PMC-Sierra, Hitachi Team

SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- PMC-Sierra (NASDAQ: PMCS) and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced the companies successfully achieved interoperability between PMC-Sierras end-to-end 6Gb/s SAS chipsets and Hitachi 6Gb/s SAS prototype hard disk drives (HDDs). PMC-Sierra’s 6Gb/s SAS chipsets include the Tachyon® SPC 8x6G SAS protocol controller, the SRC 8x6G RAID-on-Chip controller and maxSAS™ SXP 36/24x6GSec expander switches.

The increased performance offered by 6Gb/s SAS HDDs enables SAS-2 systems to deliver higher levels of scalability, availability and reliability. Demonstrating successful 6Gb/s SAS interoperability between PMC-Sierra chipsets and Hitachi hard drives allows server and storage system equipment manufacturers to design a SAS-2 architecture operating end-to-end at 6Gb/s line rate with confidence.

6Gb/s SAS hard drives and other infrastructure components will be fully backward compatible with existing 3Gb/s devices. This provides enterprise customers with exceptional configuration flexibility and investment protection.

“PMC-Sierra is committed to ensuring full interoperability with 6Gb/s components to reduce the time to market and transition seamlessly to 6Gb/s SAS/SATA systems,” said Travis Karr, vice president of marketing for PMC-Sierra’s Enterprise Storage Division. “PMC-Sierra has been very impressed by the quality and maturity of Hitachi’s 6Gb/s SAS technology, which translated directly into successful interoperability between PMC-Sierra’s end-to-end 6Gb/s SAS chipset and Hitachi 6Gb/s SAS HDDs.”

PMC-Sierra Inc.