Sonnet adds SATA 3 host cards for PCIe, ExpressCard
updated 09:40 pm EDT, Tue June 21, 2011
Uses 6GB per second, ideal for SSD drives
Sonnet Technologies is now offering its own brand of SATA Revision 3.0 host controller cards, the Tempo PCIe 2.0 for desktop and the two-port Tempo ExpressCard/34 or single-port Tempo Edge ExpressCard/34 for notebook computers. All three are backward-compatible with 3GB per second SATA devices, but are designed to work with newer storage options that can support the SATA 6GB per second interface that Revision 3.0 offers.
SATA Revision 3.0 is well-suited to work with solid-state drives (SSDs) which can saturate a 3GB per second connection in some circumstances. The Tempo cards are compliant with the Advanced Host Controller Interface standards and are plug-and-play with no software installation required for either Mac or Windows computers (10.5 or later for Mac, Vista or later for Windows). The cards are compatible with standard hard disk drives and eSATA optical drives as well as SSD and enclosures with integrated hardware RAID controllers.
The notebook-compatible cards fit in ExpressCard/34 or ExpressCard/54 slots -- the single-port model features a super-slim design, and all three models use locking eSATA connectors to keep data connections secure. All three models have a suggested retail price of $80 and are available directly from Sonnet as well as other retailers.
