STA

SCSI Trade Association October 2009

Q1. What is the Advanced Connectivity Roadmap?

A1. The Advanced Connectivity roadmap is the STA connectivity roadmap to guide the industry through future SAS storage solutions. It specifies the Mini-SAS High Density (HD) (SFF- 8643/8644) connector as the converged connectivity scheme for SAS-based deployments. In addition, it defines SAS Connectivity Management for simplifying cable and connectivity management.

Q2. Name the factors that stimulated provision of the Advanced SAS Connectivity Roadmap.

A2. Factors which drove development and provision of the Advanced SAS Connectivity Roadmap include simplification of cable and connector options and the provision of managed connectivity standards. Additional factors include providing high-density connectivity and the extension of active copper cable to 20m and optical cable to 100m.

Authors: Jay Neer, Advanced Technical Marketing Manager, Industry Standards, Molex
With Contributions by Harry Mason, Director, Industry Marketing, LSI Corp. and
Susan Bobholz, Product Marketing Manager, Intel

Introduction

The first article in this series of three articles discusses SAS connectivity and introduced the basic concepts of how SAS devices connect together as well as how SATA devices connect into a SAS infrastructure. The second article discussed how SAS connectivity has evolved over time. This third and final article in the series provides a review of the connectors and cable assemblies released for each revision level of the SAS standard.

SAS has experienced very fast growth based on the enhancements described in the previous articles. These expanded opportunities have created a need for the standardization of new connectors on several occasions. This article will show the chronology of these changes, by the SAS standard revision level, to provide an understanding of why convergence is important for revision SAS 3.0. Graphics are included for each of the revision levels to provide a visual connection to the product requirements as defined on the Advanced Connectivity Roadmap. The need for connector convergence in revision 3.0 becomes apparent and appropriate as the article unfolds.

Please read all three articles to understand the complete SAS connectivity story.

Author: Jay Neer, Corporate Strategic Product Manager,
Molex

The SAS Interconnect Infrastructure table displayed examples of the new connectors and cables implemented in the recent SAS 1.1 release. The new Mini SAS connectors developed by Molex for the standard are now appearing in SAS products from a number of companies. This interface provides more port density on host boards and enables higher bandwidth capability for transmitting data.

The internal Mini SAS is documented in the SFF Committee SFF-8087 Specification. This low-profile SMT connector provides four times the port density on host boards compared to the connector released in SAS 1.0. The AMCC controller card on display implemented four Mini SAS 4i connectors on a full size PCI card similar to the upper diagram on the sign.