[CentOS] Re: Raidcore SATA support -- Fulcrum/XcelCore are 100% _software_

Sun Jun 26 02:57:00 UTC 2005
Bryan J. Smith <b.j.smith at ieee.org>

On Sat, 2005-06-25 at 21:41 -0500, Bryan J. Smith wrote:
> Ahhh, no.  From their own marketing materials on the RAIDCore ...
> "Fulcrum Architecture
>  Platform-independent RAID *SOFTWARE* architecture"
> "XcelCore Software
>  RAID *SOFTWARE* stack providing highly integrated storage subsystem"

The confusion arises from who Broadcom is targeting.
They aren't targeting general server usage.
They are targeting OEMs who want to build intelligent storage systems.

If I was designing a near-line storage server or other, _dedicated_
storage device, then Broadcom's solutions is _extremely_ flexible.
I can mix'n match multiple controllers across multiple buses and use the
Fulcrum software to control it all.

But when I'm designing a server who's purpose is not to be just a
storage device, but an actual application, file or other server, I don't
want the Fulcrum software load on my system's interconnect.


-- 
Bryan J. Smith                                     b.j.smith at ieee.org 
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