LSI High-Performance 3Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) RAID Controller 9690SA-4I4E 9690SA-4I4E Leaflet

Product codes
9690SA-4I4E
Page of 2
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