Seagate 15K.5 - Cheetah - Hard Drive Resource Manual page 2

INTRODUCTION
A significant change has been underway in
the server and storage business for some
time. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) has
become the preferred interface for hard
drives in servers and storage products—
particularly from large manufacturers like
HP, IBM, Sun and Dell, and increasingly
from channel-oriented companies like
Intel, Supermicro, AIC and Chenbro. In
fact, by mid-2009 the SCSI interface
will not be produced by major hard drive
manufacturers. This transition by the
industry's leading hard drive and server
manufacturers threatens to leave system
builders behind if they do not prepare
for this change. But it also offers a great
opportunity to those builders willing to
adapt and learn.
The purpose of this document is to give
system builders information regarding
the transition, to highlight the business
opportunities for developing 3.5-inch and
2.5-inch SAS systems for their customers,
and to furnish a matrix that will help system
builders find companies providing SAS-
enabled products.
Seagate Value Proposition
You can rely on drives from Seagate, the number-one enterprise drive manufacturer in the world, and you can
expect our support in enabling this new market. Seagate is investing heavily to promote SAS and small form
factor SAS technology in the channel. We will be training system builders on SAS and small form factor SAS
technology through the Seagate Partner Program and will be working with distributors to bring you business
opportunities and bundles with other leading channel companies⎯to bring better value to you and, at the end of
the day, higher margins.
Small Form Factor SAS—
Becoming the Standard
Gartner predicts 2.5-inch SAS drives will be the
industry standard by the end of 2008. HP, IBM, Dell
and Sun have already moved their industry-standard
servers and storage products to SAS configurations—
particularly small form factor SAS. For instance, nearly
all HP G5 series servers use 2.5-inch SAS drives. What
this means is that thousands of SAS-enabled servers
are available in the market and in the distribution
channel every quarter.
The Benefits of SAS:
SAS infrastructure supports both SAS and SATA
•
drives on the same backplane
Lower total cost of ownership
•
SAS systems are scalable to more than 16 devices
•
Dual-port provides high availability
•
SAS utilizes SCSI middleware
•
SAS system is universal controller
•
Small Form Factor Business Opportunity
for System Builders
While HP has fully embraced SFF SAS for industry
standard servers, other manufacturers have expanded
their product lines in this area—giving ample
opportunity for system builders to compete. As our
matrix in this document shows, many manufacturers
who sell through the channel have products that
are SAS-enabled, well-known companies like: LSI,
Adaptec, Intel, AIC, Chenbro and Supermicro.
For System Builders Not Currently
Building Servers
If you are not currently building servers or storage
systems, now is the time to add SAS servers and
storage systems to your product portfolio.