Big Data, Cloud Computing, Data Centres, Virtualisation and Storage-as-a-Service Benefit from the Advancement of 12 Gb/s SAS

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) remains the proven platform for storage innovation and the gold standard for enterprise computing

London, UK, 29th November 2011 — The Storage Networking Industry Association Europe (SNIA Europe) and the SCSI Trade Association today announce the release of the definition and standardisation phase of 12Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS). As strategic industry alliance partners, both organisations collaborate together providing education to the industry on storage networking and information management technologies.

Creating significant news for data storage OEMs, system builders and end-users who are seeking fast, flexible and reliable data access, the SCSI Trade Association (STA). STA, a non-profit industry association established to support and promote SCSI technology, also noted that the development and testing of components such as cables, connectors, protocol analysers and controllers based on this new generation of SAS for storage solutions has begun in earnest.

“SCSI has been around for longer than most other storage standards and over the years it has shown how it can be adapted to move with the times and meet new requirements” said Bob Plumridge, chairman of SNIA Europe, “In order to meet the ever-changing needs of businesses, storage networks must be dynamic and flexible; to achieve this they rely on a combination of technologies and protocols and alongside Fibre Channel and Ethernet, SAS is a key enabler of most of today’s SANs.”

“By doubling the data transfer rate with 12Gb/s SAS, the industry improves SAS’s dollars/gigabit/watt consumed, making it one of the most efficient high performance interconnect solutions for a broad class of enterprise storage solutions,” said Harry Mason, President of STA. “Due to its flexible architecture that maintains forward and backward compatibility, SAS has proven its ability to expand while maintaining its ability to protect legacy storage investments.”

Details of the 12Gb/s SAS standard are documented by T10 Technical Committee, under the direction of the InterNational Committee on Information Technology Standards (INCITS, pronounced “insights”.) The T10 Technical Committee operates under rules that are approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

“Consistent with its emphasis on investment protection,12Gb/s SAS will co-exist with legacy SAS and SATA products,” said Greg Schulz, senior advisor, The Server and StorageIO Group, and author of multiple books including “Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking” (CRC Press). “We expect initial market acceptance of 12Gb/s SAS in two primary areas: low-latency high performance devices like SSD’s and high performance connectivity that support tiering and large capacity storage build-outs. As 12Gb/s SAS HDDs become available, a second phase of market adoption will ensue, with 12Gb/s SAS becoming the primary server storage interconnect, ultimately replacing 6Gb/s SAS over time.”

As the key enabler of enterprise computing encompassing everything from big data to data centres, public and private clouds, virtualisation and storage-as-a-service, SAS has a robust technology roadmap beyond 12Gb/s that will continue to push the envelope on higher speeds and increased level of functionality while maintaining forward and backward compatibility with legacy products.

For further information:
Federica Monsone
A3 Communications
+44 (0) 1252 875 203
fred.monsone@a3communications.co.uk

About SNIA Europe
The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) Europe is dedicated to educate the market on the evolution and application of storage infrastructure solutions for the data centre by providing thought leadership and industry education focussed on storage technologies and business value.

The association is the voice of authority for networked storage and associated technologies across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. SNIA Europe is a non-profit, vendor-neutral organisation run by its members, which include approximately 70 vendors, channel partners and individuals. For further information you can email euroinfo@snia.org, contact +44 (0) 20 8785 5555, or visit www.snia-europe.org.

About STA
The SCSI Trade Association (STA) was established in 1996 to provide a focal point for members to communicate the benefits of SCSI to the industry. STA promotes the understanding and use of Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) technology and influences the evolution of SCSI standards to meet future industry needs. The Association has a nine-member Board of Directors, which oversees the Marketing Communications and Technology Committees and all STA activities. To subscribe to Serial Storage Wire, STA's free Serial Attached SCSI newsletter, please visit: http://www.scsita.org/serial-storage-wire/. For more information, please visit the STA web site at http://www.scsita.org, send an email to info@scsita.org or call the STA office at (415) 561-6273.