NVMe Array Performance Enhancer with Storage Accelerator Technology
Microchip's SmartRAID 4300: A High-Performance NVMe RAID Storage Accelerator
Microchip's SmartRAID 4300 is a cutting-edge NVMe RAID storage accelerator designed to revolutionize data storage in enterprise, hyperscale, and AI data centers. This innovative solution offloads RAID parity computations, such as those used in RAID 5, from the host CPU to dedicated accelerator hardware, enabling the host CPU to perform direct I/O operations with NVMe drives at their native PCIe speeds[1][2].
Key features of the SmartRAID 4300 include:
- RAID 5 support with parity offload handled by the accelerator, improving efficiency without hiding drives behind the controller (the host retains direct access to NVMe devices)[2].
- Compatibility with up to 32 PCIe Gen 4 or Gen 5 x4 NVMe devices and support for up to 64 logical RAID arrays[1][2][3][5].
- Support for Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs), enhancing enterprise data security by enabling hardware-based drive encryption and integration with trusted platform features such as hardware root of trust, secure boot, and attestation[1][2][3][5].
- Architecture aligned with the Open Compute Project (OCP) standards, ensuring interoperability with modern enterprise infrastructure and trusted platform requirements[2].
- Power and efficiency optimizations including automatic idling of processor cores and autonomous power reduction to enhance energy efficiency while maintaining high data integrity[1].
- Advanced management tools, including Adaptec’s maxView web interface, ARCCONF CLI, and support for management standards such as DMTF’s Redfish APIs and Platform-Level Data Model (PLDM) via MCTP protocol for out-of-band Baseboard Management Controller (BMC) integration[2][3][5].
The SmartRAID 4300's disaggregated architecture separates software on the host CPU from RAID parity acceleration hardware. This enables high throughput by allowing writes to flow directly from CPU to NVMe endpoints at PCIe Gen4/Gen5 speeds while offloading the XOR parity calculations to the accelerator, achieving up to 7x higher I/O performance compared to previous generations[1][3][5].
In addition to RAID 5, other configurations like RAID 6 use more drives and employ a parity-like scheme to retain data even when one or more drives fail. However, unlike RAID 1, the data is not the same on all drives in RAID 5 and 6 configurations[4].
NVMe storage devices are reliable, but without RAID support, they can be a single point of failure in a multiple-drive system. The SmartRAID 4300 addresses this issue by providing a scalable, secure, and efficient NVMe RAID solution with native PCIe Gen4/Gen5 support and advanced security aligned with OCP principles[5].
Looking ahead, the SmartRAID 4300 is poised to play a significant role in the future of storage and memory, as demonstrated at the upcoming "Memory Future of Storage and Memory Conference 2025".
[1] Microchip Technology Inc. (2023). SmartRAID 4300 Datasheet. Retrieved from www.microchip.com [2] Adaptec. (2023). SmartRAID 4300 User Guide. Retrieved from www.adaptec.com [3] Microchip Technology Inc. (2023). SmartRAID 4300 Software User Guide. Retrieved from www.microchip.com [4] StorageReview. (2023). RAID 1 vs RAID 5 vs RAID 6: Which RAID Level is Best for Your Needs? Retrieved from www.storagereview.com [5] Microchip Technology Inc. (2023). SmartRAID 4300: A New Era in NVMe RAID Storage. Retrieved from www.microchip.com
The SmartRAID 4300 leverages data-and-cloud-computing technology to revolutionize high-performance NVMe RAID storage in enterprise, hyperscale, and AI data centers by offloading RAID calculations onto dedicated accelerator hardware. This solution is compatible with technology like Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs), ensuring enterprise data security and compliance with Open Compute Project (OCP) standards.
