Agilent Technologies Broadens SAS, SATA Test Portfolio through Partnership with SerialTek

With both SAS and SATA now running at 6 Gb/s, designers are looking for optimum voltages, emphasis levels and edge rates to manage these challenging design limits. At the protocol layer, designers are testing to ensure adherence to the specifications so that all products can work and interoperate in a system.

Agilent offers a complete portfolio of tools for transmitter, receiver and return loss tests. The portfolio is comprised of an Infiniium DSA90000 Series oscilloscope, the N5412A SAS and N5411B SATA electrical performance validation and compliance software, the N5990A automated characterization test suites, the 16900 Series logic analyzers, J-BERT N4903B High-performance Serial BERT, 86100C DCA-J wideband sampling oscilloscope, and the 81134A Pulse Pattern Generator. With the SerialTek BusXpert, Agilent expands its test portfolio to the protocol layer. The BusXpert also features a 6 Gb/s FER counter that will be used as a part of Agilent's Receiver Test Solution.

SerialTek's BusXpert SAS/SATA test solutions represent the industry's most advanced protocol analyzer. Hardware and software innovations such as a PCI Express(r)-to-Host connection, Trace Indexing and microprocessor-assisted InstaSearch improve the user experience when developing and debugging with a protocol analyzer. These technologies, along with the industry's largest buffer size of 36 GB and a simple, robust GUI, allow the BusXpert to efficiently display, manipulate, trigger and save traces at speeds not seen in any other competitive offering. The BusXpert is available in several configurations varying on port count, buffer size and platform. Both the PRO and Micro platforms are lightweight, highly portable and easily upgraded.

Agilent's products for SAS/SATA testing in the physical layer are the best in every category and are designed to meet the challenges the industry faces, said Siegfried Gross, vice president and general manager of Agilent's Digital Test Division. The SerialTek team's extensive insight and expertise in the storage industry enabled them to create the market-leading capability and performance of the BusXpert analyzers, complementing and strengthening Agilent's industry-leading physical layer SAS/SATA solutions.

Since the beginning of 2009, SerialTek has been working closely with local storage developers to ensure the innovative BusXpert delivered on its promise of faster analysis and debug for storage products, said Dale Smith, president and CTO, SerialTek. We are pleased to make the BusXpert available worldwide through a partnership with Agilent. The partnership combines SerialTek's high-performance SAS/SATA analyzers with Agilent's SAS/SATA physical layer testing solutions and worldwide service and support. It's now easier and faster than ever for developers of storage products to achieve compatibility and compliance at all levels of these popular storage protocols. Additionally, by licensing Agilent's patent portfolio, SerialTek has access to 15-plus years of innovation in protocol analysis to further strengthen and improve its leadership position.