LSI Corp. announced Tuesday that NEC has selected LSI 6 Gb/s (gigabits-per-second) SAS MegaRAID controller cards for integration into NEC Express5800 series servers.

The recently launched LSI MegaRAID 9260-8i controller, featuring the LSISAS2108 6 Gb/s SAS RAID-on-Chip (ROC), provides the NEC Express5800 server platforms with new levels of performance, scalability and reliability for consolidation, database and line-of-business applications.

"Our strong relationship with LSI over multiple technology generations allows us to deliver robust, high-performance RAID functionality for our server solutions," said Tomoyasu Nishimura, assistant general manager, Server Division, NEC. "LSI SAS silicon and MegaRAID technology have demonstrated technical excellence among the Express5800 customer base, and we’re confident that their new 6 Gb/s SAS-based products will build upon the high standards our customers have come to expect from the Express5800 server series."

The LSI MegaRAID SAS 9200 series controllers have demonstrated a 190 percent throughput improvement for RAID 5 writes and a 240 percent throughput improvement for RAID 6 writes compared to products based on 3 Gb/s SAS technology, translating to system performance gains.

The 9200 series controllers, including the four-port MegaRAID SAS 9260-4i and eight-port MegaRAID SAS 9260-8i and MegaRAID SAS 9280-8e, allow customers to address both inside-the-box and external storage connectivity, and provide the flexibility to connect to 3 Gb/s and 6 Gb/s SATA (Serial-ATA) and SAS hard drives, solid-state drives, or a mix of drive types for greater system flexibility.

"The selection of LSI 6 Gb/s SAS MegaRAID technology to enable NEC's next-generation Express5800 servers validates our strength in the industry as a leading SAS and RAID technology provider," said Kelly Bryant, DAS RAID business line director, Engenio Storage Group, LSI. "Our extensive 6 Gb/s SAS and SATA product families provide customers with the flexibility to meet a broad range of application requirements while achieving the best return on their IT investments."

Since the inception of SAS, LSI has delivered a portfolio of products including controller ICs, expanders, MegaRAID and 3ware RAID controllers, host bus adapters (HBAs), RAID-on-Motherboard (ROMB) solutions and storage systems. LSI is also a silicon-to-systems supplier of choice for OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) wanting to deliver a range of storage solutions.