Future Hardware Platform Technologies
Presented by:
Alexander Sack, Senior Developer
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Agenda
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 State of the Industry
 Future Technologies
 Multi-Core
 SATA
 SAS
 PCI Express
 iSCSI
 Virtualization
 New SCO Hardware Support & New Hard Drive types
 Nearline Hard Drive Considerations
 Future Hardware Support from SCO & Current Projects
 Q & A

State of the Industry
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
 32-bit Single or dual processor servers
 I/O bandwidth bound:
 Devices are faster than the interconnect or fabric they attach to
 Complicated cabling schemes to attach devices
 Network and storage separately managed
 Platform dependent
 Separate servers for separate platforms
 Separate platforms for separate applications
 Mixed architectural environments

State of the Industry
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 Where are we heading?
 64-bit Multi-Core Architectures
 In order to keep pace with Moore’s Law, Intel and AMD are concentrating on parallelism not clock speed.
 The “Serial” Age
 Next generation protocols have moved back to serial protocols: Its easier to move one bit faster than several bits simultaneously!
 Wired to Wireless
 In an age of mobile devices, access to the network must be unfettered!
 Networked Storage
 Network vs. Storage: What’s really the difference?
 A Virtual World
 Virtualization is no longer just an enterprise feature on big iron.

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State of the Industry

 Faster processing, networking and I/O power
 Compact design, easy assembly
 Designed for power management
 Easier access to the network
 Heterogeneous environments managed on one platform
 Mixed platform and application environments on a single managed piece of hardware!

Future Technologies: Multi-Core
 What is it?
 A multi-core CPU combines independent processors or cores onto a single silicon chip.
 Intel: Distinguishes between logical and physical processors
 Logical refers to the Hyperthreading side, physical means core.
 An Intel Dual-Core processor has two physical processors in the same chip package.
 Dual-Core Pentium 4 Xeon chips, “Paxville”, is due out 1Q06 or sooner!
 AMD: Uses the concept of logical processor count to refer to multiple cores existing within the same chip package.
 Shipping dual-core Opteron and AMD64 (X2) today
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Future Technologies: Multi-Core
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
 Just like SMP, when a system boots, the kernel is loaded on one processor or one core called the bootstrap processor or BSP.
 The kernel queries the BSP via the CPUID instruction to determine how many logical and physical processors exist.
 Based on the number of logical, physical, and licensed processors, the kernel will attempt to initialize each processor.

Future Technologies: Multi-Core
 The OS scheduler will typically run processes in a round-robin fashion and due to our ordering scheme, usually select a physical processor before a logical processor.
 The kernel relies on the ACPI CA layer if no MPS Tables are detected to route interrupts correctly.
 ACPI CA based on the Intel stack
 Will be updated to support newer ACPI v3.0
 Interrupts are load-balanced across multiple Local APICs.
 APIC has a limitation of 8 CPUs since it uses 3 bits to address a processor on a separate APIC specific bus.
 Latest Pentium architecture uses XAPIC which reuses the system bus to address processors, thus supporting larger than 8 CPU configurations.
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Future Technologies: Multi-Core
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
 Multi-Core processors are licensed the same way as
Hyperthreading technology.
 SCO is ready to fully support multi-core architectures today!
 OSR6 MP1 fully supports current Intel Dual-Core offerings
 OSR6 and UW7 must be installed in single processor mode before enabling multi-core technology.
 Working with OEM partners to have certifications ready in time for dual-core toward the end of the year.
 AMD?

Future Technologies: SATA
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 What is it?
 Serial ATA is the next generation of IDE designed to replace the older parallel interconnect.
 Serial ATA is composed of several specifications:
 Serial ATA Core Specification
 Gives general protocol and physical layer descriptions Protocol pieces are slowly being folded into the T13 AT Attachment standards.
 Initially based on ATA/ATAPI-6 standard
 Serial ATA II Specification
 An addendum to Serial ATA Core spec
 Serial ATA II DOES NOT MEAN 300GB/s!
 Adds additional features to the existing specs
 Port Multiplier Specification
 Specifies how port multipliers devices are incorporated into a SATA topology
 Port Selector Specification
 Adds redundant path capabilities to a SATA device

Future Technologies: SATA
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 Gen I: 150 MB/s Gen II: 300 MB/s
 Serial Protocol means point-to-point topology.
 The SATA II specs added some key features:
 Native Command Queuing (NCQ)
 Similar to SCSI tagged command queuing with a max queue depth 32
 First Party DMA (FPDMA) READ and WRITE
 Allows target to reschedule I/O commands for quicker access times.
 Hot-Plug
 SATA was designed with native Hot-Plug in mind
 Devices can be added and removed to a port without stopping the bus.
 Staggered Spin-Up
 Allows sequential start up devices to reduce peak power requirements

Future Technologies: SATA
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 How does it work?
 Some SATA controllers implement a Shadow Register Block
 Remember, SATA devices do not have hardware registers.
 Legacy Mode means that the controller is being programmed like a IDE chipset.
 Allows legacy drivers to just work
 Awkward as some aspects of ATA can not be fully emulated like PIO mode.
 Native SATA chipsets require a driver to send down Frame Information
Structures (FIS).
 Allows driver to use extended features like NCQ and Hot-Plug
 Uses fast and efficient DMA or FPDMA mechanisms for I/O transfers
 There are several kinds of FISes:
 D2H – Register
 H2D – Register
 Set Device Bits
 DMA Activate
 DMA Setup
 PIO Setup
 DATA
 BIST Activate

Future Technologies: SATA
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 Impact?
 Not all controllers are Native SATA
 Some controllers just use SATA PHY to either increase interconnect speed (133 to 150 MB/s) or to reuse existing fab designes
 Most hardware SATA RAID are really SCSI or SCSI-like cards
 Advanced Host Controller Interface (AHCI) is an Intel sponsored open specification for a native SATA chipset.
 Support all of SATA II feature list
 Has already multi-vendor support
 OSR6 ships with a AHCI driver
 Deploy SATA with confidence!
 Hardware SATA RAID is supported by the existing drivers that ship today with
OSR6!
 OSR6 will be further enhanced to support other chipsets in the future.
 SATA will be the primary interconnect for lower cost storage solutions.

Future Technologies: SAS
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
 Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) is the next generation of the venerable SCSI protocol
 SAS specification is maintained by the T10 Technical
Committee:
 ANSI standard as of 2003
 Works on top of the existing SCSI Architecture Model-3 (SAM-3)
 Roadmap:
 Gen I: 3GB/s (shipping now!)
 Gen II: 6GB/s (2006)
 Gen III: 12GB/s (2010)

Future Technologies: SAS
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 SAS has incorporated the best of various storage technologies:
 Data frame based on FCP
 Leverages existing SATA PHY for compatibility
 Supports OOB signals SATA COMRESET, COMINIT, and COMWAKE
 Adds COMSAS which is used to distinguish between a SATA and SAS PHY
 Both sides must assert COMSAS to establish a SAS link
 Scalability with wide ports
 Dual-ported by design for high availability
 World-Wide Names
 8B/10B Encoding Scheme
 Spread Spectrum Clocking to address EMI requirements

Future Technologies: SAS
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
 Architecture Overview (SAS-1.1 Section 4.1.1):
 A SAS domain contains one or more SAS devices and a service delivery subsystem.
 A SAS device contains one or more SAS ports.
 A SAS port contains one or more phys.
 A service delivery subsystem in a SAS domain may contain expander devices:
 Expander devices contain expander ports and a SMP port.
 An expander port contains one or more phys.
 An expander device may share its phy with the SAS device contained within the expander device.

Future Technologies: SAS
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
 Act as hubs or routers to expand a SAS bus
 Support up to 128 ports
 Two types of expanders:
 Edge Expanders
 May not be connected to more than one fanout expander
 Only two edge expander device sets in a single SAS domain
 Fan-out Expanders
 Used to connect multiple edge expanders
 No more than one fanout expander per SAS domain

Future Technologies: SAS
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 Three Main Protocols:
 Serial SCSI Protocol (SSP)
 1KB max frame length
 Full duplex
 Frame types:
 COMMAND
 TASK
 XFER_RDY
 DATA
 RESPONSE
 Serial Management Protocol (SMP)
 Used to manage routing characteristics of expanders
 Not implemented by target SAS devices
 SATA Tunneling Protocol (STP)
 Used by expanders to offer SATA compatibility
 Follow SATA rules for connection, e.g. 8KB frame size

Future Technologies: SAS
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
 SAS is expected to become mainstream in 2006.
 Vendors are starting to ship their SAS solutions now!
 Working with partners to prepare for the SAS invasion:
 OSR6 is already certified with HP’s P600 SAS controller
 LSI working on full support for their MPT and MegaRAID SAS controllers
 Working with Adaptec to deliver full HostRAID SAS support by end of year
 Maintenance Pack update will occur to update OSR6/UW7 to handle
SAS

Future Technologies: PCI Express
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
 PCI Express is the next generation of PCI
 Initially developed by Intel as 3GIO
 Handed over to PCI SIG to become an official standard
 Ratified as a standard in 2002
 Designed to look like PCI in order to smooth transition but overcome a lot of the initial limitations of PCI/PCI-X:
 Point-to-point interconnections are faster
 Wide parallel bus increases cost
 Reference CLK signal validation is slow due to settling times
 With one bus transaction in one direction at a time, arbitration for bus ownership slows down system performance

Future Technologies: PCI Express
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
 Power Management
 Quality of Service
 Isochronous connections (time based)
 Hot-Plug and Hot Swap
 Multi-hierarchy and advanced peer-to-peer communications
 Data Integrity
 Error Handling
 Process Technology Independence
 Built-in standards for electrical compliance

Future Technologies: PCI Express
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 How does it work?
 PCI Express devices functionally overlay on top of PCI/PCI-X devices:
 Root Complex = HOST/PCI Express Bridge
 Switches = PCI/PCI Bridges
 Enpoints = PCI Bus Master targets
 Bridge = PCI Express/PCI Bridge
 Basic connection between two devices is a link
 A link must support one lane where each lane represents a set of differential signal pairs
 Links can be aggregated:
 x1 250 MB/s
 x2 500 MB/s
 x4 1000 MB/s
 x8 2000 MB/s
 x12 3000 MB/s
 x16 4000 MB/s
 x32 8000 MB/s

Future Technologies: PCI Express
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 PCI Express protcol stack:
 Transaction Layer
 Basic unit of communication is the Transaction Layer Protocol (TLP)
 Pipelined full split-transaction protocol
 Used for credit based flow control
 Optional support for end-to-end data integrity dectection
 Data Link Layer
 Transition TLPs across a link to another components Transaction Layer
 Converts TLPs to Data Link Layer Packets (DLLP)
 Established flow control and sequence numbers
 Physical Layer
 Broken down into two sub layers
 Logical Sub-Block: uses 8B/10B encoding scheme
 Electrical Sub-Block: contains transmitter and receiver

Future Technologies: PCI Express
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 Impact?
 OSR6 already supports most existing PCI Express topologies:
 Vendors have certified some PCI Express cards and chipsets
 Working with each partner to understand PCI Express roadmap
 There are changes necessary to support all of PCI Express:
 PCI Express is backwards compatible because it implements PCI/PCI-X address spaces (I/O, Memory, and Configuration)
 Add new Message address space support
 Native PCI Express uses Message Signal Interrupts (MSI)
 Currently, Root Complexes emulate level-sensitive interrupts to mimic INTn style interrupts for compatibility
 Drivers today will be updated to support future PCI Express versions

Future Technologies: iSCSI
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
 Internet SCSI (iSCSI) uses existing TCP/IP to transfer
SCSI packets over a network.
 Managed by the IETF IP Storage Group:
 RFC3720 – iSCSI Standard
 RFC3721 – iSCSI Naming and Discovery
 RFC3723 – Securing Block Storage Protocols over IP
 Internet Storage Name Service (iSNS) draft
 iSCSI Extensions for RDMA Specification
 iSCSI Implementer’s Guide
 iSCSI primarily as a low cost alternative to FC

Future Technologies: iSCSI
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 How does it work?
 iSCSI Architecture
 iSCSI Node: target or initiator
 iSCSI Session: A group of TCP connections that link an initiator with a target (“SCSI I-T
Nexus”)
 SCSI Command Descriptor Blocks (CDBs) are encapsulated into iSCSI Protocol Data Units
(PDUs):
 Each PDU contains a 48 BYTE Base Header Segment (BHS)
 Optional digest header to support encryption and IPSec
 Opcodes:
 NO-OP
 SCSI Command
 SCSI Task Management Function request
 Login Request
 Text Request
 SCSI Data-Out
 Logout Request
 SNACK Request
 Vendor Specific Opcodes

Future Technologies: iSCSI
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
 Used to establish a new session or establish a new connection within an existing connection.
 Optionally allows initiator and target to negotiate parameters, security exchange, and establish what stage the initiator is ready to enter.

 Once Login has been established session enters Full
Featured phase.
 Initiator can now send SCSI CDBs via iSCSI PDUs to various logical units part of the session.

Future Technologies: iSCSI
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
 Hardware Based
 TCP/IP and iSCSI ASICs on the board
 The entire iSCSI protocol is done in firmware
 Looks like a regular SCSI HBA to the OS
 Software Based
 iSCSI protocol done in software
 Requires kernel changes to support iSCSI
 Protocol overhead is very CPU intensive:
 Use NIC cards that feature TCP Offload Engines (TOE)
 Intel has announced I/O Advanced Technology initiative to help network performance.

Future Technologies: iSCSI
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
 iSCSI is a viable low-cost alternative to FC deployments
 Technology is still maturing:
 Older iSCSI targets may not be fully compliant with the latest RFC
 Mixed approaches of both software and hardware solutions are prevalent
 Working with IHVs to establish some form of iSCSI solution:
 Talking to Adaptec to support their hardware based iSCSI cards
 Investigating whether Intel I/O AT technology that can be leveraged for a software based iSCSI stack solution
 Estimating need based on customer feedback

Future Technologies: Virtualization
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
 Virtualization abstracts the hardware from the software.
 An Guest OS runs within a virtual machine and is managed by a virtual machine monitor (VMM)
 First implemented in hardware on the IBM/360 mainframe in the late 1960s.
 Used to be an enterprise feature catered to big iron:
 Both Intel and AMD have announced their intention to bring virtualization technology to the x86 architecture
 Intel Vanderpool
 AMD Pacifica

Future Technologies: Virtualization
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 Full vs. Para
 Historically, most implementations use full virtualization:
 Hardware is completely abstracted
 Guest software has no concept its running within a VM
 Needed custom hardware in order to scale well
 Requires special hardware drivers to act as middleware
 Examples: VMWare and MergePRO
 Paravirtualization
 Guest software is aware of the fact its running under a VM
 Requires core software changes to use Paravirtualization API
 Scales better
 Finer use of privilege rings on the processor
 Leverages existing drivers
 Examples: Xen

Future Technologies: Virtualization
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 How does it work?
 Intel Vanderpool adds new processor operation called VMX:
 VMX root operation
 Used to run VMM
 VMX non-root operation
 Used by guest software (guest OS)
 VMX transitions
 VMX entries: to instantiate guest software
 VMX exit: to tear down a VM transfer control to the VMM
 Transitions are controlled by the Virtual Machine Control Structure (VMCS)
 AMD Pacifica is a superset of Vanderpool
 Offers same functionality
 Not binary compatible
 Adds AMD64 architectural enhancements
 More modes for the onboard memory controller
 Device Execution Vector (DEV) manages devices that need DMA

Future Technologies: Virtualization
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
 Virtualization will be a viable choice to manage a heterogeneous application platform on one piece of hardware!
 To see real world applications, please stop by the
“Windows Interopability and Tools” breakout session given by Sandy Gupta on Tuesday.
 Tracking technology as it matures and becomes more prominent in the field.

Selecting The right Hard Drive means much less hassle
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Reference: http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/whitepaper/TP-540-Nearline-Storage-Requirements.pdf

The Nearline Challenge
Meeting the Nearline Challenge
While nearline applications don’t require the high level of data availability and IOPS demanded by online applications, they do share the need for around-the-clock data accessibility. And though nearline data activity is far less frequent than online activity, both are highly random in nature. These random reads/writes force drive heads to rapidly and repeatedly traverse a drive’s discs.
To deliver the enterprise-class reliability standard of 1.0 million hours MTBF, nearline-ready
SATA drives are specifically designed to withstand the rigors of random reads/writes and
24x7, always-on operation. In contrast, the typical 600,000 hours MTBF rating of desktop-class SATA drives is obtained in the mild environment of sequential reads/writes and 8x5 power-on hours, and thus has no relevance when considering the use of such drives in nearline applications.
But nearline reliability goes beyond MTBF ratings. Nearline-ready SATA drives also incorporate a Workload Management to dynamically protect them from excessive peak workloads. To further safeguard reliability, nearline-ready drives perform “offline scans” during drive idle time to periodically test the media surface for defects.
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Ref: Seagate, Corp.

Seagate Nearline Hard Drive Types
Seagate NL35 Series
Nearline Fibre Channel and Serial ATA disc drives
PRODUCT OVERVIEW
KEY FEATURES AND BENEFITS
• Reduces storage infrastructure costs by providing high-capacity, low-cost storage for data applications that don’t require the performance of mainstream enterprise disc drives
• Lowers capacity costs while still meeting the stringent requirements of the data center, ensuring application performance and availability are not compromised
• Integrates easily with existing storage infrastructures, enabling efficient use of multiple tiers of storage to meet varied application needs
• Supports the full range of nearline applications with options for both Serial ATA and Fibre Channel infrastructures
KEY SPECIFICATIONS
Seagate NL35 Fibre Channel Disc Drive
• 400-Gbyte capacity
• Dual-port, full-duplex 2 Gbit/sec Fibre Channel interface
• 1 million hours MTBF (networked nearline workloads)
• Optimized for Fibre Channel tiered storage
Seagate NL35 SATA Disc Drive
• 250-Gbyte and 400-Gbyte capacities
• SATA 1.5 Gb/s serial interface
• 1 million hours MTBF (direct-attach nearline workloads)
• Optimized for SAS/SATA tiered storage
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Reference: http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/marketing/Seagate_NL35.pdf

Other Nearline Hard Drive Vendors
41 http://www.seagate.com/docs/pdf/whitepaper/IDC_final_04C4285.pdf

Future Hardware Support from SCO & Current
Projects
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Dialogic Support - Telephony
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Based on demand, SCO will be releasing new Dialogic
Springware device drivers for OpenServer 6, UnixWare
7.1.4 and OpenServer 5.0.7 in Fall 2005
All Dialogic devices will be listed in the SCO Hardware
Database as “
” due to licensing requirements
Reproducible issues submitted to support will be escalated for a fix to engineering

Dialogic Support - Telephony
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Dialogic Device Support
VOICE WITH NETWORK INTERFACE BOARDS
D/240PCI-T1, D/240JCT-T1, D/300PCI-E1, D/300JCT-E1
LINE VOICE WITH FAX
VFX/41JCT-LS, D/41JCT-LS
VOICE WITH DUAL NETWORK INTERFACE BOARDS
D/240SC-2T1, D/300SC-2E1, D/480SC-2T1, D/600SC-2E1,
D/600JCT-2T1, D/480JCT-2T1
HIGH DENSITY FAX
D/120JCT-LS
NETWORK INTERFACE BOARDS
DTI/480SC, DTI/481SC, DTI/600SC, DTI/601SC, D/600JCT-
2T1, D/240JCT-T1, D/480JCT-2T1, D/300JCT-E1
CONFERENCING
DCB/320SC, DCB/960SC
MEDIA BOARDS
D/80SC, D/160SC, D/240SC, D/320SC, D/640SC, D/160JCT,
D/320JCT, D/240PCI-T1, D/300PCI-E1, D/480JCT-2T1,
D/600JCT-2E1
Device driver support for the following Intel/Dialogic telephony
Products may work, but will not be tested or officially supported.
LOW DENSITY BOARDS AND PBX INTEGRATION
D/21E, D/41E, D/41ESC, D/21D, D/41D, D/21H, D/41H,
D/42NS
MEDIA WITH LOOP START INTERFACE
D/120JCT-LS, D/160SC-LS, LSI/81SC, LSI/161SC
LINE VOICE WITH FAX
VFX/40ESC plus, VFX/40ESC, VFX/40, VFX/40SC, VFX40E
LOW DENSITY BOARDS AND PBX INTEGRATION
All devices in this category currently in production will be supported by the driver set (examples are listed below)
D/4-PCI, D/4-PCIU, D/41EPCI, D/82JCTU, D/41JCT,
D/41JCT-LS. D/42JCT-U
MEDIA WITH LOOP START INTERFACE
LSI/81SC, LSI/161SC
CONFERENCING
DCB/640SC

USB Update
Some inherent issues were found in the USB subsystem that made printing and serial (modem) class drivers unreliable, or hard to configure
USB infrastructure is undergoing an overhaul for
OpenServer 6 and UnixWare 7.1.4
Printing and serial (modem) functionality will be available in Fall 2005 as a download and made available on the next media release
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Adaptec SAS/SATA & HostRAID Support
A new device driver (adp94xx) for Adaptec
SAS/SATA and HostRAID (software RAID) support is being developed now.
This new driver will cover the entire line of Adaptec products
This driver will be available in winter 2005
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Parallel Card Support
Parallel Card Support
Support for standard PCI Parallel cards will be available in OpenServer 6 Maintenance Pack 2 scheduled for late October.
SCO System Certification Tests (SCT)
A revised version of the SCT adding functionality omitted from the original release will be made available in the fall of 2005.
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Your SCO Hardware Team
Alex Sack Mike Drangula
David Wood
Dean Flamberg
Dean Zimmerman
Doug Souders
Mohammed Ali
Nigel Simpson
Paul Hurford
Evan Hunt Richard Harry
Jim Bonnet
Kerri Wallach
Kurt Hutchinson
Robert Lipe
Roger Vortman
Simon Bordman
Maxine McCarthy Steve Williamson
Q&A
Alexander Sack, alexs@sco.com
– Senior Developer
Paul Hurford, paulhu@sco.com
– Director, Hardware Strategies
Mike Drangula, drangula@sco.com
– Senior Developer