July 2009 Archives

Sunnyvale, Calif. , July 27, 2009 -- Fujitsu Microelectronics America, Inc. (FMA) is now shipping its first generation USB 3.0-Serial ATA (SATA) bridge IC, built with Fujitsu's own physical layer device (PHY). The new MB86C30A supports the ultra-fast 5Gbps maximum data-transfer rate of USB 3.0, and incorporates an encryption/decryption engine. Samples are being built using Fujitsu's 65-nanometer low-power process technology, and are available now.

Compared with USB 2.0 connections, the MB86C30A bridge IC provides an order of magnitude increase in data transfer rates from external storage devices such as hard disk drives to PCs. The new bridge IC incorporates on a single chip the USB communication control circuits, SATA communication control circuits, and protocol control and command control circuits. These circuits are required to construct an external USB storage device and to realize 5Gbps data transfer to a host PC. (For an example of a system using the MB86C30A, visit this URL: http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/pdf/USB30_SysEx.pdf.)

The MB86C30A IC also contains an embedded Advanced Encryption Standard (AES engine to protect confidential data from being stolen, unintentionally leaked or lost, and to protect data following the disposal of storage devices. Hardware encryption does not burden the CPU of the host PC, and provides optimal protection for data. The encryption/decryption engine enables data to be easily encrypted for secure storage in external devices such as hard disk drives without impairing the performance of USB 3.0.

"The new USB 3.0-SATA bridge IC provides customers with an innovative, reliable, optimized chip design in a small package. Pricing is competitive because we are using our own PHY and process technology," said Davy Yoshida, director of business development of the Embedded Platform Solutions business group of Fujitsu Microelectronics America. "We expect our chip to be embedded in devices to be released by the end of this year."

"Fujitsu has applied its extensive expertise in low-power CMOS technologies for high-speed interfaces including Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, PCI-express, SATA and IEEE 1394. This IC is the first in the MB86C30 series, which was jointly developed with Fujitsu Laboratories Limited, utilizing their high-speed serial interface technologies, and Fujitsu LSI Solution Limited. Fujitsu Microelectronics plans to strengthen and expand its lineup of USB 3.0 standard products for storage devices."

Features Full USB 3.0 Performance with Encryption Capabilities

Today, PCs and audio-visual equipment handle an expanding volume of data from digital photos to audio and video files, requiring storage devices to have increased volumes and speeds. The USB 2.0 interface, which is used widely in external hard drives and memory sticks, has had a maximum data transfer rate of 480Mbps. To provide faster speeds for reading and writing high volumes of data the USB 3.0 specification was ratified in November 2008. USB 3.0 supplies as much as 10 times the data transfer rate of USB 2.0, along with improved protocol efficiency and power management techniques. The maximum transfer rate of 5Gbps of USB 3.0 allows 10 to 30 GBytes of video data to be copied to a 3.5-inch hard disk drive in one-third to one-fourth the time USB 2.0 needs.

The MB86C30A bridge IC supports two AES operation modes: Cipher Block Chaining (CBC), a mode for encrypting block data, and XTS, the XEX encryption mode with tweak and ciphertext stealing. Both modes are ideal for hard disks in terms of security, strength and speed of encryption/decryption. Three key lengths are supported - 128bit, 192bit and 256bit. High-speed encryption and decryption processing at a maximum of 300 MByte/sec. provides throughput without impairing the performance of USB 3.0.

Availability

Samples of the MB86C30A manufactured in 65nm CMOS process technology are available now in LQFP 64-pin 7mm x 7mm (0.4mm pitch) packages. Volume pricing is available upon request.

Reference Material

The Fujitsu MB86C30A USB 3.0-SATA bridge IC fact sheet:
http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/pdf/USB30_MB86C30.pdf
High-resolution device photo:
http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/imagelib/USB/USB30_MB86C30.zip
Example of system using the MB86C30A bridge IC:
http://www.fujitsu.com/downloads/MICRO/fma/pdf/USB30_SysEx.pdf

Chennai, Monday, 27^th July, 2009: Sify Technologies Limited (Nasdaq National market: SIFY), a leader in enterprise data telecom services and consumer Internet with global delivery capabilities, won the award for the 'Best Telecom Data Center' at the   INFOCOM CMAI National Telecom Awards 2009 function in New Delhi on Friday 24^th July 09 for its next-generation data center at Airoli, Mumbai.

 

INFOCOM along with CMAI, Communications and Manufacturing Association of India, an apex trade and business promotion body with over 28 international MoU partners and representative offices in eight countries, jointly announce the National Telecom Awards 2009. The National Telecom Awards are held annually to recognize and encourage Technology players for their contribution in building a robust and advanced national telecom network and infrastructure.

 

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On receiving the award from Shri Gurudas Kamat, Honourable Minister of State for Communications and IT, Mr. Raju Vegesna, CEO and Managing Director, Sify Technologies, said, "The Airoli data centre is a key facet of our strategy to develop the most sophisticated network and data centre infrastructure in the country to facilitate the evolution and demand for highly dependable and secure services for ecommerce, online banking, mission critical applications for enterprises such as ERPs, media and entertainment content, stock trading, unified communications and disaster recovery. This award is recognition of this state of the art data center, and Sify's capabilities in designing, developing and managing world class data centers. I would like to thank the Government, the Department of Communications and IT and our customers, without whom this would not have been possible. I would also like to thank the Sify team, on whose behalf I receive this award, who made this possible."

 

This year, in addition to Shri Gurudas Kamat, Honourable Minister of State for Communications and IT, Shri Siddharth Behura, IAS, Secretary Telecom; Shri R Chandrashekhar, IAS, Secretary IT; Dr. J S Sarma, IAS, Chairman Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI); and Hon'ble Justice Mr. Arun Kumar, Chairman Telecom Disputes Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) graced the awards ceremony with their presence.

 

Sify launched India's first Level 3 data center at Vashi, Mumbai, in September 2000. Since then the company has continually pioneered the standards, facilities and services in the data center space in the country. Over the last 8 years, Sify has invested in centers in Chennai and Bangalore with increasing levels of sophistication and capability. In August 2008, Sify launched its fourth state-of-the-art data center at Airoli near Mumbai. While the Airoli Data Center entailed an investment of about $36 million, Sify's total investment in data centers over the next two years is likely to be about $100 million. Sify is also developing cutting-edge 'Green' initiatives for its data centers.