligent RAID 6 controllers, Promise needed to find a commercially available I/O processor with all of these features, or build one themselves - an expensive and time-consuming proposition. Compatibility with existing Promise solutions was an important consideration during development to keep new engineering to a minimum while speeding time to market.
The Solution:
Early in the design process, Promise learned that Intel was developing just such an IOP with integrated RAID 6 hardware acceleration. The timing of both solutions was ideal, enabling Promise and Intel engineers to collaborate during parallel development of both the processor and the controller. Because Intel's chip design met all of the Promise criteria - including compatibility with existing Promise products - the company was able to produce its RAID 6 solution in hardware within just a few months. The Promise SuperTrak* EX8350 controller uses the RAID 6 hardware acceleration in the Intel® IOP333 I/O processor with Intel XScale® microarchitecture to deliver one of the first dual parity coding schemes for PCI Express-based SATA drives. (Note: the software enabling the adapter to perform RAID 6 will be delivered to Promise customers in late 2005.)
Why Intel?
Hardware acceleration is vital to RAID 6, and Intel was the first to deliver it via a commercially available I/O processor. That's crucial to meeting the needs of Promise's cost-conscious customers, who need enterprise-class data protection in SMB-priced solutions. Promise also says that choosing Intel made a big difference in the time it took to design and deliver the new SuperTrak EX series adapters - slicing as much as 6-12 months from the usual development cycle versus an ASIC-based design. Because the company uses other Intel I/O processors in its existing solutions, backwards compatibility and development re-use leads to faster and greater ROI. Those savings will likely accrue to future products since both company roadmaps are expected to deliver forward-compatible solutions that will enable Promise to take advantage of the development work already completed.
Expected Timeline for Promise SuperTrak EX Series RAID Adapters:
Announcement Date – May 31, 2005
Begin Shipping RAID 6-Ready Controllers – July 2005
Promise Technology*
