PMC-Sierra, Inc. (PMC), the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today announced that Memblaze Technology Co. Ltd, a leading provider of flash storage solutions, is utilizing PMC's Flashtec NVM Express (NVMe) controllers in its next-generation PCI Express (PCIe) flash accelerators.

The Flashtec-based Memblaze PBlaze4 products are targeted at hyperscale and Open Compute Project deployments. They provide ultra-low latency and the lowest CPU load in the industry, with read and write capabilities of up to 850,000 I/Os per second (IOPS) for random read and 265,000 IOPS for random write and 3.2 GB/s sequential read, 2.5 GB/s sequential write performance. Memblaze products enable its customers to define and alter key settings to ensure optimum performance in specific applications and platforms.

AMD today announced that Charles Matar and Wayne Meretsky have joined the company to assume critical new engineering leadership roles driving hardware and software intellectual property (IP) development for AMD's system-on-chip (SoC) solutions. Matar will draw upon his expertise in SoC and processor design to lead AMD's SoC methodology and client SoC execution. Meretsky will lead the company's software development, ensuring tools will be in place that will enable developers to take advantage of the compute power in AMD's SoC designs.

"Charles and Wayne will serve as key members of our engineering brain trust, bringing with them years of expertise in SoC design and developing 64-bit software ecosystems, respectively," said Mark Papermaster, AMD Chief Technology Officer. "The fact that these computing experts have returned to the company underscores AMD's unique position and opportunity, based on differentiated IP, to take a leadership position in low-power clients and dense cloud servers."

HGST (formerly Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and now a Western Digital company) today announced the storage industry's first technology demonstration of a 12 gigabit per second (12 Gb/s) SAS solid state drive (SSD), representing the next performance step in the evolution of SAS, the preferred interface technology for enterprise servers and storage solutions. HGST is participating in the 12 Gb/s SAS demonstration at the SCSI Trade Association Technology Showcase on May 9, 2012, at the Hyatt Hotel in Santa Clara, Calif.

SAS SSDs and hard disk drives (HDDs), with their rich SCSI heritage, continue to be the building blocks of choice for enterprise and cloud storage. Enabling next-generation storage solutions, 12 Gb/s SAS is a broadly supported industry standard as it delivers twice the throughput compared to today's 6 Gb/s SAS solutions, while maintaining established enterprise protocols and attributes. It is also backward compatible with 6 Gb/s SAS for investment protection in current SAS infrastructures.

PMC-Sierra, Inc., (Nasdaq:PMCS) or PMC, the semiconductor innovator transforming storage, optical and mobile networks, today announced that Adaptec by PMC is demonstrating a server that doubles storage performance, reduces power consumption and increases reliability in a smaller data center footprint to help meet the soaring demands on data centers while driving down total cost of ownership. The CeBIT demonstration features a RAID controller card prototype based on the industry's only PCI Express (PCIe) 3.0 capable 24-port RAID-on-Chip (RoC) from PMC, installed in a system based on the new Intel Xeon processor E5-2600 product family, and 22 Seagate Pulsar enterprise solid state drives (SSDs). Visit Adaptec in the CeBIT Storage Pavilion, Hall 2, Stand E51 to view the demonstration.

The server configuration delivers a sustained data transfer rate of 6600 MB/s in reads and 5000 MB/s in writes. This performance is made possible by the significant bandwidth advantages of the new Intel platform's PCIe 3.0 interface combined with the SRCv's 24-6Gb/s SAS interfaces and Seagate's SAS Pulsar SSDs that deliver sequential reads of 370 MB/s and sequential writes of 200 MB/s. Previous-generation systems based on PCIe 2.0 are typically capable of less than 3000 MB/s data transfer rates.

PMC-Sierra, Inc., or PMC, the semiconductor innovator transforming storage, optical and mobile networks today announced the Company has acquired Maxim Integrated Products, Inc.'s 12 Gb/s SAS expander technology. PMC expects the acquisition will strengthen its SAS design footprint with leading server OEMs.

Combined with PMC's 12 Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (RoC) products, Maxim's expander technology enables PMC to offer end-to-end 12 Gb/s SAS solutions tailored for server platforms. Continued support for Maxim's industry-leading server expander firmware will preserve OEM investment as they transition from 6 Gb/s SAS to 12 Gb/s SAS.