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EasyCo LLC is the original developer of patent pending
Managed Flash Technology, which can
deliver 50x faster write speeds in flash-SSD arrays, built from
commercial off the shelf flash SSDs than the intrinsic speed of an individual
flash drive without using MFT.
EasyCo's products include enterprise
performance flash SSD arrays - ranging from desktop systems to 1U, 2U and 3U
rackmount SSDs.
MFT products are supported under Linux and Windows.
EasyCo weclomes inquiries from systems integrators or oems who want to discuss
licensing MFT techmology for use in their own products. EasyCo has offices in
Pennsylvania and California.
see also:-
EasyCo
- editor mentions on STORAGEsearch.com
- editor's comments:- September 2011 - EasyCo
entered the SSD market in
2007 with a
unique software solution which dealt with the problem of
write amplification
in flash SSDs. EasyCo's driver wrapped a layer around industry standard
notebook quality 2.5"
and 3.5" flash
SSDs and enabled them to be used in some enterprise apps. Their technology also
boosted write
IOPS in RAID
configurations.
To demonstrate what their technology could do EasyCo
designed and sold a range of
rackmount SSD appliances
and published some excellent benchmarks and whitepapers on the subject of
comparative SSD throughput and IOPS.
EasyCo's SSD architecture fits
into these categories:-
big architecture
and skinny
(RAM cache).
Since then - many small form factor SSD oems have
eliminated the risks of
endurance
based burnout (which are still inherent in many
notebook SSDs)
by introducing intrinsically high IOPS rated SSDs with
controllers from
companies like SandForce,
Pliant and
Anobit.
The
availability of high IOPS SSD controllers based around MLC flash removed the
need for EasyCo's technology in enterprise markets. So the company turned its
attention to leveraging the performance of lower cost consumer USB flash drives
- and sells its software technology directly to end users and systems
integrators - in addition to licensing to some flash storage oems.
My
guess is that its MFT technology will find a market in some future SSD
controller designs. |
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In August 2007 launched its "Managed
Flash Technology" a storage system which includes a RAID-5 array of
flash SSDs with a
patent pending drive management layer which results in system write performance
that is 100x faster than the bare solid state flash drive.
MFT can also
have a beneficial effect on arrays of hard disks, although the effect is not as
dramatic as for flash SSDs. As well as increasing hard disk thru-put
significantly, it can also save drives and power because it creates an
environment where RAID-5 and RAID-10 have identical write performance. Thus, in
larger HDD systems, MFT reduces drive counts per unit of usable space by
approximately 30%
In February 2009 - MFT licensee, WhipTail
Technologies, announced
details of its iSCSI
compatible 2U rackmount RAID protected SSDs.
see also:-
article:-
Understanding Flash SSD Performance (pdf) - This article compares in detail
read / write performance and IOPs of commercial
flash SSDs
compared to hard disks.
Explaining why the write cycle can become a bottleneck in FSSDs - the article
outlines EasyCo's patent pending approach in managing arrays of flash.
In
November 2009 - EasyCo
released USB SuperCharger Software
- a driver for USB 2 flash storage which can apparently speed up writes by
2x to about 5x. |
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the Problem with
Write IOPS
the "play it again Sam" syndrome |
Editor:- Flash SSD "random
write IOPS" are now similar to "read IOPS" in many of the
fastest SSDs.
So
why are they such a poor predictor of application performance?
And
why are users still buying
RAM SSDs which cost
9x more than SLC? - even when the IOPS specs look similar. |
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This article tells you
why the specs got faster - but the applications didn't. And why competing SSDs
with apparently identical benchmark results can perform completely
differently. ...read
the article | | | |
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| SSD Pricing -
where does all the money go? |
SSDs are among the most
expensive computer hardware products you will ever buy.
Understanding
the factors which determine SSD costs is often a confusing and irritating
process... |
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...not made any easier when
market prices for identical capacity SSDs can vary more than 100x to 1!
Why is that? ...read
the article | | | |
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| SSDs - the big picture |
| Editor:-
StorageSearch.com was the
world's 1st publication to provide continuous editorial coverage and analysis
of SSDs (in 1998) and in the 12 years which have followed we've led the market
through many interesting and confusing times. |
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If you often find yourself
explaining to your VC,
lawyer or non technical BBQ guests why you spend so much time immersed in SSD
web pages - and need a single, simple, not very technical reference to
suggest - this may be the link they need. | | | |
| ... |
| SSD videos |
Editor:- whenever I'm asked
-"What do you do for a living?" - the answer I come up with is - "I
waste my time so my readers don't have to waste theirs."
Few
things are so time-wasting on the web - in my opinion - as videos which talk
about the
SSD market. In 99.9% of
cases the same points have already been made - earlier, better, and 30x
quicker - on static webpages.
It's years since a reader asked me
- "Why isn't there a directory of
SSD videos on
StorageSearch.com?"
Well
- there is now. I created s short list from the tens of thousands of hours I've
spent reading and writing about SSDs. It really is short. |
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