Quarch-Technology

Quarch Technology Limited, headquarted in Aviemore, Scotland is a world leading supplier of automated test tools for Storage systems. Quarch's scalable test systems enable manufactures of data storage to get to market faster with a more reliable product. Quarch products can be highly customised allowing the system to achieve a very rapid return on investment in any test environment.

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Gen6 Breaker Modules

Gen6 MCIO x4 Breaker

Gen6 MCIO breakers allow you to perform automated hot-swap and fault injection testing for MCIO cables. When you have a working MCIO link, and need to test lane restriction, hot-plug, and data fault injection then the Gen6 MCIO x4 Breaker is the ideal choice.

The module has full control over power, data (x4 PCIe), and sideband pins, allowing simulation of any possible hot-swap scenario. Individual control of each signal, pin bounce, and high-speed glitching combine to greatly increase the number of test cases you can perform. ‘Driving’ is available on some sideband pins, allowing a range of additional tests to drive signals high/low rather than just disconnecting them. The ‘+Triggering’ version has an additional MCX trigger IN/OUT to sync with external test equipment.

The breaker module can be sold as various kits to ensure it fits various MCIO host enclosures as detailed in the technical manual’s mechanical characteristics section.

• Automate full hot-swap of any MCIO x4 device up to Gen6 speeds
• Simulate failures, intermittent faults and more
• Reduce lane width, inject data errors
• Supports PCIe and CXL links

Gen6 Power Modules

OCP Power injection fixture

The OCP Power Injection Fixture allows a power injection and power analysis for OCP devices. This simple interposer sits behind any standard OCP device and allows it to be slotted into an enclosure as normal (though with an offset of the drive).

The ultra-thin flex cable routes out of the enclosure and can be connected to one of our range of Programmable Power Modules. You can now perform power margining and measurement of the drive while using it in its normal operating environment.

This unit is intended for use in testing OCP systems by replacing the host power to the device with power “injected” by a Quarch Programmable Power Module – allowing programmable voltages and accurate current measurement. The Gen6 OCP interface is an x16 edge connector to the host and an x16 straddle mount connector on the opposite edge for the device. An PPM HD connector is used to inject power and interface with PPM.

Hot Swap, Signal Breaker & Fault Injection

Industry-standard fault testing without the complexity

In systems like data storage, telecommunications, networking, or AI in autonomous vehicles or aviation, testing for robust communication is critical.

Quarch Technology’s Torridon system can be scaled to cover every testing requirement—from a single device in early R&D, to 1000+ drives in a huge array along with all its supporting cable interconnects.

Run thousands of device power cycles without manual intervention. Perform repeatable industry-standard tests, with highly accurate timing, and simulate physical layer faults for validation testing.

• Used by most major companies working on SSD design, Communications silicon, Telecomms interfacing and more.
• Part of mandatory testing schedule for NVMe drives at the UNH-IOL Plugfests, to prove the reliability and robustness of NVMe.
• Support for the latest generation interfaces, including PCIe Gen4 and Gen5, plus 100G LAN over QSFP28.
• Support for PCIe, NVMe, CXL and OCP devices.

Power Analysis

Power testing for sustainable development

Whether you’re in design, testing, product reviewing, or marketing, having high-quality power data is essential.

Understanding device power consumption is vital for creating sustainable products, as issues like consumption, heat output, and costs grow each year. Energy standards, such as the SNIA emerald standard and the US energy star rating, are rapidly increasing, making it essential to showcase your products’ energy credentials. Quarch tools offer a unique blend of simplicity and power at a competitive price compared to other market analyses.

Quarch power analysis benefits

• Plug-and-play fixing, setup in seconds
• Support for a huge range of DC and AC devices
• High-resolution, calibrated measurements
• Powerful analysis applications
• Simple automation with full access to raw data
• Long-term recording

Physical Layer Switches

Automated re-cabling for test systems

With Quarch switches you can reconfigure your test rack with simple, remote commands.

Automate connections between multiple devices and run tests 24/7. Duplicate signals to multiple pieces of test equipment and share expensive tools, such as analyzers and traffic generators, between multiple tests.

Quarch’s physical layer switches are completely transparent at the protocol layer, so devices behave as though directly cabled. Our SAS/SATA and USB switches re-drive your signal without re-timing it, ensuring no errors are masked.

Our physical layer switches are used by RAID developers, IC designers, test labs and driver developers, and for motherboard and host design and testing.

• Improve test automation and test coverage.
• Avoid mistakes made during manual cable changes.
• Get better use of of limited test equipment.

Cable Tester

Easy to use and with a comprehensive set of reporting capabilities, the Cable Tester allows the kind of pre-emptive checks that will minimize debugging time and accelerate quality screening.

Software

Get the best from your Quarch products.

With our powerful software tools, you can visualise huge power traces, automate large test plans and much more. Our primary tools include:

• Quarch Compliance Suite (QCS)
  • Automated suite for running tests on data storage devices. This gives you access to years of Quarch testing experience in minutes
• Quarch Power Studio (QPS)
  • Record long traces from our range of PPM and PAM instruments and view every detail of the performance of your device. Power consumption is the main use case, but we can also display custom data and capture digital sidebands from supporting devices.
• Quarchpy Python library
  • Compatible with Python 2 and 3, this gives you full control over Quarch products and also automation of other software such as QPS
• Quarch Instrument Server (QIS)
  • The power behind QPS, this server app is also provided as part of Quarchpy and allows you to capture raw power data easily without the need to run the QPS visual application.

Compliance Suite allows fully automated testing with no need to develop your own test cases or automation systems. Quarch test cases cover a wide range of hot-plug, pin bounce and timing tests to ensure your system is stable in all cases and can handle likely physical layer faults that will occur in the field.

Controller & Accessories