Computerworld - ORLANDO -- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. today unveiled a storage controller that can be embedded across entry-level networked storage systems to enhance storage device compatibility and accelerate product development.
The new AMD Socket AM2 processor-based Storage Bridge Bay Reference Design Kit (SBB RDK), introduced at Computerworld's Storage Networking World conference here, should help reduce power use, boost I/O bandwidth and improve data management within storage devices for small to midsize companies.
The design kit will soon be delivered to manufacturers for testing and should be embedded into storages devices during by the end of the second quarter, said Dave Jessel, storage segment manager at AMD.
The controller supports the Storage Bridge Bay Working Group's 2.0 specification, which serves as a reference guide for storage system designers to build storage controller slot compatibility with other controllers based on the same design. Support for the spec enables the AMD controller to easily fit into a broad range of storage technologies within a 100-watt power enclosure.
The 1-in.-high storage controller's uses a hardware enclosure from NewIsys Inc., a subsidiary of Sanmina-SCI Corp. Fitting into a 2U rack, the device supports Gigabit Ethernet, 10GigE, Fiber Channel and InfiniBand connectivity and can communicate with up to 28 Serial Attached SCSI drives.
In addition, the new controller provides manufacturers with schematics and layout source files based on AMD dual-core Athlon X2 4200 and single-core Athlon 3100 processors, AMD said. It uses software from Microsoft Corp., FalconStor Software Inc. and American Megatrends Inc. to help simplify implementation.
As the growth rate of corporate data squeezes data center efficiency, storage arrays will have to unload data management processes from overtaxed servers. The new controller can be used to build storage arrays capable of assuming server functions, noted Mark Hall, chairman of the SBB marketing subgroup for the SBB working group.
Hall said the AMD RDK can enable applications such as "unified storage services, encryption, compression and de-duplication" to be moved directly storage devices from servers.
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