LSI Announces Agreement to Acquire SandForce

Posted by Paul Braren on Oct 27 2011 (updated on Nov 3 2011) in
  • Storage

    • I don't usually cover news on this blog, but this breaking story:

    LSI Announces Agreement to Acquire SandForce

    directly pertains to so many of my storage related blog posts, so I couldn't resist sharing.

    You see, the SandForce controllers are what's inside the SSDs in all these tests I've done these past months, as I build my "zilla" systems:
    [TinkerTry.com/zilla](https://tinkertry.com/zilla )

    Actually, it's in nearly everybody's 3rd generation SSD these days, Crucial, Corsair, OCZ, even Intel.

    I've been trying the 3rd generation SSD, the 6Gbps RunCore mSATA SSD:
    TinkerTry.com/tzilla

    and I've been having great luck running 6Gbps/SATAIII for Z68 SRT RAID caching here:
    TinkerTry.com/ssdscompared4srt

    Interesting that I'm still stuck waiting for CacheCade 2.0 SSD read/write caching of my LSI 9265-8i adapter:
    TinkerTry.com/goodraidcontrollerswithssdcachingandesxsupport
    TinkerTry.com/lsi92658iesxi5
    TinkerTry.com/lsi9265smackdown

    What does this all mean?  Time will tell, but it does appear this is something to keep an eye on!

    VCP logo TinkerTry - PCs, EVs, home tech, efficiency and more, including virtualization. My opinions here. IT Professional offering part-time consulting.

    vExpert logo Paul Braren, MCSE in 1998, VCP #2681 in 2005, vExpert 2014 to 2025, Veeam Vanguard Emeritus, 2015 to 2019.

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    Necessity to sunset SuperServer Bundles

    SuperServers These systems still work great for many even 9+ years later, mine included, even with (unsupported) vSphere 8 and Windows 11 Version 21H2. But unless you added the optional TPM module, it may be the end of the line as far as repurposing them for running the latest Windows 11 Version 24H2 and beyond.

    After 6 successful years testing then shipping well over 1,000 Xeon D Bundles, Wiredzone had to stop SuperServer bundles in mid-2021 due to cost, supply, and logistics challenges. Bare bones system sales continued for years longer.

    What's next in 2025? I don't yet have my answer for my home lab, especially now that VCF certification is required to keep non-production home lab licenses going, even as a vExpert and VMUG Advantage EVALExperience customer.

    As for a SuperServer follow-on, the Xeon D-1700/2700 (Ice Lake D) was a minor refresh for 2023, with Xeon D-1800/2800 (Granite Rapids D) refresh slightly better in 2024, and hopefully Xeon 6 (Granite Rapids-D) much better in 2025 featuring PCIe Gen5, MCRDIMMs, and 100GbE networking, wow! Feb. 27 2025 update update looks promising, but pricey. Infortunately, it's become clear to me that Supermicro is less focuses on the mini-tower form factor these days.

    As for the CPU industry, it's unfortunate that Pat Gelsinger was apparently ousted from Intel's helm in these challenging times, but I'm also grateful to have had the honor of working at VMware when he was the CIO there. I'll leave it at that, given the whole Broadcom thing.