Fujitsu Computer Products of America

Fujitsu Demonstrates Serial Attached SCSI and Serial ATA Interoperability at SAS Plugfest

Recognized by SCSI Trade Association for Serial Technology Leadership and Service

San Jose, CA, July 20, 2004 — Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. (FCPA), one of the world's leading suppliers of hard disk drives and computer peripherals, today announced successful interoperability testing of its small form factor (SFF) Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and 2.5" Serial ATA (SATA) hard disk drives. The interoperability testing was conducted during the SAS plugfest conducted the week of June 21, 2004 in the Interoperability Lab at the University of New Hampshire.  Fujitsu was the only manufacturer able to demonstrate both SAS and SATA interoperability with its own SFF SAS and 2.5" SATA hard disk drives.

The SAS plugfest is designed to provide a vendor neutral location for cooperative testing to advance an open SAS standard.  The second SAS plugfest included a special session to test the interoperability of SATA products interoperating within a SAS component infrastructure.  Fujitsu is in the unique position of conducting these tests within its own product suite.

Fujitsu and LSI Logic developed collaboratively a disk controller ASIC with a flexible implementation of SAS technology early in the life of the SAS standard. Through this flexible implementation, Fujitsu was the first to deliver a small form factor SAS drive to OEM labs for testing with next-generation enterprise storage solutions in December 2003. Fujitsu followed this news by announcing the first 2.5" SATA drive in January 2004, positioning the 35-year hard disk drive veteran at the forefront of the industry.

"LSI Logic and Fujitsu share a belief that innovation is the cornerstone of advanced customer applications," said Edward Marchand, Director of Marketing for Storage Custom Solutions at LSI Logic. "Fujitsu's innovation in the architecture of their HDD controller electronics and close collaboration with LSI in implementation provided Fujitsu's key OEMs early access to 3Gb/s SAS technology."

Fujitsu has remained focused and committed to the testing, deployment, and integration of serial technology. As a result of Fujitsu's success in integrating and testing Serial-based products, Fujitsu has helped orchestrate and lead the SAS plugfest events. In acknowledgement of Fujitsu's contribution to the organizing body of the SAS plugfest, the SCSI Trade Association presented Fujitsu with a plaque recognizing the efforts and continued support in promoting SAS technology.  

"Fujitsu is focused on helping to promote the development and adoption of Serial storage products, and the first step is working together as an industry to demonstrate interoperability," said Michael Fitzpatrick, senior research executive, Advanced Products Engineering, Fujitsu Computer Products of America. "It's an honor for Fujitsu to be recognized for our support of the SCSI Trade Association and the SAS plugfests. Serial technology has established a new model for next generation solutions and Fujitsu will do its part to turn these ideas and concepts into exciting new products for our customers."

Since January 2003, Fujitsu has helped organize SAS plugfests through face-to-face meetings with participating vendors and weekly committee discussions. The SAS plugfest is a pure example of industry leaders gathering for the benefit of end-users. Through extensive interoperability testing and coordination with other component manufactures, Fujitsu is working to deliver technology leading serial products capable of 24x7 data storage and retrieval.  

Fujitsu Serial Technologies

Fujitsu's 2.5" small form factor serial attached SCSI drives are the next generation of the industry leading MAS series drives in a small form factor enclosure.  The Fujitsu enterprise hard disk drive will offer up 73.5GB of storage coupled with a SAS interface producing a 300MB/s data transfer rate at a full 3Gb/second.

Fujitsu's 2.5" SATA MHT-BH hard disk drive is the world's first to deliver the power of the integrated Serial ATA SOC in a 2.5" form factor. Additionally, the hard disk drive features Native Command Queuing (NCQ), an important feature that intelligently and simultaneously coordinates up to 32 instructions to be queued and reordered by the hard disk controller, contributing to a significant improvement in overall hard disk drive performance.

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About the SCSI Trade Association

STA was established in 1995 to provide a focal point for members to communicate the benefits of SCSI to the industry.  STA promotes the understanding and use of SCSI technology and influences the evolution of SCSI standards to meet future industry needs.  The Association has an eight-member Board of Directors, which oversees the Marketing Communications and Technology Committees and all STA activities.  For more information, please visit the STA web site at http://www.scsita.org, send an email to info@scsita.org or call the STA office at (415) 561-6273.For more information about the plugfests, visit the STA plugfest web site at http://www.scsita.org/news_events/plugfests/plugfests.html.

About Fujitsu

Fujitsu is a leading provider of customer-focused IT and communications solutions for the global marketplace. Pace-setting technologies, highly reliable computing and communications platforms, and a worldwide corps of systems and services experts uniquely position Fujitsu to deliver comprehensive solutions that open up infinite possibilities for its customers' success.  Headquartered in Tokyo, Fujitsu Limited (TSE:6702) reported consolidated revenues of 4.7 trillion yen (US$45 billion) for the fiscal year ended March 31, 2004.  
For more information, please see: http://www.fujitsu.com

About Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc.

Fujitsu Computer Products of America, Inc. (FCPA) conducts engineering and marketing activities in San Jose, CA and sales operations throughout the United States. FCPA's current product and service offerings include hard disk drives, tape drives, magneto-optical drives, scanners and scanner maintenance. FCPA is located at 2904 Orchard Parkway, San Jose, CA, 95134. For more information about Fujitsu products and services, call us at 800-626-4686 or 408-432-6333.
For more information, please see: http://www.fcpa.fujitsu.com

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