The Adaptec 2005S promises flexibility for designing data protection into high-density servers. It's so small that power consumption should be reduced to a mere two watts.

by Wayne Kawamoto [June 13, 2001]

Adaptec, Inc., a provider of data storage access solutions, announced its Adaptec 2005S, a new RAID controller that should simplify the deployment of RAID in high-density rack-mounted servers and full-form-factor PC servers.

Adaptec says that its Adaptec 2005S is the first RAID product to take advantage of notebook technology in using an SO-DIMM connector in place of a standard PCI slot as a way to reduce the cost and size of the RAID controller. Furthermore, Adaptec's EMRL technology (Embedded RAID Logic) should allow the 2005S to take advantage of the server platform's on-board SCSI channels. This approach promises to reduce power consumption by up to 75 percent and cost by up to 40 percent over traditional single-channel controllers.

According to Adaptec, its Adaptec 2005S (left) breaks thermal milestones, operating at a mere two watts, where competing RAID solutions require up to nine watts of power to operate. This feature may be an important consideration for tightly enclosed rack-mount environments.

Also, the controller has been designed to provide full RAID 0, 0+1, 1, 5, 0+5 and JBOD-level configuration capabilities in addition to advanced RAID features and is available in 8, 16, and 48MB cache memory configurations.

To simplify installation, the Adaptec 2005S is packaged with Storage Manager Pro, Adaptec's RAID management software that ships on all Adaptec RAID controllers. This common platform approach should enable IT personnel to manage multiple Adaptec RAID products using a single software management interface.

"High-density servers have limited space and power budgets which make the credit-card-sized 2005S an ideal solution," said Lee Caswell, vice president and general manager of Adaptec's Storage Solutions Group. "It's the world's smallest RAID card and it's made possible by our unique ASIC technology and system expertise."

Availability and pricing
The new RAID product is targeted for shipment during the second half of this year, and will be priced at $225.

—End