SNIA Announces Improved Data Management with SASSY

SNIA Submits Updated T10 Specification for SAS Enclosure Services with New SASSY Protocol to Enhance Data and Storage Management

Fenway Park, MA., April 1, 2021 - In a move that advances a common goal of increasing manageability for a unified framework and standardization for data and storage management, the T10 Foundation and Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) announces fast-tracking of the new SASSY protocol enablement and conformance testing.

The new SASSY Protocol (Serial Attached SCSI System-Wide Yodelling) will allow storage devices to send unsolicited SCSI Enclosure Service alerts which Storage Management SNIA Swordfish™ and DMTF Redfish™ clients detect. This new protocol replaces the now obsolete ‘CimXML Object Whistler – Based Enterprise Logical Layer’ (COW-BELL) protocol since the CimXML standard was discontinued by DMTF in 2018.

“This new RestAPI compatible approach enables a new generation of programmers’ access to storage devices, and while old technology advocates prefer the status-quo, we can no longer support more COW-Bell implementations moving forward.” – Hørßt Nördfink, Project Manager for SASSY Swordfish Client Library.

The new SASSY Swordfish protocol will also be accompanied by a Compliance Testing Program which, once passed, will allow vendors to use the certified logo, and will allow customers to easily identify compatibility. This protocol incorporates the already well known SNIA Swordfish with the new SASSY AlpHorn Logo.

SNIA has commitment from a number of existing device manufacturers including Rodime, Shugart, as well as MiniScribe which claims to have SASSY compliant drives on distributor shelves already. An executive at Miniscribe commented that the protocol was simple and efficient to implement, and that their drives (and implementation) are absolutely ‘Rock Solid.’

“The goal of this alliance is to allows device manufactures to take a more active part in open source storage management standards by allowing them to drive the communication and lay the groundwork for future collaborative technological developments” said Michael Orbison, Communications Director and Songwriter, SNIA. “We are excited to be working closely with the drive and NVMe® manufacturers and look forward to the results of our joint efforts.”

About SNIA
The Storage Networking Industry Association is a not-for-profit global organization, made up of member companies spanning the global storage market. SNIA’s mission is to lead the storage industry worldwide in developing and promoting standards, technologies, and educational services to empower organizations in the management of information. To this end, the SNIA is uniquely committed to delivering standards, education, and services that will propel open storage networking solutions into the broader market. For more information, please contact MØØse@snia.org.

sniapr@snia.org