Magma Releases Smart Expansion

Magma Releases First Multi-Host PCI Express® Expansion Solution - Smart Expansion. Easily Manage Sixteen High Speed PCIe Cards Attached to Multiple Servers with ExpressBox 16 Smart

San Diego, CA - May 9, 2012

Magma, an innovative and visionary developer of PCI Express® connectivity products, announces immediate availability of its first ‘Smart Expansion’ product, ExpressBox 16 Smart. Magma’s Smart Expansion line of products unlocks advanced manageability and accessibility features of onboard PCI Express switch silicon allowing remote monitoring and easy management of I/O resources across multiple servers attached to one Magma expansion chassis.

The benefits of using ‘outside the box’ expansion solutions for increasing I/O capacity, saving space and conserving power is becoming a key component in server centric environments. IT professionals need the ability to monitor the I/O subsystem to ensure smooth and seamless operation. Specifically designed for mission critical environments, ExpressBox 16 Smart utilizes Magma’s new Express I/O Manager™ software utility to notify the IT manager of any critical component failure in the expansion chassis. The status of critical components such as power, temperature, fan speed, and PCI Express links on individual slots can be easily managed remotely over an ethernet link and/or integrated with an existing SNMP agent on the network.

ExpressBox 16 attaches to the computer through a x8 or x16 PCIe card that extends PCI Express signals over a high-bandwidth cable to sixteen (16) PCIe slots in the external rack-mount enclosure. The PCIe slots can be individually partitioned between multiple servers through Magma’s Express I/O Manager software utility.

“PCI Express has matured tremendously since the early days of PCI to a sophisticated outside the box interconnect protocol”, says Randy Jones, CEO and President at Magma. “ExpressBox 16 Smart unleashes the complex features in today’s PCI Express switch technology and brings to market the industry’s first multi-host expansion solution with remote management and accessibility features required in mission critical environments. With a connection speed up to 80 gigabits per second, ExpressBox 16 Smart is an ideal solution for cloud computing, remote services management and data centers.”

Product Information
ExpressBox 16 Smart is designed around a heavy-duty 4U rack-mount enclosure containing sixteen (16) PCIe slots and consists of a choice of two interconnect links, x8 or x16, over a rugged 3 meter iPass cable.

• EB16-SX8 provides  fourteen  x8 slots and two x16 slots with a choice of 850W, 1700W or 850W redundant power supply

The customer chooses either a x8 or x16 link for up to four server connections:

• PCIe Gen2 x8 host adapter and cable (40Gbps)
• PCIe Gen2 x16 host adapter and cable (80Gbps)

Pricing and Availability
ExpressBox 16 Smart starts at $7000 and is available online at www.magma.com or any authorized channel partner.

About Magma
Magma develops and manufactures PCI & PCI Express Expansion Systems for servers, desktops and portable platforms. Magma’s expansion products extend your system’s PCI and PCI Express outside the computer over cable to a chassis containing additional card slots. Magma’s ExpressBox line of products includes enclosed and non-enclosed solutions ranging from low-end single slot expansion products to fault-tolerant, highly reliable, available and serviceable (RAS) chassis specifically designed for mission critical environments. Magma is dedicated to providing rock solid expansion products for the most demanding configurations. As new interconnect protocols become available, Magma will continue its leadership position at the forefront of expansion technology innovation.

Magma products are platform independent, and are used in a variety of industries including audio and video production, test and measurement, medical imaging, surveillance, aerospace and defense, telecommunications, data acquisition, and high performance computing. Magma’s team of experienced engineers has been developing expansion and connectivity solutions since 1987. Magma products are assembled in San Diego, CA and go through rigorous certification and quality processes. Magma is the trade name of Mission Technology Group, Inc.

For more information about our company or products, call (800) 285-8990 or (858) 530-2511 or visit our website at www.magma.com.  

Magma is a trademark of Mission Technology Group, Inc. All trademarks are the property of the respective trademark owners.