LSI Corp. has introduced its latest MegaRAID 6Gb/s SAS+SATA controllers and host bus adapters (HBAs) featuring the PCI Express 3.0 interface aimed at new generation server platforms that support PCI Express 3.0 interconnection technology with 8GT/s speed.

"The addition of PCIe 3.0 on the new MegaRAID controllers and HBAs brings dramatically higher levels of performance and allows greater system design flexibility, with proven LSI product quality and reliability," said Brent Blanchard, director of worldwide channel sales and marketing at LSI.

 Seven new LSI MegaRAID controllers are offered with four or eight ports and provide a powerful combination of intelligent performance, enterprise RAID data protection and proven interoperability. Each controller is powered by the LSI SAS 2208/2308 RAID-on-chip using 6Gb/s SAS technology and includes two PowerPC cores at 800MHz with 1GB cache memory.

The MegaRAID controllers announced today increase performance and protection for business and mission-critical data stored on high-performance SAS hard drives, high-capacity Serial ATA hard drives or application-accelerating solid state drives (SSDs). Three new LSI HBA models provide connectivity for servers and appliances in a variety of enterprise-level environments.

The 9271-8iCC and 9286CV-8eCC MegaRAID cards come in easy-to-order prepackaged configurations that include the LSI CacheCade Pro 2.0 application acceleration software that optimizes SSD caching performance. Additional models include the onboard LSI flash-based CacheVault data protection option for even greater system protection.

“The latest LSI PCIe 3.0-based 6Gb/s SAS controllers and HBAs allow us to take advantage of the unprecedented memory and I/O bandwidths of the latest Intel Romley platform and offer our customers the ultimate throughput and I/O per dollar ratio that no one has been able to achieve before,” said Gene Lee, president and chief executive of EchoStreams innovative solutions.

The MegaRAID products are sampling now with general availability expected during Q3 2012. The new LSI HBAs are available immediately The products are supplied through the LSI worldwide network of distributors, integrators as well as VARs and are priced as follows:

• MegaRAID SAS 9270-8i single/kit - $780/$835
• MegaRAID SAS 9271-4i single/kit - $540/$575
• MegaRAID SAS 9271-8i single/kit - $780/$835
• MegaRAID SAS 9271-8iCC single - $1050
• MegaRAID SAS 9286-8e single - $995
• MegaRAID SAS 9286CV-8e single - $1255
• MegaRAID SAS 9286CV-8eCC single - $1525
• HBA SAS 9207-4i4e single/kit - $335/$415
• HBA SAS 9207-8i single/kit - $305/$385
• HBA SAS 9207-8e single - $510

Tags: LSI, SAS, Serial ATA, SSD, HDD, MegaRAID