OEM SAS Expander module/backplane?

[randomlychosen]

I was looking at pc-pitstop and various other vendors who sell disk arrays with built in SAS expanders, and I'm trying to source the OEM expander they use. It seems istarusa is the supplier of many of these, and the SAS expander is a self contained unit. Here are some pictures of what I'm talking about:

http://www.istarusa.com/images/storage/sata_multilane/dage316u40bkxxl006.jpg
http://www.istarusa.com/images/storage/sas/dage316u40sasexpl006.jpg
http://www.istarusa.com/images/storage/sata_multilane/dage316u40bkxxl008.jpg


It has 4 or 5 internal 8087 ports and 3 external 8088 ports and seems to be a self contained unit that accepts a power plug and could be slapped into any enclosure.

iStarUSA lists compatible raid cards as following:

9690SA-414E 3Ware SAS Controller
9690SA-8E 3Ware SAS Controller
3085 Adaptec SAS Controller
ARC-1680LP Areca SAS Controller
ARC-1680X Areca SAS Controller
SAS3800X LSI SAS Controller
SAS3801X LSI SAS Controller
SAS8480E LSI SAS Controller

This also looks like what pc-pitstop uses, although a slightly different look for the case it's mostly the same, and definitely the same SAS Expander module. See here:

http://www.pc-pitstop.com/sas_cables_enclosures/scsase16.asp

PC Pitstop lists the following cards as compatible:

Areca 1680*
Adaptec 3085
Adaptec 5085
Adaptec 51245
Adaptec 5445
Adaptec 51645
Adaptec 52445
HighPoint 4311
HighPoint 4321
HighPoint 4322
LSI MegaRAID 9280-8e SAS Controller

So, where can I find this elusive little self contained highly compatible SAS expander? Any ideas?

 

[packetboy]

I believe it's this:

http://www.areca.us/products/sascableexpander.htm

 

[pjkenned]

I believe it's this:

http://www.areca.us/products/sascableexpander.htm

I think you are right:
http://faq.areca.com.tw/index.php?v...id=435:Q10020902&option=com_quickfaq&Itemid=5

 

[randomlychosen]

Heh, as soon as I search for that I see that pc-pitstop actually states that is what they use on one of their pages. How could I have missed that...espcially considering the amount of time I've spent on Areca's website.

It doesn't seem to be for sale from any reputable vendor in the US. Strange considering its common use in chassis for sale.

I also discovered this product, which looks quite promising and possibly cheap!

http://www.condrestorage.com/sas_expander.html