Technical Information C23-SATA • PCIe to SATA RAID Controller Mezzanine Card
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The C23-SATA communicates by means of two
bottom mount expansion connectors with the
host CPU: P-PCIE (PCI Express x 1), and P-EXP
(multi-function I/F such as LPC, USB, SMB,
AC'97).
The PCI Express interface (connector P-PCIE)
requires a single lane (one of up to 4 PCIe lanes
provided by the CPU carrier board), which is
derived from the ICH (southbridge chip) on the
CPU carrier board. The PCIe lane is dedicated to
the SATA controller, which is the main
component of the C23-SATA.
Connector P-EXP combines several other
southbridge data channels: The LPC (Low Pin
Count) is a multiplexed ISA bus, e.g. enabling
the super-I/O (SIO) controller chip to emulate
the legacy I/O interfaces; among these are the
classic serial (COM) ports, AKA RS-232 / RS-485.
In addition, two USB channels are provided on
the P-EXP connector, in use for the optional on-
board USB SSD mezzanine module, and a type
A USB receptacle.
If audio support is required on the C23-SATA,
either an AC'97 audio codec (CCD-CALYPSO),
or HD Audio codec (CCG-RUMBA,
CCM-BOOGIE) can be stuffed, dependent from
the particular CPU carrier board in use.
The Trusted Platform Module is an optionally
available cryptographic chip, which provides a
comprehensive hardware and software solution
for safer computing. Conforming to the TPM1.2
standard of the TCG, the TPM is comprised of a
16-bit security controller and additional
hardware e.g. to generate 2048 bit RSA keys
and true random numbers, thus meeting the
highest industry rating for digital security.
The C23-SATA fits on the top side of the CPU
board, which is on the right side when viewing
the common front panel. A suitable backplane
provides its CPCI slots beginning with the CPU
carrier board (CPCI system slot) from right to
left. The CPCI enclosure must provide sufficient
mounting space to the right side for the
C23-SATA.
