Applied Micro Circuits Corporation
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Applied Micro Circuits Corporation (NASDAQ: AMCC) is a fabless semiconductor company designing network and embedded Power Architecture (including a Power Architecture license), optical transport and storage solutions. They bought assets, IP and engineers concerning the PowerPC 400 microprocessors from IBM in 2004 for $227 million and they now market the processors under their own name. The deal also included access to IBM's SoC design methodology and advanced CMOS process technology.
AMCC has a sponsor level membership of Power.org and is one of the original members.
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[edit] Product divisions
[edit] 3ware
3ware is a manufacturer of RAID controllers and storage products. Founded as an independent company in 1997, it was acquired by AMCC in April 2004.
This division has traditionally been focused on SATA and PATA RAID devices. They were one of the pioneers in implementing "multi-lane" cabling for RAID systems which greatly reduced cable complexity in systems with many hard drives.
3ware's Escalade series of RAID controllers has included the 7006 7500, 7506, 8500, 8506, 9500, 9500S, 9550SX, and most recently the 9650SE.
Over the years 3ware has been a leader in the space of RAID controllers for inexpensive drives. However recently they have fallen under pressure from competitors like Areca who have surpassed the performance of 3ware's controllers, and moved more quickly to offer new features such as support for PCI Express and RAID 6.
The recently released 9650SE series of controllers has leveled the playing field somewhat. However even this latest release has not been able to close the performance gap with the competition. There have even been reports that the 9650SE performs more slowly in certain scenarios than previous generations. However drivers and performance for RAID controllers can improve over time, so the 9650SE's legacy is not yet set in stone.
