This is the 8th annual
series of this popular guide. Pageviews of this SSD Guide in January 2010
were 94% higher than a year ago. Pageviews for the top 5 SSD articles
increased an average of 68%. Overall site readership for
StorageSearch.com increased 26% year on year (all subjects - not just SSDs). In
a fast growing market like SSDs - how do you spot the most significant trends?
In my view the 2 most significant changes in the past 12 months have been:-
- The astonishing rise in vendors marketing
PCI Express SSDs and
reader interest in this subject.
In September 2009 search volume
for PCIe form factor SSDs
on StorageSearch.com surpassed
that for
2.5" SSDs for
the 1st time. That was a historic milestone for the SSD market. And
that leadership by PCIe SSDs was maintained in January 2010 too - although
the gap has narrowed rather widened. One explanation may be that the announced
availability of 600MB/s capable SATA 3 and SAS SSDs in 2.5" form factors.
This extends the capability of traditional disk slots and is good enough for
many applications which don't need the ultimate in performance.
- The breakdown of technology barriers needed to design your own flash SSD.
More than 20 chipmakers now market
SSD controller
technology and related IP. As these companies don't market to end-users you
might be forgiven for not having been caught in the blast wave of their
marketing communications. That's not the style of this market - which likes to
keep its successes quiet. Thousands of designers in hundreds of companies
worldwide are now investigating this option. (Confirmed by our pageviews for SSD
chip IP content.) It means that if big computer oems are successful in the
SSD market they will turn their attention to designing future SSDs in-house
rather than buying commercial off the shelf products. This gives tremendous
advantages - which include the ability to tweak
performance,
reliability or
power characteristics to match your application footprint better. It also
reduces risk - because when you control the internals of the SSD - you are less
likely to get nasty
surprises from new product iterations.
StorageSearch.com is the leading
publication covering the SSD market and we have regular contact with most
vendors, including many in stealth mode. | |
|
|
| . |
|
| March
2009........... |
STEC
announced that its
revenue
in 2008 had grown 20% year on year to $227.4 million.
EMC announced it has
qualified higher capacity
400GB flash
SSDs for use in its storage systems.
Western Digital entered
the SSD market by acquiring
SiliconSystems
for $65 million in a cash transaction.
OCZ Technology Group unveiled
a PCIe SSD at
CeBIT. The Z Drive uses
MLC flash and has
1TB capacity.
4DS
announced
additional funding
as part of a multi-million dollar equity investment to port its
RRAM
technology to existing semiconductor fabs.
LSI
announced better support for
flash SSDs in the
latest update to its
MegaRAID
SAS adapters. LSI calls this new feature SSD Guard - which can anticipate
some types of flash SSD failures in
RAID 0 configurations
and starts rebuilding data on a spare unit.
Texas Memory
Systems unveiled a PCIe
SSD that will ship in Q2 2009. The
RamSan-20 has 450GB
of RAID protected SLC flash with 80 microseconds latency. R/W bandwidth is
700MB/s and 500MB/s respectively. Sustained IOPS are:- 120,000 random read, and
50,000 random write. Endurance is rated at 12 years (assuming 25% continuous
writes). List price is about $18,000.
Hagiwara Sys-Com
extended its range of
1" SSDs - with
the launch of the
CFast Storage
Card which will ship in Q2. These industrial grade SSDs are form factor
compatible with CF cards, but have a
SATA interface.
Capacities range from 2GB to 16GB. See also:-
CFast -
Evolution (pdf)
Pillar
Data Systems launched the Axiom SSD Brick, a storage module with upto 12
Intel SSDs which is
compatible with Pillar's distributed RAID systems. Pillar's application
aware QoS software dynamically chooses storage types (SSD, FC-HDD, or SATA-HDD)
and tunes performance to satisfy quality of service priorities based on
user selections for each type of application.
StorageSearch.com launched a new
series - the SSD
Bookmarks - in which SSD thought leaders suggest articles and links which
cast light on their own patch of the SSD jungle.
Fusion-io announced an
oem deal with HP whose new
PCIe based
StorageWorks
IO Accelerator for for HP BladeSystem c-Class servers is based on
Fusion's ioMemory SSD technology. A low level formatting tool for the HP SSD
enables users to choose what level of
over-provisioning is
used - as a performance
tweaking option.
A-DATA
launched a 512GB 2.5" flash SSD at
CeBIT. The dual interface (USB and
SATA) compatible SSD
has R/W speeds upto 230MB/s and 160MB/s and is aimed at notebooks. |
|
|
| . |
| New Guide for SSD
Wannabies |
Editor:- May 1, 2009 - StorageSearch.com published a
new article this week called -
"3 Easy Ways to
Enter the SSD Market."
Nowadays it seems like everyone wants
to get into the SSD market. This tells you how to do it. And gives real
examples.
So if you're a
hard disk maker, or
RAID controller company
or flash memory maker who
still doesn't have an SSD product line here's my advice.
Stop
giving the press interviews about how you're still - "looking" at
the SSD market from the sidelines and evaluating what you might do next year
maybe..."
Some of these storage manufacturers (and you know
who I mean) - have been
singing the same old song for years. And it just sounds pathetic. They should
shape up, shut up, and
get in the game. |
 |
I've had early feedback from
senior VPs in several SSD companies already - who think it's a very interesting
article. A shade cynical and brutal in places - but tells it how it is... | | | | |
Datalight announced a
new tree-based file system for embedded flash devices which boosts sequential
and random write speeds as much as 5x faster on Microsoft Windows Mobile
than the default file system.
Pretec Electronics
is sampling a 128GB ExpressCard SSD for the
notebook market
with 38/30MB/s R/W speeds and hardware encryption. Volume shipments are
expected next month.
Solid
Access Technologies said it has broken the $10,000 price barrier
for a high performance rackmount
RAM SSD. It's offering
a 2U 16GB FC or
SAS connected USSD
200 model for just $9,900.
Sun Microsystems
launched its new Sun
Flash Analyzer - a free Java tool to help users determine how much their
(Solaris, Windows and Linux) servers could benefit from SSD acceleration. The
company also launched a try before you buy marketing promotion for its servers
which have Sun branded 2.5" SLC flash SSDs pre-integrated. The 32GB SATA
SSDs have sequential R/W upto 250MB/s and 170MB/s respectively. Random R/W IOPS
are upto 35,000 and 3,300 respectively (4k blocks). Endurance is 3 years -
assuming max write speed and 100% write duty cycle.
Dell announced
SSD
options for its iSCSI
compatible EqualLogic PS6000 storage arrays. Pricing starts at $25,000. This
brings the number of rackmount
SSD oems to 34. That number is expected to reach 300 in 2010.
SiliconSystems
announced that it has shipped over 4 million SiliconDrives integrated
with the company's
SiSMART
technology. SiliconSystems also said it will ship faster versions of its 2.5"
and 1.8" SiliconDrives in the next quarter - with R/W speeds up to 100MB/s
and 80MB/s respectively, and (SLC) capacity upto 128GB.
Apacer launched the SAFD
254 range of SATA 2.5" SLC flash SSDs. Aimed at the industrial market,
operating temperate is from -40°C to + 85°C. Capacity is from 8GB
to 128GB. R/W speeds are 150MB/s and 130MB/s respectively. Internal S.M.A.R.T
technology logs spare blocks and erase counts. ECC corrects upto 8 bit errors
per 512 bytes. Power consumption is 400mA (active), 140mA (idle). Volume
production starts in Q2 2009 - with antipicated prototype price of $900 for
the 128GB model.
Dolphin
launched the
StorExpress
a rackmount SLC
flash SSD with upto 960GB capacity. The
PCIe connected SSD has
R/W throughput upto 2,700MB/s and 50 microsecond access latency. Dolphin quotes
a figure of 270,000 IOPS but the initial datasheet doesn't break out IOPS
figures for reads and writes. The StorExpress can be located upto 10m from the
host bus using copper cable and 300m with optical fibre.
Winchester Systems
said it will launch a range of rugged
rackmount SSDs
this month at FOSE
. Among these is a 1U RAID 5 / 6 protected rugged SSD array - the
RX-1300 FlashDisk
- which houses 12x
2.5" SSDs.
Interface options for the array include
SAS,
FC and
PCIe.
Viking Modular Solutions
launched the SATA Cube - a flash SSD which provides upto 256GB capacity in a
small 30x32mm footprint. Sustained R/W speeds are 110MB/s and 79MB/s
respectively. It's available as a BGA device or with a MicroSATA connector.
Fusion-io announced an
enhanced version of its ioDrive - called the
ioDrive Duo
which will ship next month. Capacity has doubled to 640GB with 1.2TB planned
for the 2nd half of 2009. Performance has been enhanced too. The ioDrive Duo
can easily sustain 1.5 Gbytes/sec of read bandwidth. Read IOPS performance is
186,000 (4k packet size). Write IOPS reaches 167,000 (4k packet size).
Memoright said it will
ship a new industrial grade 2.5" flash SSD range in May. The rSSD
(upto 128GB capacity) is designed to operate from -40 to +85 degrees C and
the company says its product testing processes satisfy MIL-STD-810F. R/W speeds
are both upto 120MB/s.
Compellent
announced
it would demonstrate its tiered SSD technology at a user event in May 2009.
The physical layer is based on
STEC's ZeusIOPS SSDs.
The soft part, something which Compellent calls
policy
driven Data Progression apparently " minimizes the number of SSDs
required while providing the highest levels of performance for mission-critical
applications."
PhotoFast launched a
PCIe SSD for the
Windows Vista / XP market - the
G-Monster-PCIe
Turbo Speed SSD. Capacity options include:- 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. Both
MLC and SLC options
are available. The flash array includes onboard RAID protection and has R/W
speeds upto 750MB/s and 700MB/s respectively.
Pliant Technology
announced it has received
$15 million in
Series C funding. This will be used as working capital to support volume
production of its SAS
compatible flash SSDs. |
| . |
| April
2009 |
StorageSearch.com launched a new
directory of merchant market
SSD controller chip
vendors.
SandForce
unveiled its
SF-1000 family of SSD
Processors - aimed at oems building SATA flash SSDs. Its 2.5" SSD reference
design kit is the fastest 2.5" SATA flash SSD on the market - with 250MB/s
symmetric R/W throughput and 30,000 R/W IOPS.
Fusion-io was named the
#1 company in StorageSearch.com's
list of the the Top 10
SSD OEMs based on search volume in Q1 2009. This was the 1st time that
the #1 slot has been held by a company which does not make traditional
hard-disk form-factor
SSDs. Also this month, Fusion-io announced it has closed $47.5 million
in Series B funding and
named a new CEO,
David Bradford.
Super
Talent Technology pre-announced its
RAIDDrives
SSD product line. This connects via
PCIe and supports up
to 2TB of RAID5 protected MLC flash storage. R/W performance is upto 1.2GB/s
and 1.3GB/s respectively. More details are promised in June 2009.
Solidata announced
it has
appointed
Melbourne based Solid
State Central as its new exclusive distributor for the
SSD market in Australia. |
|
Intel said it is EOLing
its
Z-P230
SSD module which was aimed at the netbook market. 25 companies now make
SSD chips, DOMs or SSD
modules designed to fit into very small footprints.
Samsung will pay Spansion $70 million as
part of a flash memory
patent
settlement.
The companies have also exchanged rights in their patent portfolios in the form
of licenses and covenants subject to a confidential settlement agreement.
Samsung claimed to be the
1st company to offer
SSDs with hardware-based
encryption in a misleading press release.
OCZ
unveiled its
1st miniPCI-Express
compatible SSDs. Aimed at
notebooks OCZ miniPCI-E options include:- 16GB or 32GB capacity, and 2
interface options.
SATA
models - have R/W speeds 110MB/s and 51MB/s respectively .
PATA
models - have R/W speeds 45MB/s and 35MB/s respectively. |
Texas Memory Systems
announced the RamSan-620
- a 2U rackmount
SLC Flash SSD with 2TB ($88,000 list price) to 5TB capacity and 2 to 8
FC or
InfiniBand ports.
Throughput is 3GB/s. R/W latency is 250µS and 80µS respectively.
Transactional performance is 250,000 random IOPS. Power consumption is 325W.
Multiple RamSan-620s can scale to higher capacities.
Solid Access
Technologies' President, Tomas Havrda - shared his
SSD Bookmarks
with readers of
StorageSearch.com.
MAGMA and
Dolphin jointly
announced
they have collaborated to develop an improved version of the latter's
previously announced 2U StorExpress
PCIe SSD product line,
which will ship next month. Capacity options include 0.5TB (under $20K), 1TB and
2TB. It achieves 270K read and write IOPs (512 bytes to 4KB blocks) and up to
2.8GB/s of sustained bandwidth. Latency is less than 50µS. The StorExpress
enclosure can be positioned 1,000 feet away from the host server using fiber.
| |
| . |
|
| May
2009.............. |
Dolphin's CEO,
Tim Miller
shared his
SSD Bookmarks
with readers of
StorageSearch.com.
Ramtron cited the auto
market crash as a significant factor in the
26%
decline in sales of its F-RAM memory in Q1 2009.
JEDEC published a new
standard for 1.8" Slim
SSDs. MO-297 defines the dimensions, layout and connector position for 54mm
x 39mm SSDs with a standard
SATA connector.
AGIGA Tech started
sampling its new AGIGARAM
non-volatile system technology which delivers densities between 4 megabytes (32
megabits) and 2 gigabytes (16 gigabits) and peak transfer rates equivalent to
DRAMs.
STEC
confirmed rumors that its Zeus-IOPS SSDs have indeed been
oemed
by IBM in several popular
servers and storage systems. And STEC said it expects sales of its
ZeusIOPS (2.5" and
3.5") flash SSDs
in the 1st half of 2009 to reach
$65
million.
DDRdrive
emerged from stealth mode and launched the
DDRdrive X1 - a
PCIe compatible
RAM SSD with onboard
flash backup. Load / restore time is 60S. Performance is over 200K IOPS (512B).
R/W throughput is 215MB/s and 155MB/s respectively. Capacity is 4GB. OS
compatibility:- Microsoft Windows (various). Price is $1,495.
Walton Chaintech launched
its APOGEE
Mars SSD for the "hardcore gamers market". Includes 512MB mobile
SDRAM buffer, capacity upto 250GB, R/W speeds upto 250MB/s and 180MB/s
respectively.
Patriot
Memory launched its
Torqx
line of SATA
compatible 2.5"
flash SSDs with 64GB, 128GB and 256GB capacities. The new models include 64MB
of DRAM cache and deliver upto up to 260MB/s read, 180MB/s write speeds. OS
support includes:- WindowsXP, Vista, Linux, and Mac OS X.
Super Talent
announced new
firmware
for its
UltraDrive
ME series 2.5"
SSDs. This includes what the company calls a "Performance Refresh Tool"
to fix performance degradation problems in its earlier generation of SSDs.
Although some commentators on the web have attributed such problems to
fragmentation - that's completely incorrect! Since the access time for random
reads in a well designed SSD is nearly identical for all locations - the real
problem in Super Talent's SSDs (and some models from
Intel) was due to badly
designed products which were rushed to market too soon without adequate
testing. For a deeper look at these issues see
Can you trust flash
SSD specs & benchmarks? - published nearly a year ago - which first
alerted buyers to these problems. See also:-
SSD controllers and IP. |
|
| ....... |
| flash SSD Jargon Explained |
typical
news flash:- dd/mm/yy -
Fast symmetric R/W IOPS high endurance, MLC SSD, with 3 levels of
wear-leveling, massive over-provisioning, write attenuation and fast garbage
collection provides competitive alternative to RAM SSDs.
Do you
understand the list of ingredients in all the solid state drive
headlines? |
 |
Understanding what goes on
inside flash SSDs - can be as important as knowing what you can do with them.
See the article
flash SSD Jargon
Explained. | | | | |
| ............................................................................................ |
| OEMs Race
to Design Their Own SSDs.......... |
Editor:- May 29, 2009 - StorageSearch.com disclosed week
that search volume for
SSD SoCs (systems on a
chip and controllers) has overtaken
1" SSDs (includes
miniature SSD modules) this month for the first time.
Guess that
confirms my sneaking suspicion that a lot of oems want to design their own SSDs.
It used to be very difficult for manufacturers to do this, but it's gotten
a lot easier
recently.
Although SSD architecture is more complex than
RAID systems - what's
happening today in the SSD market is similar to the emergence of
RAID controller
companies in early days of the RAID market. (And that's one of the reasons I
chose the same icon for this subject BTW.)
Nearly 20 companies selling
SSD controller technology and IP are listed in our directory.
In 5
years' time - designing application specific SSDs for common applications will
be as easy as designing a NAS
box is today. |
|
| | |
Toshiba announced it is
offering 512GB
SSDs as an option in notebooks for the Japanese market. The new,
Toshiba-developed 512GB SSD employs a 2-bit-per-cell
MLC flash memory -
which gives 4x the capacity of SLC flash used in industrial and
enterprise SSDs for the same silicon wafer footprint. One of the
failures of the SSD
market in 2008 was the low performance of SSDs integrated in notebooks.
Toshiba's new notebook seems to address that market failure . The company says
its new SSD controller
boosts data throughput figures of 230MB/s reads and 180MB/s writes.
Skymedi
launched a SATA
SSD controller aimed at the notebook market. It supports R/W speeds up to
180MB/s and 150MB/s respectively and upto 512GB capacity. That brings the
number of companies listed on our merchant market
SSD controller and IP page
up to 17.
TDK
launched a range of 2.5"
industrial temperature SATA SSDs (SLC and MLC) with upto 64GB capacity and
R/W speeds of 95MB/s and 55MB/s respectively. Other features include
15-bit/sector ECC, 128-bit AES encryption and SMART. The new SSDs include
internal UPS and an auto-recovery function that automatically recovers data
when read disturbance errors occur. The company also launched a range of 1.8"
SSDs.
OCZ
launched its
fastest 2.5"
consumer SATA SSDs -
the
Summit Series - with 200MB/s sustained write and 250GB capacity.
Unity Semiconductor exited
stealth mode and stated its aim to have the lowest manufacturing cost per
bit in the non volatile memory industry with a new breakthrough technology
called CMOx.
The company said it will ship 64Gb devices in volume in 2011.
Swissbit
launched
an industrial
2.5"
PATA/SATA SLC flash SSD product line with 45MB/s R/W performance and 2GB to
32GB capacity.
PhotoFast
launched its G-Monster 1.8"
SATA SSD with internal 64MB DRAM cache and upto 128GB capacity. It supports
R/W speeds upto 230MB/s and 160MB/s respectively. The company says - what's
important in this type of notebook product is not just sequential R/W throughput
for large blocks - but also write performance for small random blocks. It
claims its 12MB/s (for 4KB blocks) is best in class.
White Electronic Designs
introduced a surface mount miniature PATA SLC SSD (22mm x 27mm PBGA) with 1,
2 and 4GB densities for use in high reliability embedded defense
applications such as aircraft, communications and missiles.
MemoCom emerged on the
international scene. The company announced it would show a comprehensive
range of SSDs from
1"
upto 3.5" at Computex
2009 in June.
Silicon
Power
launched
a key ring form factor dual interface eSATA/USB
MLC flash SSD.
Capacity is 64GB, R/W speeds are:- 90MB/s and 50MB/s for eSATA, dropping down
to 30MB/s and 20MB/s for USB.
ASMedia Technology became
an executive member of the
SSD Alliance . | |
| . |
|
| June
2009.............. |
Avnet became a distributor
for
White Electronic Designs..................... |
|
PhotoFast showed a
faster version 2 prototype of its G-Monster
PCIe SSD at
Computex. Read performance is
claimed to be 1,500MB/s.
Numonyx announced a
technology
agreement with Samsung
Electronics to develop common specifications for
Phase
Change Memory (PCM) products. |
SMART Modular
Technologies disclosed it had used
Marvell's SSD
controller in SMART's new
XceedIOPS
PCIe SSD which offers
upto 400GB capacity and 140,000 random IOPS performance.
SanDisk started shipping
its 2nd generation of miniature
PATA compatible
SSD
modules for the netbook market. Performance is 9,000 vRPM and capacities
range from 8 to 64GB. SanDisk says it has improved the non volatile cache to
prevent "stalling" or "shuddering" which was a problem in
1st generation netbook SSDs.
Fusion-io
announced it will ship a
consumer optimized
version of of its enterprise PCIe SSD family in July. Priced at $895, the
ioXtreme has 80GB MLC flash
capacity and average throughput of 520MB/s. Supported OS's include:- Windows XP,
Vista and Linux.
DTS
won a
best
of show award at Interop
Tokyo 2009 for its Platinum SSD. The company says it will ship a 2.5"
version of this product - which
delivers about 40,000 IOPS and 250MB/s R/W - later this month.
PhotoFast launched the
fastest ExpressCard
- initially for the Japanese market. R/W speeds are 180MB/s and 100MB/s
respectively.
NextIO
announced it would demonstrate a 12 slot
PCIe flash SSD system,
designed in collaboration with
Marvell later this
month. Each slot would be capable of over 200,000 IOPs and offer 400GB
capacity.
Western
Digital Solid State Storage announced it has begun shipping its new
SiliconDrive III
SSD product family which includes 2.5" SATA and PATA and 1.8" Micro
SATA products with target read speeds up to 100MB/s and write speeds to 80MB/s
in capacities up to 120GB. SiliconDrive III has been designed and optimized for
high reliability in demanding 24x7 applications in the embedded systems, media
appliance and data streaming markets.
StorageSearch.com published a new
article - giving an
Overview of
the Notebook SSD Market. This is a troubled and complex segment of the SSD
market - which has earned a justifiably bad reputation. Nevertheless SSD
vendors continue to throw products at the notebook market in many shapes and
sizes - hoping that something will stick before their cash runs out.
Tower Semiconductor,
announced
it has taken an equity position (value approx $1.25 million) in Crocus Technologies, and
announced it is porting Crocus's
MRAM
to its 200mm wafer fab.
Samsung started
sampling a SATA mini-card SSD for use in the
netbook
marketplace. The 30mm x 51mm x 3.75mm
miniature SSD weighs
8.5g and consumes 0.3W. Capacity options are - 16GB, 32GB and 64GB. R/W speeds
are 200MB/s and 100MB/s respectively. |
|
|
| ....... |
 |
|
SSD Bookmarks
suggested
by - Kevin T Crow, Strategy Specialist, NAND Solutions Group, Intel |
Here's an article written by or
about Intel
Enterprise-wide
Deployment of Notebook PCs with Solid-State Drives
Kevin says he
chose this article because "It will give the reader an overview of the
benefits experienced by the enterprise after deploying notebooks with solid
state drives."
The article is a case study about the productivity benefits of using
SSD based notebooks instead of hard drive notebooks inside an enterprise
(Intel). Following an internal evaluation Intel found the benefits so "compelling"
that it decided to deploy up to 10,000 SSD notebooks to its own employees.
Other SSD article suggestions...
The SSD
Relapse: Understanding and Choosing the Best SSD - published by
AnandTech
Kevin says "This
is the latest in a long series of
reviews
that compare solid state drives and discusses the technology behind them.
Overall the series does a very good job educating the reader on what they need
to know when making a solid state drive purchase decision."
Editor:-
thanks Kevin for sharing your SSD links.
see also:-
Intel
- editor mentions on STORAGEsearch.com | | | |
Corsair announced
128GB and
64GB versions of its 220MB/s R/W
2.5" SATA MLC
flash SSD family with 128MB of cache memory. Online price for the 128GB
model is approx $355.
Dataslide announced it
was close to
productizing
its revolutionary hard
drive technology. Why mention it here? If successful - the technology
(which we first reported on 7 years ago) would deliver similar IOPS and
throughput performance as a mid range PCIe SSD - but at the media cost of a
hard drive.
Foremay
announced one of the fastest
2.5" SLC flash
SSDs in the market. The SATA compatible SC199 Cheetah V-Series has sustained R/W
speeds of 260MB/s and /250MB/s respectively and 42,000 random IOPS. Capacity
options range from 32GB to 256GB. |
... |
| | |
| . |
|
| July
2009.............. |
WhipTail Technologies
announced a 6TB
MLC version of its 2U flash SSD appliance.
Ramtron announced that its
FRAM has been selected to store the virtual block-to-sector map in a new
flash SSD design by SBS Science and
Technology. The use of hybridizing memory technologies - for example
using faster RAM-like non volatile memory in some parts of the SSD device and
slower flash-like memory in the bulk storage arrays to accelerate performance
inside SSD caches was predicted by StorageSearch.com
several years ago in various articles including
the Flash SSD Performance
Roadmap.
StorageSearch.com
published the 9th quarterly edition of
the Top 10 SSD OEMs
- based on comparing search volume in Q2 2009 for 155 SSD oems. For the 1st
time - the top 10 list included a company whose primary business is designing
SSD controllers -
SandForce - which
was ranked #2. The #1 company, for the 2nd consecutive quarter
was Fusion-io.
OCZ
announced
faster versions of its
2.5"
SATA flash SSDs. By increasing the internal cache speed by 8% the Vertex
Turbo now delivers read and write speeds clocking in at up to 270MB/s read and
210MB/s write. These are fast for consumer SSDs - but see the
fastest SSDs list
for much faster devices.
Foremay has recently
announced the fastest
1.8" SLC flash SSD.
The SATA compatible
SC 199 Cheetah
has sustained R/W speeds of 250MB/s and 220MB/s respectively. R/W IOPS are
6,000 and 5,200 respectively. Capacity options range from 16GB to 64GB.
Endurance
for the 16GB device is rated at 87 years assuming 50GB sequential writes per
day.
Active
Media launched its
SaberTooth
brand of SATA Mini PCIe MLC flash SSD cards as upgrades for Asus Eee PCs. R/W
speeds are upto 155MB/s and 100MB/s respectively. The 64GB model costs
$219.95.
STEC
announced it had received
$120
million order for its
ZeusIOPS SSDs from
a single enterprise storage customer for delivery in the 2nd 1/2 of 2009. This
followed an earlier announcement that the company has partnered with a leading
defense systems contractor to supply its
MACH8 industrial SSDs
for integration into a platform designed on behalf of the U.S. Military as part
of a 12 month,
$28
million supply contract.
Curtiss-Wright
launched the VPX3-FSM
a rugged 256GB encrypted SLC flash SSD in a 3U
VPX form factor
module. Aimed at integrators in the aerospace and
defense markets, the
conduction-cooled SSD can be configured to appear to the host as 4 separate
64GB SATA drives or
as a single drive with hardware RAID0 support. It's rated at 160MB/s memory
R/W when configured as RAID0, and 75MB/s per port in a
JBOD configuration.
Fusion-io announced
the results of TPC-H benchmark tests sponsored by, and running on, Dell
servers, and audited by
Performance Metrics, Inc. The tested
system
achieved
28,772 QphH on a 100GB database, at a cost of $1.47 per database
transaction. (The typical 3 year cost of ownership for the whole system
including software is quoted as $41,998.) |
|
|
| . |
| The New
Skinny on flash SSDs |
Editor:- July 28, 2009 - StorageSearch.com today published
an article -
RAM Cache Ratios
in flash SSDs - which proposes new terms to describe and differentiate
products in the flash SSD market.
It is hoped that the new
classification jargon will be useful to users who have to evaluate lots of
products, and will be useful to vendors as a shorthand when communicating
about different segments within their flash SSD product lines.
Within the 2.5" SSD
market - for example - the
fastest products
confusingly include models in all 3 of the new categories. |
|
The new article explains why
it's important to know the underlying RAM cache architecture - even if you're
happy with the R/W and IOPS performance. ...read the article | | | |
| . |
| |
| . |
Intel announced a
process
shrink for its
X25-M -
SATA 2.5" MLC flash SSD. The new 34nm devices deliver upto 8,800
(4KB) write IOPS and up to 35,000 read IOPS. R/W speeds are 250MB/s and 70MB/s
respectively. R/W latenciy is 65µS and 85µS. The 160GB model is
priced at $440 (1,000 unit price point).
IDT
announced
it was working with Micron
to develop a commercial PCIe flash SSD for the server market. Micron had
previously tested market reaction by unveiling a prototype PCIe SSD (with
800MB/s R/W speeds) in
November 2008.
| |
| . |
|
| August
2009......... |
STEC
said
it will ship 6Gb/s SAS
flash SSDs in both 2.5"
and 3.5" form
factors in Q4. STEC's new ZeusIOPS SSDs will deliver 80,000 IOPS random read,
40,000 IOPS random write with transfer speeds of 550MB/s read and 300MB/s write.
STEC also said it's
sampling
a faster version of its 3.5"
FC compatible SSDs. STEC
also announced a new policy of offering
MLC flash
in so called "enterprise class SSDs".
Texas Memory Systems launched the
RamSan-6200 a 40U
rackmount SSD
with 100TB of SLC
flash storage, 5 million IOPS performance and upto 60GB/s throughput - which
uses approximately 6kW of power. It's a scaled up system that combines 20x
RamSan-620s in a single
datacenter rack and uses TMS' TeraWatch software to provide unified management
and monitoring from a single GUI console.
PhotoFast disclosed
details of its
G-Monster
Quad Drive SSD which includes 4x RAIDed
CFast SSDs in a SATA
compatible 100mm x 70mm x 9.5mm module.
Capacities are 8, 16 and
32GB. R/W speeds are 100MB/s and 50MB/s respectively.
Intel and Micron Technology today
announced
the development of a new 3-bit-per-cell MLC NAND technology, leveraging their
34nm geometry process. The new 32Gb chips, expected to ship in the 4th
quarter, will typically be used in consumer storage devices such as
flash cards and
USB drives rather than
SSDs until the
reliability of the
new technology can be proven.
SandForce announced the
availability of the SF-1000
family Evaluation 2.5" SSD featuring 34nm flash from
Micron. |
| Why Consumers Can Expect
More Flaky Flash SSDs! |
Editor:- August 10, 2009 - a
new article published on StorageSearch.com
explains why the consumer flash SSD quality problem is not going to get
better any time soon.
You know what I mean. Product recalls, firmware upgrades,
performance downgrades and bad behavior which users did not anticipate from
reading glowing magazine product reviews. And that's if they can get hold of
the new products in the first place.
The new article explains why it's
happening and gives some suggested workarounds for navigating in a world of
imperfect flash SSD product marketing. ...read the article | | |
| . |
| |
Samsung Electronics
announced it is
targeting
the PC gaming industry with its 256GB SSD. This seems to confirm the
consumer-led focus of the company's business strategy. Earlier StorageSearch.com
had said it doesn't think Samsung's SSD product marketing is good enough
to achieve success in the enterprise server market.
SMART Modular
Technologies announced a new range of
rugged
2.5" 256GB SSDs for
defense applications
that will ship next month.
Data
declassification compliance is implemented by the company's EraSure
technology. The models comply with MIL-STD-810F environmental specifications for
operating shock, vibration, humidity and altitude, and each drive passes a
demanding 8 hour, full-temperature range
burn-in test prior to
shipment.
KingFast
announced its ZIF
range of MLC SSDs available in 1.8", 2.5" and 3.5" sizes with
access times of 0.1mS.
Skymedi wants to
concentrate efforts on its
flash controller
business and spin off its multimedia processor division according to a report
in DIGITIMES
.
Dataram
said it will launch an SSD
accelerator
at SNW in October. The product is
currently being evaluated by key customers. |
| ............................................................................................ |
| |
| September
2009... |
StorageSearch.com revealed that in
August 2008 reader pageviews for
PCIe SSDs were
approximately 6x the level of a year ago.
Violin Memory announced
that Donald Basile has been named CEO. Dr. Basile (with over 20 years of
leadership experience) had recently served as the CEO of
Fusion-io.
Texas Memory Systems expanded its IP base
with the acquisition
of data management patents and source code from
Incipient. TMS also
published a new
video explaining subtle operational features of its RamSan-20 PCIe SSD.
Tom's Hardware published a
performance
review of a dozen disk form factor (1.8" & 2.5") flash SSDs.
Most exceeded 200MB/s R/W throughput.
Intel said it will
deploy up to 10,000 SSD notebooks this year to its own employees following an
internal
review of the benefits.
StorageSearch.com
showed how a single SSD magic number - write IOP terabytes per dollar -
can help in ranking server acceleration products in an article on its home page.
2
new company profiles have been added to our our classic
SSD manufacturers directory.
These are:- China based
KingFast, and
California based MagicRAM.
Also 2 new companies have been added to the
SSD SoC directory
bringing the total up to 21.
Adaptec announced a new
platform for integrators building
hybrid storage
pools using SSDs. Its
MaxIQ
SSD Cache Performance Kit (which operates with upto 4x customized 32GB
Intel SSDs) includes
software that identifies frequently (hot) read data blocks and optimizes
subsequent "reads" by moving "hot" data directly into the
SSD cache for lower latencies and higher system performance.
Pliant Technology
started sampling its
Lightning
family of 2.5"
(150GB) and 3.5"
(300GB) skinny
flash SAS SSDs.
The SLC drives deliver R/W rates upto 525/340MB/s and 160,000 IOPS (for a 90%
R, 10% W mix). Pricing for a single EFD is expected to fall between $15/GB and
$30/GB.
NextIO
named DaWane Wanek as VP of world wide sales. Prior to joining NextIO,
Wanek served at
Dell, where he was a
director of the Advanced Systems Group.
Avere Systems announced
it has secured
$15 million in Series A
funding from Menlo
Ventures and Norwest Venture Partners. Avere founders were members of the
team that created Spinnaker
Networks, an innovator in scalable grid storage solutions,
acquired by
NetApp in 2004 for
$300 million.
More
who oems whom -
SSD news stories.
- Samsung announced
that HP was offering its
SSDs as an option in ProLiant servers.
|
|
| . |
| Need SSD
Acceleration ASAP? - see SSD ASAPs |
| Editor:- December 18, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today
published a new article which discusses
the pros and cons of
using SSD ASAPs - Auto-tuning SSD Accelerated Pools of storage. |
 |
How can server users easily
decide if they should ignore these products - or spend more time looking at
them? It's going to be a huge market. ...read the article | | | |
| . |
| |
|
StorageSearch.com published a new
directory of
Fast Purge flash SSDs
to help designers in defense applications.
Foremay announced the
SC199 Hi-Rel Series SLC flash SSDs in 1.8", 2.5" and 3.5" form
factors which meet military standards MIL-STD-810G and MIL-STD-833G.
Operational temperature options include -40°C to approx 100°C.
Dataram launched the
XcelaSAN
- a fast 2U
rackmount flash SSD with 450,000 random IOPS performance (assuming 50/50
R/W and 4k blocks), and upto 8x 4Gbps FC ports - aimed at the
SAN application
acceleration market. Pricing starts at $65,000 for a unit with approx 360GB
internal flash, of which 128GB is effectively used as a cache. Dataram's
product includes proprietary software - which does away with the need for an
SSD expert engineer to identify hotspots and relocate critical data. The company
says the XcelaSAN will automatically learn and self optimize during the 1st few
hours of operation.
Samsung
announced
it has begun producing 512Mb PRAM memory. PRAM combines the speed of RAM for
processing functions with the non-volatile characteristics of flash memory for
storage. This has been a Problematic (rather than a Perfect) RAM technology.
Samsung originally announced a working
prototype of the
512Mb PRAM 3 years earlier - in September 2006. |
|
............................................................................................ |
| |
| October
2009....... |
Seagate
disclosed
it has started sampling its 1st SSD product to major oems.
Emulex expanded its
InSpeed
chip bridging technology to simplify the job of designing fast native
SAS and
Fibre-channel compatible
flash SSDs.
StorageSearch.com disclosed that
search volumes for
PCIe form factor SSDs
in September 2009 had surpassed that for
2.5" SSDs for
the 1st time.
Dane-Elec
Memory announced it will start shipping a range of USB 3 compatible
external SSDs with 250MB/s throughput in December. They use
Intel's flash SSDs.
Avere Systems unveiled
its
FXT Series of
clusterable 2U rackmount
hybrid
NAS appliances. Each
module contains upto 8x 3.5"
SAS
hard drives, 64GB
DRAM and 1GB of
nv RAM. The embedded
Avere OS
provides storage acceleration by dynamically tiering between the internal
rotating and solid state storage. List pricing starts at $52,500.
Active Media
Products launched its
Aviator
312 line of bus powered fast
USB 3.0 external
SSDs with R/W speeds upto
240MB/s and 160MB/s respectively. Measuring less than 3" long and only 0.2"
thin, the A312 is smaller than a credit card and is designed to fit in a pocket.
Capacity options include:- 16GB ($89), 32GB ($119) and 64GB ($209).
Some of the technical folks at
Texas Memory Systems
have contributed to a new book called -
Oracle
Performance Tuning with SSDs - written by Oracle expert, Mike Ault.
This is part of an august collection of Oracle tuning books published by
Rampant
Press.
Foremay
entered the PCIe SSD
market with its
EC188
Dragon series - which is now sampling. Supporting both x8 and x16 slots -
R/W performance is upto 1.5 GB/s and 1.3 GB/s respectively. Both MLC and SLC
models are available. Capacities range from 128GB to 4TB. Sequential R/W IOPS
is up to 90,000/80,000. Random R/W IOPS is up to 27,000/12,000. Features
include power outage protection, dual PCIe configuration through a built-in PCIe
RAID controller, and active garbage collection. OS support includes Windows,
Mac OS X, Solaris, Linux, and UNIX.
Panasas announced support
for SSD acceleration
within its Series 9
ActiveStor
hybrid storage systems ( ASAPs).
A single 42U rack configured with the new Series 9 system is capable of
delivering an estimated 80,000 NFS operations per second, as well as 6 gigabytes
per second of throughput.
Storspeed emerged from
stealth mode and unveiled the
SP5000
Application-Aware cache. This is a NAS compatible SSD accelerator (base
price $65,000 ) which uses a
fat flash SSD
environment integrated within a
hybrid storage
pool.
Foremay
launched its
EC188 Jaguar
Series flash SSDs optimized for the Mac market. Form factors include
1.8",
2.5" and
3.5", interface
types include SATA, micro SATA, SATA LIF, IDE and IDE ZIF/LIF. Capacties range
from 64GB to 1TB and R/W speeds are upto 260/230MB/s.
WhipTail Technologies
became the 1st SSD appliance company to market integrated in-line
deduplication.
WhipTail announced
it will ship its newly renamed Racerunner (6TB) NAS SSDs with
Exar's Hifn
BitWackr
deduplication and compression solution in Q4 2009. Racerunner has demonstrated
deduplication performance in excess of 1Gbps.
Fusion-io published a
case
study showing how their ioDrive
SSDs helped MySpace reduce server
count, claim back 50% rack space while increasing application performance
(compared to its legacy SAS RAID system) and massively decreasing electrical
power. As a result of this initial project - MySpace plans to replace all
remaining 1,770 2U servers with Fusion-io enabled servers as they reach their
end-of-life.
Solidata
unveiled its
SS 2.5"
SATA line of enterprise flash SSDs which use
SSD controllers from
SandForce. That
contributes to its high R/W performance (280/270MB/s) and high R/W IOPS
(50,000/35,000).
Intel
joined the growing roster of SSD
companies who have
announced
support for Trim functions. These benefit flash SSDs which don't have
internal fast active garbage collection. The company recommends users install
the firmware update and toolbox, and run the Trim function daily to ensure best
performance.
Sun
Microsystems
launched
2 new SSD product lines. The
F5100 Flash Array
($45,995 upwards) is a new 1U
rackmount SSD -
which has 16 SAS ports
and provides upto 1.92TB capacity. R/W IOPS are upto 1.6M and 1.2M respectively
(for a system populated with 80 SSD modules). The
FlashFire
F20 is a 96GB SLC flash
PCIe SSD with 100k
read and 84k write IOPS. R/W rates are upto 1092MB/s and 501MB/s respectively.
The card also includes a
SAS controller.
Samsung announced
it has invested in
Fusion-io.
Quarter-over-quarter sales for Fusion-io products have nearly doubled since the
company announced its first product, the ioDrive, in late 2007.
pureSilicon starts
shipping its Renegade R2 Series 2.5" SATA SLC flash SSDs this month.
Sequential R/W speeds are 255MB/s and 180MB/s respectively. IOPS performance
is:- 18,000 IOPS random read: (4K) and 1,200 IOPS random write. Capacities upto
128GB in a low profile (9.5mm height)
2.5" form factor
and -40°C to +85°C operating temperature. |
|
Numonyx published an
article in EDN -
Phase-Change
Technology Enters The Memory Market - which compares the cost, latency and
endurance of PCM to SLC flash. Whereas the cost of PCM - based on silicon
real-estate per GB is currently 20% more than SLC - the write latency is
1,000x lower. This may justify its use in some SSD designs.
Texas Memory Systems
announced
that its RamSan-620 - (2U
5TB SLC flash SSD, price $220,000 approx) - has achieved a
record
setting SPC-1 result. It produced 254,994.21 SPC-1 IOPS with average
response time of 0.72mS and at a cost of only $1.13 per SPC-1 IOPS - which is
better than any competing RAID or Flash solution.
SMART
announced that it has been
selected
by Harris Corp to provide SSDs for use in its Mass Storage Unit
program. The new MSU, which is part of a larger F/A-18 program, is the first of
a new family of avionics file servers. Harris selected SMART's
XceedSecure
2.5" SATA SLC flash SSD for the in-flight file server application.
XceedSecure SSDs include EraSure technology, which provides
secure erase
features.
|
| . |
| November
2009 |
Link_A_Media Devices
secured $18 million series C funding.
SandForce
announced
that it has closed $21 million in Series C funding.
SanDisk
announced
that its 64GB
(9,000
vRPM) pSSD module has been selected as a standard SSD option in
Sony's
VAIO X ultra-thin laptop.
Foremay announced
that secure erase and fast
purge options are now available for most models in its
SC199
SSD product family.
Forward Insights
published a new market report this month -
SSDs: Enabling MLC
Technology in the Enterprise (price is $6,499).
Unigen announced it will
manufacture a new range of
flash SSDs using
SSD processors from SandForce.
The 2.5" SSDs will be available with
SATA or
SAS interfaces.
Foremay announced it is
shipping the world's
fastest 2.5" SATA flash SSDs.
The
SC199 Cheetah Y-Series has R/W speeds up to 290/280 MB/s in
2.5" and
3.5" SATA form
factors - which approaches the theoretical speed limit of the SATA-II protocol.
It also delivers impressive R/W IOPS of up to 50,000/45,000 respectively.
Global
Unichip announced mass-production of its
ARM7-based
GP5080
series PATA / SATA compatible
SSD SoC platform for
use in portable consumer products. There are 2 different models. GP5080 is
optimized for cost sensitive applications by removing the need for external DRAM
cache (skinny SSDs),
while GP5086 supports DRAM cache for (regular SSD)
applications needing extra extended lifetime (write attenuation).
Adaptec
released
the results of 3rd party performance testing of its new MaxIQ SSD Cache
Performance Solution in MySQL environments.
STEC disclosed that its
biggest customer, EMC,
hasn't sold as many of its SSDs as expected - and
will
carry inventory into 2010. If this was a surprise to anyone it's only
because they didn't read my analysis (published April 1, 2009) which appeared
in the 8th quarterly
edition of the top 10 SSD oems and was repeated in my comments in
STEC's profile page in
which I explicitly warned about STEC's over reliance on partners like EMC who
were adding very little added value to their SSD offerings - and
underperforming in the rackmount SSD market.
A legal company called
Brower Piven said it was considering
a class action lawsuit against
STEC regarding what it
called "misleading statement(s) to investors" (earlier this year)
regarding the state of design wins and oem potential business related to STEC's
ZeusIOPS.
OCZ
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.
NextIO
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.
PhotoFast unveiled a
new range of 1.8" native PATA MLC
regular flash
SSDs with internal garbage
collection -the
G-monster-1.8"
IDE V4. Capacity options include:- 32/64/128/256G. Internal cache is 64MB,
R/W speeds are upto 128MB/s and 90MB/s respectively. PhotoFast says that its
internal hardware garbage collection makes the SSD especially suited to
traditional OS's which don't have TRIM such as XP. The drive rearranges itself
when the laptop is in idle time. The benefits might not shine through in
server style benchmarks
(which assume 100% duty cycles) but for real life notebook usage it should
work adequately.
Google
opened its doors to developers who want to work with
Chrome OS - a new operating
system for web notebook products. In the opening video of the
Chrome
OS blog we learned that the architects of the new OS are "obsessed
with speed". Therefore the new netbook OS is designed from the ground up
to support only flash
SSDs as the default mass storage.
Axxana announced it has
secured $9 million Series B
investment led by Carmel Ventures.
The funds will be used to accelerate the adoption of
The Phoenix System
- a lossless data recovery system which sits on the
SAN and records data into a
rugged flash
SSD-enabled, locally situated, data survival box.
StorageSearch.com published a new
directory of companies making
PATA SSDs.
Fusion-io
unveiled
details of a very fast PCIe form factor,
InfiniBand
compatible, flash SSD designed for 2 undisclosed government customers. Each
ioDrive Octal card, occupies 2 slots and delivers 800,000 IOPS (4k packet
size), 6GB/s bandwidth and has upto 5TB maximum capacity (implemented by 8x
ioMemory modules).
Symwave
announced
that its USB 3.0
controller has been designed into a new
flash SSD by
OCZ - which will be shown
at CES in January 2010.
RunCore announced
availability of its Pro IV Light mini-SATA 50mm PCI-e SSD - a
regular flash SSD
design and small form factor - which is designed to accelerate netbooks.
Capacity options include:- 16GB (32MB cache), 32GB and 64GB (64MB cache) with
smaller capacity drives for oems available on request. Sustained R/W speeds
are 125MB/s and 80MB/s. Random R/W speeds (4K blocks) are 18MB/s read and 5
MB/s respectively. RunCore says it's compatible with all major OSes and
installs easily via its USB
slave port. |
|
| ....... |
There
are
hundreds
of SSD articles on StorageSearch.com
Here are some examples.
|
- SSDs - our classic SSD
directory (started in 1998) lists over 170 current and past SSD oems - all
memory types and all form factors - and 30 days of recent SSD news
- RAM Cache
Ratios in flash SSDs - it's important to know the underlying RAM cache
architecture - even if you're happy with the R/W and IOPS performance.
- 2010 - 1st Fizz
in the SSD Bubble? - even the dogs in the street know this is going to be a
multibillion dollar market. Greed will play as big a part as technology in
shaping the
SSD year ahead.
- the pros and cons of
using SSD ASAPs - auto tuning SSD appliances are a new category of SSD
which entered the market in the 2nd half of 2009 to accelerate servers without
needing human tune-ups. How can you tell if they are right for you? And how
well do they work?
| | | |
|
| . |
| December
2009 |
Fusion-io
announced
that its ioMemory PCIe
SSD technology has been adapted by IBM who will remarket these
solutions (initially with upto 320GB capacity) as its
High
IOPS SSD PCIe Adapters for use in System x servers.
Symantec announced an
upgrade to its Storage Foundation management software which enables it to
automatically
discover SSDs from leading vendors and optimize data placement on SSD
devices transparently.
Micron
announced it is sampling
6Gbps
SATA MLC SSDs in 1.8"
and 2.5" form
factors. Micron's C300 SSD can achieve a read throughput speed of up to 355MB/s
and a write throughput up to 215MB/s.
A-DATA announced volume
shipments of its 2.5" XPG range SATA MLC SSDs optimized for use with
Windows 7 TRIM. Models include:-
SX95
(R/W = 230MB/s and 178MB/s) and
S592
(R/W = 230MB/s and 170MB/s).
Seagate announced details
of its Pulsar
SSD - a 2.5" SATA SLC SSD with 200GB capacity. Sequential R/W rate is
upto 240MB/s and 220MB/s respectively, R/W IOPS are 30,000 and 25,000
respectively. Aimed at the server market the BER is quoted as 1 sector per
10E16. Seagate says it has been sampling the new drive - its 1st SSD - since
September 2009.
EMC
published a report on its new
fully
automated storage tiering concept which the company says will simplify user
operations needed to optimize storage allocation between
hard drives and
SSDs within the company's
arrays. EMC says some of this functionality is
now
available on some models.
A-DATA announced it
has joined the growing roster of
SSD makers using
SSD SoCs from
SandForce. Products
are now in the final testing stage and will be previewed at
CES next month.
InnoDisk
entered the PCIe SSD
market with a new model called the Matador with upto
800MB/s read and
550MB/s write speeds and upto 1TB capacity (MLC). SLC versions are also
available - but are slower - R/W upto 700MB/s and 500MB/s respectively. Retail
pricing for 256GB is $999. It has an internal
RAID allocation function
enabling users to trade between capacity between data protection and
performance (over-provisioning).
Its Power Guard protection ensures data will be written into flash when
power is interrupted unexpectedly. |
|
| ....... |
| the Problem
with Write IOPS |
Editor:- December 16, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today
published a new article -
the Problem with
Write IOPS - in flash SSDs.
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. |
 |
This new 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 | | | | |
| . |
|
|
|
| 2010 - 1st
Fizz in the SSD Market Bubble |
Editor:- January 14, 2010 -
SSD analysts will
look back on 2010 as - "Year
#1 of the SSD Market Bubble."
Fermentation has already
begun. The 2010 SSD harvest will be a memorable vintage. Can you realistically
sample the benefits of heady new SSD-powered apps and avoid the risk of
painful hangovers?
Greed will play as big a part as
technology in shaping the SSD year ahead. Wonder why? ...read the article | | |
| ....... |
|
|
| ....... |
| top 10 SSD
Companies - new edition |
Editor:- January 11, 2010 -
StorageSearch.com recently
published the 11th quarterly edition of the
top 10 SSD oems
ranked by search volume in the 4th quarter of 2009.
It includes
comments, market analysis and comparions with past quarters - analyzing
data from millions of people deciding the future of the SSD market. ...read the article | | |
| ....... |
| Clarifying
SSD Pricing - where does all the money go? |
Editor:- January 29, 2010 -
StorageSearch.com this week
published a new article -
Clarifying SSD Pricing.
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
- not made any easier when market prices for identical capacity SSDs can vary
more than 100x to 1! This new guide will help you. ...read the article | | | |
| January
2010 |
IDC
said that
SSD shipments in 2009
exceeded 11 million units, an increase of 14% year over year.
ioSafe launched the
ioSafe Solo SSD - an ultra rugged USB
/ eSATA external flash SSD with upto 256GB capacity ($1,250) designed to
provide data protection against disasters such as fire, flood, and building
collapse.
LSI
and Seagate
announced
they have collaborated on designing
PCIe SSDs for the
enterprise accelerator market which will sample in Q2 2010.
Plextor announced it would
enter the
notebook SSD
market in Q1 2010 with a new product line based on
SSD controllers from
Marvell.
RunCore has started
shipments of the 1st SSDs aimed at the
PXI Express market (a standard
which brings PCIe performance and functionality into the robust modular form
factor popular in automated instrumentation
test systems). RunCore's
3U
CPCIe\PXIe SSD card provides upto 768GB
MLC or 384GB SLC
capacity and has sustained R/W speeds upto 400MB/s. Available with industrial
operating temperature range and MIL-STD-810F processing, the module provides a
fast purge rate of
5GB/s.
SMART
is sampling the
XceedIOPS
SATA - SLC and "enterprise grade" MLC flash SSDs in
1.8" and
2.5" form factors
- based on the SF-1500 processor from
SandForce.
Performance is upto 30K
IOPS random
read/write. SMART uses a combination of
write attenuation
technologies to attain a 5-year projected lifetime for its 400GB MLC
XceedIOPS SATA model ($2,900 oem qty price) in an environment that demands
250MB/s sustained write and a 40% duty cycle.
Storage related news coming out of CES was a disappointment to me - because
nearly all the major news about SSD
products had already been preannounced (and covered on these pages) in the
months leading
up to the show. If it's not new - and we've already talked about it - it's not
news. That's why editorial arising from this event has been sparser than
expected. SSD marketers in many companies have got into the habit of
preannouncing products anything upto a year ahead - as part of the
SSD Bubble. In that
way they hope to get multiple shots at web visibility. It
doesn't work that way
here on StorageSearch.com. My purpose is to save you time - not to waste it.
White Electronic Designs
has introduced
a 4GB secure PATA SLC
SSD in a 22mm x 27mm
PBGA for embedded military applications. This product is designed for
applications in aircraft, communications and missiles. A hardware and software
triggered fast purge
can eliminate all data in less than 10 seconds and device options include
sanitization
compliant with various government agency specifications.
Texas Memory Systems
announced
it is delivering open source drivers on
Linux and
Solaris for its
RamSan-20
PCIe SSD accelerator.
Viking Modular
Solutions
announced
it is sampling a range of SAS
and SATA compatible
SSDs using
controllers from
SandForce. Form
factors will include:- 1.8",
2.5" and
innovative "non-HDD-like"
solutions for space constrained and/or rugged applications.
Avere Systems
announced
it is shipping new
SLC
flash SSD options in its
FXT Series
10GbE NAS compatible
SSD ASAPs. The 2U
FXT 2700 appliance features 64GB of DRAM, 1GB of NVRAM, and 512GB of SLC flash
SSD. FXT clusters can scale to 25 appliances and support millions of
operations/sec and tens of GB/sec throughput. Pricing starting at $82,500.
SanDisk
announced
results for the quarter ended January 3, 2010 - revenue of $1.24 billion
increased 44% on a year-over-year basis and increased 33% sequentially.
SanDisk's Chairman and CEO, Eli Harari, said the company had achieved
unit sales growth of 55% and gigabyte growth of 100% compared to the year prior
quarter. |
| . |
| February 2010 |
Intel and Micron announced they
are sampling the
world's
1st 25nm NAND flash memory. This gives 8GB MLC (classic 2 bit)
flash memory in a
stackable TSOP. The new chips will enable higher density
SSDs to ship in volume in
Q2.
Silicon
Motion announced that its
SSD controller
shipments increased
over
50% year-on-year - in the most recent quarter and now account for
almost 10% of its ($87 million annual) corporate revenue. The company
said - that the vast majority of controllers that are shipping are for 40nm and
30nm NAND flash and they are on track to deliver controllers for 20nm NAND flash
that is expected to be available in the 2nd half 2010. In the 4th quarter 2009
the company also began shipping 3-bits per cell MLC controllers |
|
|
|
|
< - Each of the links
in the table here on the left takes you to a directory which includes all
known oems in that category, and related articles for that sub-segment of the
SSD market. | |
