SGI 030-1281-001 4-Port Differential Ultra SCSI XIO Card for Octane/Octane 2 X9-SCSI-4P

Product Description

The SGI 030-1281-001 is a high-performance SCSI controller card engineered by Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) for their Octane and Octane 2 workstation platforms. This card utilizes the XIO (eXtended I/O) slot, a proprietary expansion bus designed by SGI to offer higher bandwidth and more flexibility than standard PCI slots. The primary function of this card is to provide four independent ports of Differential Ultra SCSI connectivity, significantly expanding the storage and peripheral options available to the workstation. Differential SCSI offers advantages in terms of cable length and noise immunity compared to single-ended SCSI, making it suitable for connecting devices over longer distances or in environments with potential electrical interference. The 'Ultra SCSI' designation indicates support for higher data transfer rates, such as Ultra-160 or Ultra-320, depending on the specific implementation and the devices connected. This allows for faster access to storage devices like hard drives and RAID arrays, which is critical for graphics-intensive applications, video editing, and scientific computing common on SGI systems. The 'X9-SCSI-4P' part of the title further specifies its configuration: 'X9' likely refers to a generation or series within SGI's XIO offerings, and '4P' clearly denotes the four ports. This card is essential for users needing to connect multiple high-speed SCSI devices, such as external disk arrays, scanners, or specialized data acquisition hardware, to their SGI Octane or Octane 2 systems, thereby enhancing the system's overall capability and storage capacity.