14 DAY TRIAL // While PCI Express x16 ports are generally used by graphics cards, HighPoint created a certain, and currently unique, device, namely the world's first PCI-E 2.0 x16 SATA Host Adapter with support for PM enclosures.
Normally, enterprise and small to medium businesses use SAS expander solutions when it comes to upgrading their storage capacities.
This is because of the storage scalability inherent in such products, scalability that does not impact on performance.
SATA PM multipliers can also be used to achieve the same purpose, although they have a big cost advantage and have simpler connectivity while delivering comparable performance to SAS expanders.
The new device developed by HighPoint is part of the second category and is an update to the RocketRAID 2700 SATA Host Adapter Series.
It is, simply put, the first ever PCI-E 2.0 x16 SATA Host Adapter that supports PM enclosures.
It can scale storage capacities up to a maximum of 64 storage devices and 192TB, all the while maintaining a performance level on par with SAS expanders while reducing TOC (total cost of ownership) by 67%.
The RocketRAID 2700 PM Series members can have 4, 8 or 16 ports, the last of these (RocketRAID 2744) using the PCI Express x16 bus to enable a performance of up to 8 GB/s.
The RocketRAID 2722 (8 port) and RocketRAID 2721 (4 port) settle for the bandwidth of the PCI Express Gen 2.0 x8.
“Users can also expand their storage investments seamlessly by utilizing OCE (Online Capacity Expansion),” sais the official announcement.
“Storage can be added and introduced into the system through the HighPoint RAID management utility without the requirement to take down the storage or reconfigure the storage.”
“Disk arrays can be upgraded without impacting existing applications by using the benefits of OCE technique. This will dramatically improve the uptime and availability of applications running storage,” the press release further states.