The 12 Gbps Microsemi Adaptec® 82885T SAS expander card offers a scalable connectivity / fan-out option for additional drives when used in conjunction with a SAS RAID adapter or SAS HBA. The 82885T SAS Expander Card offers 36 ports in a low-profile MD2 form factor with up to 24 internal ports for direct attach drive connectivity, 4 or 8, internal ports for connectivity to a RAID adapter or HBA, and 8 external ports for external storage expansion.

Flexibility of Configuration

The 82885T mounts internally to any available PCIe slot, away from the backplane, and features mini-SAS HD connectors out the top for added cabling flexibility in dense server environments. The 82885T enables a low cost drive expansion solution when mated with a RAID adapter or HBA. The expander draws power from the PCIe slot (requires 4 or more lanes), but there is no data transfer to the slot. Alternatively, power can also be supplied to the expander card through a standard 4-pin auxiliary power connector.

Enclosure Management Support

The 82885T supports SGPIO and SES2 enclosure management, allowing enclosure information to be routed from all daisy-chained 82885T cards to the HBA or RAID adapter. All device and slot mapping information is provided to the HBA or RAID adapter by the last 82885T card in the chain.

Universal Compatibility with Existing Storage Infrastructure

The 82885T is fully compatible with Microsemi Adaptec Series 8, Series 7 and Series 6 12 Gbps and 6 Gbps RAID adapters and HBAs, allowing for a seamless integration and management within an end-to-end Microsemi Adaptec solution. The 82885T is also compatible with 3rd party adapters and HBAs and has also been tested for interoperability with a wide variety of SAS and SATA HDDs and SSDs.