Agere Intros High-Speed Interface

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- Agere Systems (NYSE: AGR.A, AGR.B) today announced a new multi-protocol platform that enables high-speed serial interfaces for storage applications. This solution allows hard disk drive and system manufacturers to reliably and cost-effectively transition from parallel interfaces to advanced serial interfaces that will dramatically increase the data throughput between disk drives and motherboards in PCs, laptops, consumer electronic devices and high-end corporate storage applications.

Agere's Serial Storage Interface Platform (SSIP) is a universal building block for drive-side systems-on-a-chip (SoCs) and integrated circuits (ICs) - as well as host-side application-specific ICs - across multiple serial interface standards, including Serial ATA, Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Fibre Channel. Agere's flexible platform and system-on-a-chip integration expertise offers drive makers and system OEMs substantial time-to-market savings as well as improved cost and reliability for whatever interface they choose to support. Agere's solution will support current as well as next-generation data rates for each interface standard, including 1.5- and 3-Gbit/sec speeds for Serial ATA and SAS implementations, and 1.06-, 2.125- and 4.25-Gbits/sec for Fibre Channel networked drives. Serial ATA and SAS are projected to replace the currently predominant parallel ATA and SCSI interfaces over the next few years. "Agere developed the new SSIP core to satisfy the broad range of serial interface technologies required by our customers," explained Ron Black, executive vice president of Agere's Client Systems group. "With this core solution our customer can create serial-based drives and host-side interfaces for any protocol using a single silicon platform. We feel the data throughput enhancements of serial interface technology will significantly alter the storage landscape and extend the addressable markets for some of these interfaces beyond their current boundaries." Agere Systems