ASUS selects Silicon Image

Silicon Image, Inc. announced that ASUS has selected the SiI 4723 SteelVine Storage Processor to deliver an easy-to-use RAID-powered backup feature in its Digital Home desktop motherboard, the P5W DH Deluxe. The partnership between ASUS and Silicon Image enables desktop PC manufacturers and assemblers to provide their end user customers with the ability to seamlessly protect and store valuable data such as photos, videos, and important documents.

ASUS offering demonstrates the growing traction of Silicon Image's unique SteelVine architecture among PC and consumer hardware makers. The new ASUS Digital Home motherboard is the first to place the SteelVine Storage Processor directly on the main system board, enabling easy Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID) configuration and use. Because the SteelVine chip is built into the motherboard, desktop PC makers will be able to deliver powerful storage capabilities without having to install and configure separate subsystems.

ASUS's Digital Home desktop motherboards deliver multimedia entertainment, wireless networking, and now, advanced data protection without the need for special drivers or complex setup commonly required by traditional desktop PC designs. The P5W DH Deluxe supports unique Digital Home features including EZ-Backup (backup over RAID), DH Remote (used to turn the PC on/off, activate suspend mode, control volume, play/pause/fast forward/rewind and other functions), WiFi-AP Solo (providing a wireless connection in both access point and wireless client modes), and MP3-In (letting users play music stored in their portable music players through the computer's speakers even when the computer is off).

Designed to dramatically simplify the addition of storage capacity to a wide variety of systems, the SteelVine architecture from Silicon Image included in the ASUS motherboard delivers reliable, high-capacity, high-performance storage with industry-leading price/performance. SteelVine Storage Processors are developed for plug-and-play connectivity, and incorporate sophisticated on-chip management capabilities. Their innovative design eliminates many time-consuming and error-prone storage maintenance tasks such as volume management and the need to install RAID drivers before installing the operating system.

"Adding the SiI 4723 to a Desktop motherboard shows ASUS's innovative thinking and leadership in the PC motherboard space," said Dale Zimmerman, vice president of marketing at Silicon Image. "With Silicon Image's SteelVine Storage Processor on board, ASUS customers will benefit from higher performance and safer drive configurations that can protect digital assets for a lifetime. We are thrilled to partner with the leading producer of PC motherboards on this exciting project and look forward to many more successful collaborations."

"Silicon Image's SiI 4723 provides a very high quality hardware RAID solution that complements the other leading edge features of ASUS's Digital Home desktop motherboards," said Jerry Shen, General Manager of ASUS Open Optimum Platform Business Group. "Our customers are assured that their personal digital content is safe, and ASUS benefits from fewer support calls due to the simplicity and elegance of Silicon Image's SteelVine storage architecture."

The ASUS Digital Home motherboard is designed for single or dual-drive systems. By incorporating the SiI 4723 SteelVine Storage Processor, the motherboard's EZ-Backup feature can be configured by PC builders to fit the users' needs with the change of a secure jumper. ASUS EZ-Backup supports the following RAID modes:

• SAFE (RAID 1) provides maximum data security by redundantly writing data to both drives. This mode performs an automatic backup to the second or mirror drive. Set to SAFE, the ASUS system can continue to operate even in the face of total drive failure, keeping critical data and personal content accessible and protected. With speedy rebuild of 100 gigabytes per hour, auto rebuild and auto fail over, the SiI 4723 SteelVine Storage Processor quickly re-establishes a mirrored drive set when a failed drive has been replaced.
• FAST (RAID 0) stripes data to two drives for maximum performance (faster boot time and quicker application caching and loading).
• BIG (drive spanning) allows two drives of varying capacity to be concatenated into a single logical volume that appears simply as C: to the system.

SteelVine Storage Processors enable OEMs and system integrators to offer 3 gigabit per second storage expansion solutions for price-sensitive mass-market applications. The SiI 4723 can be configured for internal or external SATA (eSATA) applications where plug-and-play, reliable, high-performance data storage and backup are vital. In addition to motherboards, the versatility of the SiI 4723 makes it suitable for use in standalone storage appliances, personal video recorders (PVRs), media center PCs, or network attached storage (NAS) expansion. Multiple features and unparalleled 120 megabyte per second streaming performance make it ideal for "prosumer" drive expansion, small office/home office (SOHO), small and medium business (SMB), video editing and industrial data protection.