Storage News

SSDs and Enterprise Throughput

Storage, viewed by many as the 'weak link' in the data-networking chain appears poised to exceed the capability of many networking devices. Also mentioned in this IT Business Edge blog, enterprise-class SSDs came along just in time to accommodate IT's need for incredibly high throughput brought on by virtualization and the cloud.

"Our first bit of evidence comes from PMC-Sierra this week. That company has introduced a new RAID-adapter system, the MaxRAID BR5225-80, that uses the PCI-Express bus to link up to eight SAS/SATA ports for a combined throughput of 300,000 IOPS. Multiple adapters working in tandem through a multi-thread process and a new RAID-on-chip controller, will bump that number to more than a million IOPS, the company said. PMC-Sierra is already working an integration deal with IBM, most likely putting the system on the new eX5 line.

"There is also a lot of action taking place on the storage array itself. Nimbus Data Systems is out with the S-class array that delivers an impressive 500,000 IOPS and 40 G throughput for as little as $25,000. It also has the ability to scale up to 100 TB (or more with inline dedupe and compression) and 1.3 million IOPS. The system is outfitted with Micron EMLC flash units, which the company says offer greater reliability than standard MLC, and packs 24 blades in a 2U form factor connected via 6G SAS, quad 10 GbE or auto-negotiating single GbE ports, plus a dedicated WAN port."