Fujitsu’s USB 3.0-SATA bridge controller

Fujitsu’s USB 3.0-SATA bridge controller

Fujitsu started developing a USB 3.0-SATA bridge controller in early 2008. The project drew upon the expertise of approximately 30 engineers based in Kawasaki and Yokohama, Japan.

Since the USB 3.0 specification was still in development when the project started, Fujitsu’s engineers used an FPGA board for greater design flexibility. That early start paid dividends when Fujitsu used the same FPGA board to demonstrate the world’s first USB 3.0-SATA bridge at the 2009 International CES.

Once the USB 3.0 standard was finalized, Fujitsu’s engineers put away the board and began work on a production design. In July 2009, Fujitsu released the MB86C30 USB3.0-SATA bridge series.

While some companies have pushed back USB SuperSpeed introduction, Fujitsu lead the charge. The chip is especially useful in the important area of data backup with it’s USB 3.0 PHY, USB 2.0 PHY, and 3.0-Gbit/s SATA interface. The chip can cut backup times significantly and will be used with HDD, SSD, Blu-ray, and DVD storage devices. It was the first 3.0/SATA chip, though others have since announced similar products.

Part of the Fujitsu USB 3.0-SATA bridge controller design team.

For a data center using SATA for a five-hour-long backup every night, this new technology can potentially cut that to about an hour — saving lots of energy and improving vital network up time. The IC also features an embedded Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) engine for automatic data protection and a 32-bit RISC MPU.

Fujitsu continues to expand its family of USB 3.0 controllers. This year they released the MB86C31 with USB-attached SCSI functionally and announced the MB86E50 series USB 3.0-SATA RAID bridge controller, which offers RAID-0/1 dual-port support.

Undoubtedly, Fujitsu engineers involved with this chip helped enable the speedy adoption of the new USB standard, which is now nearly commonplace. We will see what effect availability of this high-data-speed interface will have on various aspects of our industry.

Jim Harrison