What Is Serial attached SCSI (SAS)?

It's the new technology that's taking the SATA world by storm. Serial attached SCSI (SAS) is a type of serial transmission protocol put into hardware components, many of which are part of larger or more distributed systems. This technology is primarily used in connecting data storage devices to computer systems and networks. The acronym "SAS" stands for "Small Computer System Interface," an older SCSI standard allowing parallel transfers between computers and peripheral devices. IBM developed SAS to improve upon SCSI by providing faster transfer speeds and increased reliability. However, it still uses the same basic principles as SCSI: it's a high-speed interface that allows multiple devices to communicate simultaneously. Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) has been around for a while, but it wasn't until recently that it started to shine. While SAS was initially somewhat slower than its parallel cousin, advances in technology have made SAS a lot more efficient – and the benefits are clear. The first benefit is an elimination of termination issues. Since SAS doesn't rely on parallel connections, it doesn't need to worry about adequately terminating each line before it begins transmitting data. This means you can send data over longer distances and still get consistently high speeds. The second benefit is a lack of clock skew, which means you don't have to worry about your data being received at slightly different speeds depending on how far apart two devices are from each other. That's because SAS uses "dual-port" technology – so there's no chance of one device getting information from another at a different speed than intended. Finally, SAS offers higher general transfer speeds than SATA systems – up to 6 gigabits per second! You can link up to 128 devices in one chain using this technology (though not all devices will support this feature).