Inaugural 24G SAS Plugfest Completed by the SCSI Trade Association Highlights the Investment Protection of the Proven Storage Interface

The SCSI Trade Association (STA) today announced the successful completion of its 18th Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) plugfest, the first for the 24G SAS storage interface standard that consists of the SAS-4 and SPL-4 protocol layers. SAS is a proven and sustainable platform that provides investment protection using existing data center infrastructure and tools. The plugfest was held June 25-27, 2019, at Austin Labs in Milpitas, California, an independent provider of broad-based testing and standards conformance services.

“As demonstrated through successful vendor product interoperability tests at this inaugural 24G SAS plugfest, SAS remains an excellent investment,” said Jeremiah Tussey, vice president of STA and product marketing manager in Microchip Technology’s Data Center Solutions business unit. “The groundwork for introducing 24G SAS products aligned with the next generation of server platforms has now been laid.”

The inaugural 24G SAS plugfest was highlighted by the following activities:

• Interoperability of 24G SAS products in a realistic working environment of the standard as specified

• In-depth testing of both the SAS-4 and SPL-4 protocol and electrical specifications, including:

– backwards compatibility with 12Gb/s SAS SSDs and HDDs

– successful traffic end-to-end, 24G SAS with Forward Error Correction (FEC)

– link up and transmitter training algorithm exercised

– 24G SAS analyzer and exerciser verification

• Successful interoperability testing with packetization, including:

– verification that SAS Expanders make use of DWORDS (a Microsoft Windows data type definition) to packet conversion (i.e. supports 12Gb/s to 24G SAS, 24G to 12Gb/s SAS)

– demonstration of double effective SAS bandwidth loading and PCIe bandwidth

• Testing of 0.5 to 4-meter passive cable lengths, various interconnects and backplanes, including:

– multiple vendor cables and interconnect

– long and short channels

– cable EEPROM identification/access

– Mini SAS HD and SlimSAS 24G connectors

“This event was a great opportunity for participating companies to validate their respective 24G SAS products using standardized testing and interoperability methods,” said Cameron T. Brett, president of the SCSI Trade Association and director, Outbound Marketing and Communications, Toshiba Memory America, Inc. “SAS plugfests have consistently provided a verification method to preserve existing storage investments, deliver a favorable end-user experience, demonstrate interoperability and support both forward and backward compatibility.”

The following companies attended the inaugural 24G SAS plugfest to provide initial specification verification support:

Amphenol Corporation

Microchip Technology

Molex LLC

Seagate Technology PLC

Teledyne LeCroy Corporation

If you’re interested in learning more about why “SAS Rules the Data Center” please attend the STA theatre presentation at the Flash Memory Summit, at 11:10 a.m. on Thursday, August 8, 2019 in Santa Clara. Stop by STA booth #708 first to register to win a valuable raffle prize.

About SCSI Trade Association

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 ten-member Board of Directors, which oversees the Marketing Communications and Technology Committees and all STA activities. For more information, please visit the STA web site at https://www.scsita.org, send an email to info@scsita.org or call the STA office at (415) 561-6273.