Serial Storage Architecture

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Serial Storage Architecture (SSA) was a serial transport protocol used to attach disk drives to server computers. It was developed by IBM employee Ian Judd in 1990 to provide data redundancy for critical applications. SSA was deployed in server RAID environments, where it was capable of providing for up to 80 MB/s of data throughput, with sustained data rates as high as 60 MB/s in non-RAID mode and 35 MB/s in RAID mode.

SSA was promoted as an open standard by the SSA Industry Association, unlike its predecessor, the first generation Serial Disk Subsystem.^[1] A number of vendors including IBM, Pathlight Technology and Vicom Systems produced products based on SSA. It was also adopted as an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) X3T10.1 standard. SSA devices are logically SCSI devices and conform to all of the SCSI command protocols.