SANBlaze SBExpress-RM5 delivers latest-generation validation and compliance testing

SANBlaze launched a platform to support NVMe over PCIe Gen5 validation and compliance testing. The SBExpress-RM5 platform provides broad test capabilities for development, QA, validation, and manufacturing teams, and includes the company’s Certified by SANBlaze (SBCert) compliance test suite, widely recognized as an industry benchmark.

The SBExpress-RM5 is a 16-bay enterprise-class NVMe test appliance supporting hot-plug and PCIe speeds from Gen1 to Gen5. The system features a unique modular “riser” design that enables user-configurable variable slot support, as well as field-upgradable support for all Gen5 connector form factors, including U.2, M.2, EDSFF, and the new E3/EDSFF form factor.

The ability to margin and measure power, glitch signals, and test spread spectrum clocking (SSC) or conventional clocking in both common and SRIS/SRNS modes sets the SBExpress-RM5 apart from all others in the NVMe SSD testing space. ​

Data integrity is verified with a comprehensive suite of read/write/compare tests, with exception cases such as power glitching while running IO, and built-in “Write Atomicity” testing as part of the Certified by SANBlaze test suite.

Testing is accessible through a web interface to the appliance or via Python, XML and REST APIs, which come standard with the system. The SBExpress Gen5 software includes over nine-hundred test scripts to enable IOL testing in the customer’s lab, before undergoing official testing, as well as ZNS, VDM, and TCG Opal verification.

Strategic industry collaboration accelerates time-to-market

The release of the SBExpress-RM5 marks the first major product introduction by SANBlaze in collaboration with SerialTek and Ellisys, two companies specialized in advanced protocol test solutions for storage, data centers, consumer electronics, and IoT technologies.

This collaboration helped SANBlaze shorten its SBExpress-RM5 time to market with additional resources and know-how, markedly compressing the development cycle for this delivery. This inter-company symbiosis will accelerate innovation and lead to new unique capabilities and synergies that greatly benefit SANBlaze customers.

“SANBlaze is pleased to announce the industry’s first NVMe over PCIe Gen5 test system, extending the leadership position of our Certified by SANBlaze automated test suite to Gen5 architecture,” said Vince Asbridge, CEO of SANBlaze. “Leveraging the Gen5 expertise of SerialTek significantly reduced our time to market and enabled early access to state-of-the art tools, such as SerialTek’s innovative Kodiak Gen5 PCIe analyzer, which we used to expedite our testing to ensure the SBExpress-RM5 system meets the protocol and rigorous signal integrity requirements of PCIe Gen5.”

“The partnership between SerialTek and SANBlaze has been a huge benefit to both companies, combining the NVMe expertise of the SANBlaze team with the PCIe and signal integrity leadership of the SerialTek team,” said Paul Mutschler, CEO of SerialTek. “Combining the talents of these two world-class engineering teams has accelerated the introduction of both the SBExpress-RM5 NVMe Gen5 test system and the Kodiak Gen5 PCIe analyzer, leading to a tightly integrated analysis and qualification platform for Gen5 and beyond.”

“We’re pleased to have the opportunity to partner with a quality organization like SANBlaze and to create the complementary and already-productive relationship with SerialTek,” said Mario Pasquali, President and CEO of Ellisys. “Our entire organization looks forward to a continuation of the SANBlaze tradition of quality product offerings and expert collaborations with their customer base, and the fantastic synergies that will greatly benefit all our customers.”

Availability, configurations, and pricing

A modular “riser” design allows each of the slots to support single- or dual-port NVMe drives. Each slot is switchable between dual- and single-port directly from the software for ease of testing both drive types in any configuration. All risers support power control and measurement with NVMe device configurations that include U.2, M.2 and EDSFF, including the new E3 EDSFF form factor.