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Turnkey SSD
Acceleration for Multi-terabyte Oracle - from TMS
Editor:-
November 12, 2009 - Texas
Memory Systems announced a turnkey SSD acceleration package for Oracle environments called
OPERA (starting price
$150k, and multiples thereof).
OPERA can improve application
performance by reducing latency by as much as 99.7% . The entry-level solution
includes 2x RamSan-620
terabyte flash SSDs and a 24 drive
SAS RAID for data
redundancy. A full-rack solution uses 20TB of RamSan-620 SSDs. All
configurations use
Oracle's
Automated Storage Management. The result is a product that uniquely ensures
that every performance sensitive I/O is handled at RamSan speed, at a
competitive price point.
BlueArc Versus NetApp Benchmark
Editor:- November
10, 2009 - BlueArc
today announced that its
Mercury
100 storage system achieved
SPEC
sfs benchmark results that were 18% higher NetApp's FAS6080
(FCAL Disks) dual controller configuration, while using fewer disk drives for
greater spindle efficiency.
OCZ Promises "SandForce inside" SAS SSDs
Editor:-
November 10, 2009 - OCZ
today
announced
it will launch a new SAS
SSD family based on SSD
SoCs from SandForce
which will probably be previewed at CES
in January 2010.
Editor's comments:- for more examples of who
else has already announced SandForce based SSDs (and in some cases is already
shipping them) see the article -
3 Easy Ways to Enter
the SSD Market.
NextIO Opens Next Phase in PCIe SSD Market
Editor:-
November 10, 2009 - NextIO
has entered the multi-million IOPS
rackmount SSD
market via an oem agreement which leverages multiple
225GB / 450GB PCIe SLC
SSDs made by Texas
Memory Systems.
Available immediately, the
14 slot NextIO
application acceleration appliance can be configured and reconfigured with
any mix of servers and TMS SSD cards depending on system demands. Pricing for a
basic configuration starts at $19,500, which includes implementation, training
and onsite application or database tuning assistance.
NextIO will
demonstrate a bundled storage appliance utilizing 8 or more TMS RamSan-10 PCIe
SSD cards performing at 1.2M IOPs or greater next week at
SC09 .
Woody
Hutsell, President, Texas Memory Systems said - "Just a
few months ago we
announced a record-breaking 5 million IOPS in a 40U rack and now with a joint
solution from NextIO, customers can realize over 15M IOPs in the same
datacenter footprint. This partnership with NextIO provides our customers with a
quantum leap in scalable performance by simply combining these 2 world-class
technologies."
Editor's comments:- in a little over 2 years the
PCIe SSD market first
captured the imagination of server architects worldwide and then moved off the
page into the datacenter overtaking
2.5" SSDs in
blueprints for future enterprise class servers.
Today's announcement
is significant. You may ask why? Haven't all the elements in this product mix
been available for some while? In some ways that's true:- rackmount PCIe
connected SSDs have been shipping since
August 2007 (Violin Memory) and very
fast PCIe SSDs cards for adding into server slots since March 2008 (Fusion-io), and
rackmount SSDs based on multiple PCIe cards since
March 2009 (Dolphin). But to my
knowledge Dolphin's solution is not available as an unbundled card.
The
new thing about today's announcement is it's the 1st time that an already market proven PCIe SSD card
from one oem has also been offered in a supported (Dolphin style) rack product
from another. That considerably reduces the risk for users - and provides an
incremental upgrade path for users who aren't yet in a position to commit to
multi-terabyte proprietary rackmount SSDs. For more discussion of open versus
proprietary rackmount SSDs see -
Market Trends in
the Rackmount SSD Market
SandForce Announces $21 million C Round Funding
Editor:-
November 10, 2009 -
SandForce
today
announced
that it has closed $21 million in Series C funding.
Led by new
investor TransLink Capital, the round also included new
investors UMC Capital,
LSI Corporation, Red Maple Ventures, Darwin Ventures, and A-Data Technology as
well as all of the existing SandForce investors –DCM, Storm Ventures, and
Tier-1 storage OEMs.
"We have made rapid progress into the
marketplace since our launch just 6 months ago, and we are now shipping silicon
to top-tier SSD OEM customers," said Alex Naqvi, president and CEO of
SandForce. "This new funding will help us through our expansion phase as
well as accelerate our new products development that will help us maintain our
market leadership."
Editor's comments:- SandForce has
achieved remarkable brand
recognition for a company which designs
SSD SoCs. Here's a
test... how many other companies in this category can you even name?
Reputation
will become an important factor in buying
SSDs next year. Newer SSD
oems who haven't already established trusted brands in their own right - may
have to start leveraging the reputations of their technology partners.
PS
- SandForce says it's hiring. There are
13 jobs available on its
website.
ASAPs Webinar
Editor:- November 10, 2009 - Dataram is running a
webinar next week (November 18) -
Navigating
the Maze of Solid State Storage Solutions.
The company says
viewers will discover - "How to better gauge your storage traffic to
identify bottlenecks and areas where solid state storage can provide a day 1
positive ROI."
Editor's comments:- as I said earlier - StorageSearch.com
will soon publish a new guide to
ASAPs (Auto-tuning
SSD Accelerated Pools of storage) - and I'm rounding up content and comments on
this subject. But the webinar, above, takes place before our new guide will be
published.
Storage
Market Outlook 2010 to 2015
Editor:- November 9, 2009 - this
is a time of year when many of you are working on your storage marketing
plans for 2010.
This planning process takes place against a
background of long range assumptions which are more confusing than at any
time since 9/11.
I've collected together a few ideas which you might find helpful. If
you know what's going to happen in the next 5 years - it's so much easier to
prioritize your plans for 2010. ...read the article |
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New SSD Features - coming soon
Editor:-
November 14, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com will
publish 3 new major feature articles on the
SSD market in the next 30
days.
- Pros and Cons of ASAPs
(Auto-tuning SSD Accelerated Pools of storage ).
As the number of ASAP vendors heads into double digits we'll look at
the risks and benefits.
How can users easily decide if they should
ignore these products - or spend more time looking at them?
We'll have
a simple questionnaire which helps you decide based on your own circumstances.
And also a review of recently launched products in this category.
And
in case you were wondering... ASAP - is a new acronym invented by me this
morning. I hope you like it.
It's also a well known abbreviation for "As Soon As Possible"
- which fits the role for this type of SSD - because "ASAPs
eliminate waits for
the SSD Hot-Shot / Hot-Spot Engineer ..."
- the
Problem with SSD Write IOPS.
Flash SSD random write IOPS are
now similar to read IOPS in many fast 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. We'll tell you why the
specs got faster - but the application didn't.
- Experienced SSD Buyer Seeks Trustworthy Partner.
We'll
be looking ahead at the key
issues in the SSD market in 2010. Over 80% of SSD business could be
decided by power SSD specifiers who are no longer SSD virgins.
How
was it for you?
For many it was a rite of passage - and when they
choose products for their next projects they'll be looking for more caring,
trustworthy partners - not just suppliers who
look good in the disco
lights. Much of that SSD reputation - good or bad - is already in the
public domain. But some is not. |
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The new article will also look at key
technology and market developments which can be expected in the 2010 timeframe -
some obvious (like faster products) - some not. And if you thought that 2009
was the Year of SSD
Confusion - next year will be... find out and see. | | | |
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