New Solution is Optimized for Latest SAS/SATA HDDs and SSDs, Delivering High Performance and Reliability at a Cost-Effective Price Point

ALISO VIEJO, Calif., Nov. 1, 2016 — (PRNewswire) —  Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC), a leading provider of semiconductor solutions differentiated by power, security, reliability and performance, today announced two new adapters in its award-winning Microsemi Adaptec^® Series 8 product family. The 8405E and 8805E offer server storage customers entry-level systems with redundant array of independent disks (RAID) devices that deliver accelerated performance with built-in cache and uncompromised reliability.

As the original true hardware RAID devices offering 12 Gbps throughput at each port, the new cost-effective Microsemi Adaptec Series 8E adapter solutions enable entry-level servers and workstations with redundant boot support and input/output (I/O) intensive applications such as databases, video editing and network video recording (NVR), which require high bandwidth. The 8405E and 8805E support hybrid RAID for maximum performance with solid state drives (SSDs) and cost-efficient redundancy.

"Our new additions to the Series 8 family were driven by customer demand for a true hardware RAID solution at the entry level. We went a step further by providing on-board cache for accelerated performance, making these devices attractive to both current and new customers," said Pete Hazen, vice president of scalable storage solutions at Microsemi. "This is the ideal solution for cost-effective servers and workstations that do not require the full-featured capabilities of our Series 8 RAID adapters."

Microsemi's new devices offer a migration path for those seeking to transition from an alternative software RAID solution to a robust hardware RAID solution. It also provides customers a migration path from the company's current Series 6E 6 Gbps products to a 12 Gbps solution to future-proof and add additional capabilities to their servers. In addition to offering data reliability, the 8450E and 8805E deliver over nine times improvement in random read SATA SSD performance over the Series 6E devices and increase the bandwidth capability of SAS/SATA devices by 16 times.

"We had great success with the Microsemi Adaptec Series 6E 6 Gbps RAID products," said Viktor Martens, Product Management, Servers, at Wortmann AG. "With the Series 8E 12Gbps RAID adapters we see overall performance improvement with SSDs and the reliability and robustness of hardware RAID that are important criteria for our customers."

According to a global market intelligence and advisory firm IDC's recent report, enterprise SSD shipments grew 44 percent year over year in the second quarter of 2016, reaching 3.9 million units per quarter. SAS and SATA SSDs make up more than 85 percent of the server storage market SSD unit shipments today and 100 percent of the hard disk drive (HDD) market shipments, making SAS/SATA connectivity and manageability a central component in the enterprise architecture.

"Entry-level hardware RAID is an essential technology to maximize the performance of SSDs or provide critical data protection in a cost-effective redundancy solution," said Jeff Janukowicz, research vice president at IDC. "Microsemi has become a key player in the storage market and the addition of an entry-level RAID card to expand its proven 12G Series 8 SAS/SATA product line is another example of that commitment."

Key features of Microsemi's new 8405E and 8805E include:

• Hardware RAID 0,1,10 to provide data reliability and performance acceleration for up to four and eight direct attach devices (8405E and 8805E, respectively)
• Built-in high performance DRAM cache for HDD and SDD performance acceleration
• Consistent suite of management tools across platforms and operating system, offering ease of use
• Support of SAS/SATA devices (versus competitors' SATA only offerings) 

"At Ingram Micro, we rely exclusively on Microsemi Adaptec SAS/SATA solutions to meet the storage connectivity needs of our diverse customer base of system integrators, OEMs and value added resellers," said Shelly Dailey, director of product marketing for Ingram Micro. "Expanding its Series 8 product line with the addition of the cost-effective 8E SKUs will allow us to expand our sales to customers in the entry-level server category who need a lower cost solution without sacrificing performance."

Product Availability
Microsemi's 8405E and 8805E devices are available now. For more information, visit http://www.microsemi.com/products/storage/raid-adapters/raid-adapters or contact Email Contact.

About Microsemi's Product Portfolio for Data Center
Microsemi is a premier supplier of innovative semiconductor, board, system, software and services for enterprise and hyperscale data centers, enabling high performance, secure, low power and reliable infrastructure for scalable deployments. Microsemi technologies drive innovation in applications including storage systems, server storage, NVM solutions, Ethernet switching, rack scale architecture, data center interconnect, network timing and power subsystems. Building on a track record of technology leadership, Microsemi's data center infrastructure portfolio is transforming networks that connect, store and move big data, while lowering the total cost of ownership of deploying next generation services. 

The portfolio includes high performance NVMe storage controllers, NVRAM drives, SAS/SATA host bus adapters and RAID controllers enabling high capacity storage architectures, high density PCIe switching and firmware for rack scale architectures, PCIe re-drivers, and Ethernet PHYs for intra-rack connectivity. Microsemi's product portfolio also includes clock and power management, IEEE1588 integrated circuits (ICs) and NTP servers for synchronization across the data center, as well as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and system-on-chip (SoC) FPGAs to perform secure system management of servers and storage. For more information, visit http://www.microsemi.com/applications/data-center.

About Microsemi
Microsemi Corporation (Nasdaq: MSCC) offers a comprehensive portfolio of semiconductor and system solutions for aerospace & defense, communications, data center and industrial markets. Products include high-performance and radiation-hardened analog mixed-signal integrated circuits, FPGAs, SoCs and ASICs; power management products; timing and synchronization devices and precise time solutions, setting the world's standard for time; voice processing devices; RF solutions; discrete components; enterprise storage and communication solutions, security technologies and scalable anti-tamper products; Ethernet solutions; Power-over-Ethernet ICs and midspans; as well as custom design capabilities and services. Microsemi is headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, and has approximately 4,800 employees globally. Learn more at www.microsemi.com.

Microsemi and the Microsemi logo are registered trademarks or service marks of Microsemi Corporation and/or its affiliates. Third-party trademarks and service marks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.

"Safe Harbor" Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: Any statements set forth in this news release that are not entirely historical and factual in nature, including without limitation statements related to the availability of two new devices in its award-winning Microsemi Adaptec® Series 8E product family, and its potential effects on future business, are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and are inherently subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, such factors as rapidly changing technology and product obsolescence, potential cost increases, variations in customer order preferences, weakness or competitive pricing environment of the marketplace, uncertain demand for and acceptance of the company's products, adverse circumstances in any of our end markets, results of in-process or planned development or marketing and promotional campaigns, difficulties foreseeing future demand, potential non-realization of expected orders or non-realization of backlog, product returns, product liability, and other potential unexpected business and economic conditions or adverse changes in current or expected industry conditions, difficulties and costs in implementing the company's acquisitions and divestitures strategy or integrating acquired companies, uncertainty as to the future profitability of acquired businesses and realization of accretion from acquisition transactions, difficulties and costs of protecting patents and other proprietary rights, inventory obsolescence and difficulties regarding customer qualification of products. In addition to these factors and any other factors mentioned elsewhere in this news release, the reader should refer as well to the factors, uncertainties or risks identified in the company's most recent Form 10-K and all subsequent Form 10-Q reports filed by Microsemi with the SEC. Additional risk factors may be identified from time to time in Microsemi's future filings. The forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date hereof, and Microsemi does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.