| RAM SSD news |
SSD Article Pageviews Grow
98%
Editor:- June 1, 2009 - StorageSearch.com disclosed today
that page views for the popular
SSD Buyers Guide
increased 65% in May 2009 compared to the year ago period.
Average page views of the top 5 SSD articles in May 2009 were 98%
higher than the top 5 SSD articles a year ago.
The #1 incoming
search word to the mouse site was "SSD" which occurred
2.4x as often as a year ago. These metrics indicate continued growth
in reader activity related to the SSD market despite the
recession.
"Nearly every IT publication now has something to say about SSDs"
says StorageSearch.com's editor, Zsolt Kerekes. "The SSD content explosion
includes a lot of froth and inaccurate analysis - but also a lot of good
stuff too. The best of the these get honorable mentions in
the SSD Bookmarks.
It's nice to know that despite the intense competition for SSD readers - we're
still maintaining nearly triple percentage digit growth. Thanks to all our
readers and those who link here for helping to make this happen. There's no
shortage of ideas for new original SSD articles. In the past year nearly 1 in
3 new articles got abandoned mid way through editing because something more
significant swept them away."
DDRdrive Launches Low Cost PCIe RAM SSD
Editor:- May
4, 2009 - DDRdrive
emerged from stealth mode and launched the
DDRdrive X1 - a
PCIe compatible
RAM SSD with onboard
flash backup.
Load / restore time is 60S. I/O performance is over
200K IOPS (for 512B blocks). For 4kB blocks IOPS is:- 50k (reads) and 35K
(writes). R/W throughput is 215MB/s and 155MB/s respectively. Capacity is
4GB. OS compatibility:- Microsoft Windows (various). Price is $1,495.
Using
Microsoft Windows built-in RAID
support, DDRdrive X1's can be spanned (capacity), striped (performance),
mirrored (redundancy), and RAID-5 configured.
Editor's comments:-
the DDRdrive X1 looks competitively priced for accelerating database
applications in which the hot files can be squeezed into a capacity range from
about 4GB to 12GB. Above that - you get into the region of entry level
rackmount SSDs
and high performance PCIe
flash SSD cards
from companies like Fusion-io
and Texas Memory Systems.
There's definitely a gap in the market for this scale of product (low
entry price, low capacity - high IOPS). For the past year or so DDRdrive
shipped an earlier generation of its SSD accelerators exclusively to a large
enterprise for secret internal projects.
New Guide for SSD Wannabies
Editor:- April 28, 2009
- StorageSearch.com
published a new article today 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. ...read the article
SSD Bookmarks from Solid Access Technologies
Editor:-
April 2, 2009 - Solid
Access Technologies' President, Tomas Havrda - shares his SSD
Bookmarks today on the home page of
StorageSearch.com.
This
is a company whose revenue grew 400% in 2008 and whose customers
include Samsung Securities. So you may be surprised what Tomas Havrda has to
say on the subject of flash SSDs for enterprise acceleration. He's not convinced
it's a good idea.
New Edition of the Top 10 SSD OEMs Signals New Paradigm
Editor:- April 1, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today published a new edition of - the Top 10 SSD
OEMs.
In the past 8 quarters this popular feature has tracked the
storage searches of more than 2 million SSD readers.
"Search
volume based rankings of vendors in fast growing markets has proved to be an
important predictor of future market behavior" said editor, Zsolt Kerekes
who has been publishing enterprise IT directories online since 1996. "That's
because the biggest enterprise buyers research new suppliers and technologies
up to several quarters in advance of purchasing new systems. Interpreting
the shifting signals from such a large and strategic focus group can provide
valuable insights into what will happen in the market a year or more ahead."
There's something significantly different about the new #1
company. ...read
the article
SSD Bookmarks from Texas Memory Systems
Editor:-
March 16, 2009 - Texas
Memory Systems' President, Woody Hutsell - shares his SSD
Bookmarks today on the home page of
StorageSearch.com.
Those
who know the SSD industry well, mostly think of TMS as a company which makes
very fast SSDs for accelerating
SAN resident applications.
But in the many discussions I've had with Woody Hutsell during the past decade -
"reliability" has also been a frequent topic in our conversations.
That's because when you manufacture products which pack more memory chips than
anyone else has ever put into a single box - all those "10 to the minus
something" numbers which relate physics to semiconductor memory
effects - add up to design problems which are far from theoretical. TMS has
been engineering solid state storage systems for
30 years.
So I was not surprised to see an in depth paper about reliability being one of
the articles in this list of bookmarks.
After SSDs? - Predicting the Storage Market's Next Obsession
Editor:-
March 12, 2009 -StorageSearch.com
has published a new article -
After SSDs... What
Next?
It looks beyond the next 3 years of hoopla in the
SSD market and predicts
what will be the next "big thing" in storage after that. ...read the article,
SSD market research &
analysts |
|
DTS Launches Fastest 3.5"
SATA SSD
San Jose, CA -
February 17, 2009 - DTS, Inc today announced availability of the
fastest 3.5" SATA SSD - the Platinum HDD 2009 model.
Internally it has a 1GB
RAM SSD which operates
as a non volatile RAM cache for an internal
flash SSD (320GB
to 512GB). Aimed at server acceleration applications performance is 25,000 R/W
IOPS, read speed is 250MB/s, and write speed is upto 240MB/s. DTS says the huge
nv cache also attenuates writes (the opposite of write amplification) - thereby
reducing flash wear by x10 to x400 compared to conventional flash SSDs. ...DTS profile
Editor's
comments:- in my article
Predicting Future Flash
SSD Performance I noted how having a non volatile RAM cache is a key
architectural factor in flash SSD tune ups.
In the
rackmount SSD
segment the RamSan-500
from Texas Memory Systems
(launched September 2007) and in the
2.5" form factor
the ESSD from
Memoright are other
examples of this type of implementation.
DTS's original Platinum drive
(launched a year ago) was a hard
disk / RAM SSD hybrid. The new 2009 model benefits from the faster IOPS
performance which stems from embedding a flash SSD instead of HDD. It also
builds on the experience of refining the internal cache which
accelerates many types of server app - without any modification to the
application software. You just install it like a hard drive. DTS says it's
particularly good for VMware and similar multiple client environments. Their
website includes comparative benchmarks.
New Directory - SAS SSDs
Editor:- January 26, 2009
- StorageSearch.com today
published a new article and directory on the subject of
SAS SSDs.
This
market has been a long time acoming - and for many years there were only 1 or 2
vendors in the market. The new article chronicles the genesis of
SAS SSDs and lists
known vendors - which will head into double digits this year.
RamSan SSD Revenue Grew 20% in 2008
Houston, Texas -
January 20, 2009 - Texas Memory Systems today announced that revenue
from sales of its RamSan line of SSD products grew 20% in 2008.
The
company also recorded record 4th quarter sales.
"We feared the
global financial crisis and increasing competition would have a bigger impact on
our 2008 results," said Woody Hutsell, Executive VP at TMS. "However,
our solid state disks are often used in mission-critical applications and, in
such applications, customers value Texas Memory Systems' engineering experience
and 30-year longevity. Savvy IT managers will always be reluctant to put their
critical data on a first generation product, whether it comes from a Fortune 500
company or a venture-funded startup."
"We are cautiously
optimistic about 2009," continued Mr. Hutsell. "Solid state disks are
an important part of modern telecommunications systems, financial exchanges,
national defense systems and 'green IT'
initiatives which are likely to benefit from new government investment.
Additionally, a solid state disk can cost-effectively extend the life of
existing IT infrastructure allowing cash-strapped IT managers to postpone major
purchases."
...Texas Memory
Systems profile
Editor's comments:- while 20% annual revenue
growth is indeed impressive - it nevertheless represents a slow down for TMS,
which in some earlier years had reported growth rates between 45% and 80%.
One factor may be that in the past year the server acceleration market has
become very competitive. Nearly 30 oems market
rackmount SSDs -
and if you add in the SSD speedsters from the
2.5" and
PCI Express SSD
markets you'll easily tot up more than 40 companies seriously competing in the
space where Texas Memory Systems operates. Given those factors - and the
recession - 20% revenue growth for TMS indicates a strong brand and product
line.
In my article -
Is the SSD Market
Recession-Proof? (published July 2008) - I said "Overall a recession
will be good for vendors of faster server oriented SSDs (both flash and RAM
based) - but a recession will be bad for vendors of notebook SSDs." My
many recent discussions with SSD vendors (and the press release from TMS
today) seem to confirm this.
New Edition - the Top 10 SSD OEMs
Editor:- January 10, 2009 -
StorageSearch.com today published a new edition of - the Top 10 SSD
OEMs.
Based on storage search volume in Q4 2008 - the ranking is
the most reliable indicator and predictor of future success in the fast growing
SSD market. The article includes a market commentary and summary of movements
in the past quarter. The 7th quarterly edition of this article is eagerly
anticipated by users and vendors alike. ...read the article
Solid Access Launches World's Fastest 1U Rackmount SSD
Austin, TX - November 17, 2008 - At
SC08 today Solid Access Technologies announced the immediate
availability of its new generation of DRAM SSD products, the USSD Series 300.
Solid Access says the 4 new models are aimed at organizations
requiring the highest capacity, "no compromises" IOPS and data
bandwidth performance in the smallest possible footprint. Interface options
within the family include 8Gbps
Fibre Channel, 6Gbps
SAS and
320MB/s LVD SCSI
interfaces. R/W latency is under 10 microseconds and the models support upto
100K IOPS on a single port.
- Model 310 is a 256GB, 1U rackmount offering for high IOPS needs
- Model 310T is a 1TB, 4U tower, targeted at high performance databases
- Model 315 is a combined server and 128GB RAM SSD, 1U device, for custom
projects
- Model 320, a 256GB, 2U product which supports upto 6 ports and 4GB/s
sustained aggregated data bandwidth.
Solid Access says it guarantees equivalent or better application I/O
acceleration as well as the lowest price of any comparable SSD, and has launched
a "test before you buy" program.
"Five years ago when
we introduced the first open architecture, ultra-fast DRAM SSD, our goal was to
offer the best performance, most flexible interfacing, highest density and best
price of any offering in the segment" said Tomas Havrda, Solid Access
Managing Director. "The new USSD 300 Series is the capstone to our efforts
in a year in which we have enjoyed 500% growth. The
recent 28 unit
USSD sale to Samsung Securities is further proof that customers of all sizes are
taking notice." ...Solid Access
Technologies profile
Editor's comments:- for several years
there has been a gap in the market for a really high performance 1U
rackmount SSD. My
gut feeling is it could become a very popular form factor in Google style
(democratic) server architectures - which contain large numbers of identical
servers..
As the cost of
RAM SSDs easily makes
them the most expensive box per rackmount unit in the datacenter - the
availability of 1U models reduces the incremental deployment costs for customers
who are continuously upgrading their systems. It also lowers the cost of holding
immediately deployable spares.
New Article - FC SAN SSDs
Editor:- September 13, 2008 -
Storagesearch.com today published a new article and directory on the
subject of - "Fibre-Channel SSDs."
"I've tracked
the SAN storage market
since the first commercially launched products in
1994" said editor
Zsolt Kerekes. "As the number of market-active
SSD oems listed on
Storagesearch approaches 90
companies I thought I should make it easier for readers to disentagle the info
related to this important market segment - which was getting lost in tables
deep in our SSD
Buyers Guide. The new SAN SSD page lists all current vendors and also
explains how this market fits into a historic context." ...read the article
Are RAM SSDs Threatened by Enterprise flash SSDs?
Editor:- August 26,
2008 - in a new update to the discussion article - RAM SSDs versus Flash SSDs -
which is Best? - Jim Handy, founder of Objective Analysis
shares his thoughts about this subject.
Comparing the application
roles for the 2 main SSD technologies in a way that elegantly avoids heaps of
IOPS data Jim Handy says - "If a flash SSD can be likened to using
dynamite, then a DRAM SSD can be compared to a nuclear bomb." ...read the article |
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| SSD Market
History - charts the 30 year rise of the
Solid State Disk Market | |
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Squeak!
- the Fastest Solid State Disks
Speed isn't everything, and
it comes at a price. |
But if you do
need the speediest SSD
then wading through the web sites of over 120 current
SSD oems to find a suitable
candidate slows you down.
And the SSD search problem will get even
worse. |
 | |
I predict
there will be over 100 SSD oems in 2008.
I've done the research for
you to save you time. And this page is updated daily from
storage news and direct
inputs from oems. ...read
the article, | |
| . | |
When flash SSDs aren't
fast enough!
RAM
based SSDs are the original type of
solid state disk and have
been around for
decades.
They rely on batteries to retain data when power is lost. Most
models also include internal
hard disk drives to
which data is saved under battery power, so that data is not lost when the
battery runs down. This hybrid technology means that RAM based SSDs are more
bulky than
flash counterparts
and RAM SSDs are unable to operate in the same range of
hostile environments.
RAM based SSDs are mostly used in enterprise server speedup
applications. The fastest RAM SSDs are faster than the fastest
flash SSDs. But
for many server speedup applications F-SSDs are fast enough.
Unlike
flash SSDs, RAM based SSDs never had restrictions on the number of write
cycles. That made them more popular in enterprise acceleration applications in
the past. But write
endurance problems may be a thing of the past for flash.
Like hard
disks - RAM SSDs have symmetric read/write IOPS. That's another big
difference between
RAM and flash SSDs.
The fastest flash SSDs available in 2007 had
narrowed the gap between R/W IOPS down to 10 to 1 (from over 50 to 1). And in
2008 - a small number flash SSD systems achieved 1 to 1. But random R/W IOPS
for RAM SSDs, and latency are still an order of magnitude faster than the best
flash SSDs.
There are also some non volatile memory products such as
PRAM,
FRAM and RRAM which are replacing flash in industrial applications - and
which already offer 1 to 1 read/write performance. But their capacity is 2
orders of magnitude too low to be of use in server applications.
RAM
SSDs cost about 25x as much as flash SSDs (based on pricing data for
3.5" form factor February 2008.)
The ideal choice of SSD depends
on the specific server and application environment and cost / benefit analysis.
For example - a
fibre-channel SSD that
doubles the performance of a 100 server network may be overkill if your
application runs on a single server box which could be speeded up by directly
attached SSD storage. |
| RAM based SSD OEMs |
ACARD Technology
Attorn
Curtis
Curtiss-Wright
Dataram
Density Dynamics
DTS
DDRdrive
Dynamic Solutions International
Gear6
GIGA-BYTE Technology
Real Ram Disk
Solid Access
Technologies
Solid Data Systems
Texas Memory Systems
Third I/O
TiGi
Violin Memory
ViON |
| still can't find it? check the
acquired, dead &
renamed list or SSDs All |
| SSD
Myths and Legends - "write endurance" |
| Does the
fatal gene of "write endurance" built into
flash
solid state
disks prevent their deployment in intensive server acceleration
applications - such as RAID
systems? |
It was
certainly true as little as a few years ago.
What's the risk with
today's devices?
This article looks at the current generation of
products and calculates how much (or how little) you should be worried. |
| |
| RAM based SSDs have been
used alongside RAID for years - but
flash SSDs are
physically smaller and have bigger capacity (upto 412G in 2.5", 512G in
3.5") and are lower cost than RAM-SSDs and could actually be configured
in standard RAID boxes. F-SSDs aren't as fast as RAM based products but a single
flash SSD can deliver 20,000 IOPs - which when scaled up in an array - starts to
look interesting.
...read the
article,
storage reliability
solid state disks | |
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