Microchip Technology Inc. has released its next generation of easily configurable enterprise universal backplane management (UBM) controllers for data centers and storage applications. The EEC1005–UB2 family of UBM controllers can be used on hard-drive backplanes to provide storage enclosure management and reporting to computing host systems using industry standard communication protocols. These devices are compliant with the latest SFF-TA-1005 version 1.4 specifications and are downward compatible with systems currently using the EEC1005-UB1 UBM.
(Source: Microchip Technology Inc.)
The EEC1005 UBM controllers are easily configurable to support different drive types, Microchip said, and are interchangeable with a variety of backplanes, including NVM Express (NVMe), serial-attached SCSI (SAS) and serial ATA (SATA) drives. The controllers support tri-mode operation, which enables them to work with all three types of drives simultaneously.
By using a standard connector between NVMe, SAS and SATA drives, it can help reduce cable and connector pin requirements, lowering the overall bill-of-materials costs, Microchip said.
Other features include field replaceable units (FRUs) that allow for fast in-field updates to the backplane configuration, optional sideband I2C bus for aggregated BMC direct access and customizable LED patterns including test modes. It also supports secure boot and firmware updates over UBM or BMC.
The EEC-1005-UB2 family is available with prices starting at $7.33 each in quantities of 10,000. The devices can be purchased directly from Microchip or its authorized distributors. The EEC1005 development board is available with several storage headers to allow customers to validate the device and test many of the out-of-box configurations.
Advertisement
Learn more about Microchip Technology
