S A S / S ATA R A I D C o n t r o l l e r s
3ware
®
9690SA
High-Performance Serial Attached SCSI (SAS)
RAID Controller
AMCC’s 3ware 9690SA SAS/SATA hardware RAID controllers deliver industry-leading RAID 6 and RAID 5
performance, expanded scalability, robust fault tolerance, and multi-terabyte capacities. A PCI Express host
interface, StorSwitch™ architecture and sophisticated SAS and SATA II features drive this unrivaled performance.
Highlights
• Scalable to 128 SAS and/or Serial ATA
devices
• PCI Express x8 host interface
• Configuration flexibility with eight
internal ports, or eight external ports,
or four internal/four external ports
• SAS, SATA, and SATA II features, including
3Gb/s and NCQ
• 512MB DDR2 533 fixed memory
• Simultaneous double parity generation
to maximize RAID 6 performance
• StorSwitch
™
8th generation non-block-
ing switch fabric for maximum controller
throughput
• StreamFusion optimizes I/O accesses to
maximize application performance under
multiple stream loads
• StorSave BBU with write journaling
optimizes data protection and
performance
• Low-profile form factor
• RAID levels 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and
Single Disk
It’s Time for SAS
AMCC builds on established 3ware SATA RAID
leadership to introduce the 3ware 9690SA SAS
controller, the new standard in Serial Attached
SCSI RAID. The 9690SA seizes the moment to
enter the market just as SAS hard drives and back-
planes are more widely available and as enter-
prise infrastructures align to realize the potential
of Serial Attached SCSI.
As SATA and SAS tech-
nologies converge, users look to 3ware SATA for
price and performance and to SAS for SAS/SATA
connectivity with expansion up to 128 devices.
The 3ware 9690SA delivers accelerated SAS
performance and the flexibility of internal and
external connectivity.
Connect, Expand, Protect with SAS
End users will enjoy configuration flexibility with
three low profile PCI Express controller options:
eight internal ports, eight external ports, or four
internal/four external ports. Compatibility with
industry standard SAS expanders will maximize
scalability. Each 9690SA SAS controller scales to
support 128 SAS and/or SATA devices.
Advanced 3ware RAID architecture and SAS,
SATA, and SATA II performance features, including
3Gb/s and NCQ, help rocket the 9690SA to RAID
5 and RAID 6 performance heights. An optional
Battery Backup Unit with integrated write jour-
naling and remote battery mounting capability
provides added data protection in the event of a
power outage. The 9690SA supports RAID levels
0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50, and Single Disk.
The RAID 6 Difference
RAID 6 eliminates the risk of data loss if a second
hard disk drive fails while the RAID array is
rebuilding. Uniquely, in the 3ware RAID 6 imple-
mentation, two sets of parity are simultaneously
calculated, written, and rotated across all the
drives. This second parity calculation enables the
array to survive up to two drive failures without
losing data, significantly improving fault tolerance.
The 3ware RAID 6 double parity algorithm
maximizes RAID 6 throughput, so that the 9690SA
controllers deliver unequaled RAID 6 write
performance.
Enterprise-class RAID Storage
The 9690SA’s advanced RAID features, SAS con-
nectivity, and powerful 3ware performance archi-
tecture make it the ideal controller for applications
that require expanded scalability and the highest
levels of sustained write and read performance.
The 3ware 9690SA is designed for NAS storage,
web servers, cluster servers, supercomputing,
near-line backup and archival, security systems,
and pro audio and video applications.
Block 10
Block 7
Block 4
P1 Parity
Disk #1
Block 11
Block 8
P2 Parity
Q1 Parity
Disk #2
Block 12
P3 Parity
Q2 Parity
Block 1
Disk #3
Q4 Parity
Block 9
Block 6
Block 3
Disk #5
Striped Data with Distributed Double Parity —
RAID 6
Host Data
P4 Parity
Q3 Parity
Block 5
Block 2
Disk #4
RAID 6:
Two sets of parity data, P + Q, are striped
across disks. RAID 6 safeguards against data loss
during rebuild mode by allowing up to two consecu-
tive drive failures for maximum fault tolerance.
A P P L I C A T I O N S
F O R 3 W A R E C O N T R O L L E R S
Servers
Security/
Surveillance
Video
Editing
Super
Computing
NAS
Video
On-Demand
Pro
Audio
Disk-to-Disk
Backup
