STA

Author: Greg Schulz, Founder
StorageIO Group

Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) as a technology, has several meanings similar to the acronym SAS in general, which for IT professionals also refers to the Statistical Analysis Software from the SAS Institute. There is a linkage between SAS as a software package and SAS as a storage technology, particularly for performance and capacity-planning analysts that forecast storage usage and performance. However for now, let's focus on SAS as a storage interface technology, leaving the discussion about performance and capacity planning for another time.

Authors: Harry Mason, President of STA and Alice Tate, STA Marketing Manager

Special thanks to John Lohmeyer, Chair of the T10 Committee and Marty Czekalski, Vice President of STA, for their contributions

T10 is a Technical Committee of the InterNational Committee on Information Technology Standards (INCITS, pronounced "insights") and develops standards so that features and benefits can be implemented in commercial products in a common, compatible manner. INCITS is accredited by, and operates under rules that are approved by, the American National Standards Institute (ANSI). These rules are designed to ensure that voluntary standards are developed through the consensus of industry groups. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) becomes a standard through the work, commitment and dedication of the T10 Committee members.

STA and T10
The SCSI Trade Association (STA) is not responsible for the technical standards concerning the SAS specifications. However, STA and the T10 Committee have a close working relationship. STA and T10 meetings are co-located to enhance the communications between, and the cooperation of, the two organizations. STA focuses on identifying SAS' marketing requirements and provides the forum to reach a consensus on features and benefits found on the roadmap. STA's primary mission is to promote the understanding and use of SAS technology. To that end, we are writing this article to further the industry's understanding of how SAS becomes a standard.

Defined Procedures and Policies
The T10 Committee has a clear set of procedures that guide the emergence of new standards. STA has developed a roadmap that maps SAS technology through 2015, however it is incumbent on the T10 Committee to propose new projects for each new SAS generation, and then develop a set of standard documents which support each generation.

Author: Mark Peters, Storage Systems Analyst, and Tony Palmer, Lab Engineer
Enterprise Strategy Group

Introduction
The relative success of new technologies is not a one-way street. Indeed, the history of IT is littered with great developments that never 'made it', storage technologies that have had more written about them than on them. 6Gb/s SAS products look great, and full of value, but will the enthusiasm of its promoters be matched by an eagerness to invest from its potential users? With the 6GB/s products rolling out now and over the coming months, there are many Enterprise buyers trying to figure out if, and how far, to jump into SAS. ESG has looked at this from both sides - the technical suitability as well as the adoption logic - and expects that SAS will indeed find success in Enterprise environments.

This article is not intended to repeat in any detail all the well-known attributes of SAS. Yes, it offers a number of benefits compared to traditional parallel SCSI technology including the use of thinner cables, the ability to transfer data over longer distances, providing faster data transfer rates, and the ability to create storage area networks; new and improved capabilities in terms of scalability, performance, capacity, zoning, multiplexing, security and so on, all look great on paper...but is SAS appropriate for and ready for the Enterprise? And is the Enterprise ready for SAS?

Authors: Paul Vogt, Senior Director of Product Management
               Dale Lafferty, Director of Alliances and Partnerships
               Xyratex International

Introduction
There is a technology shift taking place in enterprise storage environments that could help IT departments address some of the constraints the economy is placing on their budgets. The venerable Fibre Channel (FC) drives have been a staple in the enterprise for over a decade and their replacement by SAS drives is now in full force. Virtually all large storage system market leaders now offer enclosures with Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) disk drives in lieu of FC. While this may be good news for departmental budgets, how will the IT decision-maker feel comfortable with the long term reliability of SAS drives? There is good news about enterprise drive technology; SAS drives are enterprise proven. Market analyst firm, IDC, projects that SAS and SATA drives will replace FC drives in enterprise storage over the next five years.¹

(1) IDC: Worldwide Hard Disk Drive 2009-2013 Forecast and Analysis: A Post Crisis Fundamental Shift, May 2009, Doc # 218262