Microchip SmartRAID 4300 NVMe Accelerators Deliver Scalable, Secure Data Centre Storage

Microchip Technology has introduced the Adaptec® SmartRAID 4300 series, a new family of NVMe RAID storage accelerators built for modern enterprise and AI‑driven data centre environments. Designed to overcome traditional storage bottlenecks, the series delivers significant gains in performance, scalability, and efficiency for demanding workloads.

Disaggregated NVMe RAID Architecture

The SmartRAID 4300 platform takes a different approach to RAID for NVMe storage. Instead of running all traffic through a single in‑line card, Microchip has separated its Smart Storage architecture into:

• Hardware accelerators for RAID parity processing and CPU offload
• Host‑based software for managing the storage stack

This design uses the host’s PCIe® infrastructure to transfer data directly between CPU and NVMe endpoints at native PCIe Gen4 or Gen5 speeds, while parity operations (XOR) are handled by the accelerator hardware. The result is reduced CPU overhead and improved throughput.

Internal testing shows up to 7× I/O performance improvement compared to previous in‑line RAID solutions. The platform can scale to 32 CPU‑attached x4 NVMe drives and 64 RAID arrays, providing flexibility for growing data centre needs.

Security, Efficiency, and Data Integrity

The SmartRAID 4300 series supports NVMe and cloud‑capable SSDs, with built‑in features for enterprise data protection, including:

• Hardware root of trust
• Secure boot and firmware update
• Attestation support
• Self‑Encrypting Drive (SED) compatibility

Power efficiency is improved through automatic core idling and autonomous power reduction, while multiple safeguards maintain end‑to‑end data integrity in mission‑critical environments.

Comprehensive Management Tools

The accelerators integrate with existing Adaptec SmartRAID tools, including:

• Adaptec maxView™ – HTML5‑based web GUI for desktop and mobile
• ARCCONF CLI – command‑line management for configuration and monitoring
• BMC integration – PLDM and Redfish® Device Enablement (RDE) over MCTP for out‑of‑band control

These tools allow in‑band and out‑of‑band management, enabling deployment into both enterprise and hyperscale infrastructure with minimal changes to existing workflows.

Built for Modern Workloads

Brian McCarson, corporate vice president of Microchip’s data centre solutions business unit, said the separation of hardware and software “enhances performance, efficiency and adaptability to better support modern enterprise infrastructure systems.”

With NVMe storage increasingly central to AI training, analytics, and high‑transaction workloads, the SmartRAID 4300 series offers a high‑performance, secure, and scalable solution for OEMs, storage vendors, and enterprise IT teams.

Learn more and read the original article on www.microchip.com