Intel RS2BL080 RAID Controller With 6Gb/s SAS Drive Support

Intel's latest RAID controller has been announced, the RS2BL080, capable of directly controlling up to eight SAS or SATA hard-drives with support for both 6Gb/s and 3Gb/s interfaces.  The RS2BL080 is a half-height card that supports RAID 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 and 60 for mirroring, parity, double-parity and striping.

Up to 32 drives can be controlled from one RS2BL080 controller card, assuming SAS expanders are used, while a further option is the Intel RAID Smart Battery, AXXRSBBU3, which maintains power to the module in case of server or power failure.  It connects via a PCIe x8 card slot, and a second version offers Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) support.  The card is already available to order online, priced from around $550.