Seagate 15K.2 Inflection Point - The New Era of Serial Attached SCSI - Page 7

SCSI Inflection Point: Standardizing on Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) Termination Built In SAS's point-to-point architecture provides a discrete signal path between any two devices in a SAS domain, as well as clearly identifying both ends of that dedicated bus. Without the need to accommodate a variable number of devices on a shared bus, all SAS devices are terminated by default-no user intervention required SCSI Commands Retained While Serial Attached SCSI overcomes many of parallel SCSI's interface limitations through the use of modern serial-based technologies, it also maintains the core strengths of its parallel predecessor by integrating existing SCSI commands. SCSI's robust, mature command set employs sophisticated features such as Cyclic Redundancy Check to ensure rock-solid data integrity, even in the most rigorous enterprise environments. Furthermore, the SCSI commands interface with a broad variety of storage management and enterprise application software. By incorporating this command set, SAS also protects the enterprise's current investment in SCSI software, middleware and drivers. In addition, SAS also preserves the value of the enterprise's vast SCSI intellectual capital garnered over many years of configuring, deploying and maintaining SCSI storage solutions. IT professionals can continue to tap this wellspring of SCSI knowledge and experience, helping to drive innovative and effective SAS deployments throughout the enterprise. Conclusion Serial Attached SCSI has become the preferred interface for hard drives in servers and storage products-particularly from large manufacturers like HP, IBM, Sun and Dell, and increasingly from channel-oriented companies like Intel, Supermicro, AIC and Chenbro. In fact, by mid2009 the SCSI interface will not be produced by any major hard drive manufacturer. For all the reasons covered in this paper, the future most definitely belongs to SAS. www.seagate.com 1-800-SEAGATE (1-800-732-4283) AMERICAS ASIA / PACIFIC EUROPE, MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA Seagate Technology LLC 920 Disc Drive, Scotts Valley, California 95066, United States, 831-438-6550 Seagate Technology International Ltd. 7000 Ang Mo Kio Avenue 5, Singapore 569877, 65-6485-3888 Seagate Technology SAS 130-136, rue de Silly, 92773, Boulogne-Billancourt Cedex, France 33 1-4186 10 00 Copyright © 2008 Seagate Technology LLC. All rights reserved. Printed in USA. Seagate, Seagate Technology and the Wave logo are registered trademarks of Seagate Technology LLC in the United States and/or other countries. Seagate reserves the right to change, without notice, product offerings or specifications. TP528.2-0808US, August 2008