Microchip Technology unveils UB controller for enhanced data center efficiency

Microchip Technology has introduced the EEC1005-UB2 Universal Backplane Management (UBM) controller family, aimed at enhancing system versatility, ensuring standards-based operation, and offering cost savings in data center and storage applications. These generic and easily configurable UBM devices are designed for use on hard drive backplanes, facilitating storage enclosure management and communication with computing host systems through industry-standard protocols. The ECC1005-UB2 devices adhere to the latest SFF-TA-1005 version 1.4 specifications and offer backward compatibility with systems using the EEC1005-UB1 UBM, thus supporting seamless migration and rapid market deployment.

The EEC1005 UBM controllers are versatile, capable of supporting various drive types, and are interchangeable across different backplanes, including those for NVM Express (NVMe), Serial-Attached SCSI (SAS), and Serial ATA (SATA) drives. They feature tri-mode operations, allowing them to manage all three drive types concurrently. This interoperability, combined with a standard connector for NVMe, SAS, and SATA drives, aims to reduce the need for multiple cables and connectors, thereby lowering overall Bill of Materials (BOM) costs. The inclusion of Field Replaceable Units (FRUs) enhances the ease of making in-field updates to the backplane configuration.

The EEC1005 UBM controllers come with several key features, including easy-to-use out-of-box configurations, integrated UBM, FRU, and controller capabilities, and support for various drive management protocols and drive types. They also offer an optional sideband I2C bus for direct access, customizable LED patterns for diagnostics, and secure boot and firmware updates.

Microchip has positioned the updated EEC1005 family as a solution that supports a wide range of data center applications by being highly integrated, flexible, and secure, aiming to reduce system costs and development time. For developers, an EEC1005 development board is available, providing multiple storage headers to facilitate device validation and testing of configurations.

The EEC-1005-UB2 product line is priced starting at $7.33 for 10,000-unit quantities.