This is where our new Optimus Eco comes in! This industry first Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) 6Gb/s SSD features 19nm multi-level cell (MLC) Flash, lowering total cost of ownership (TCO) when paired with a perfect combination of performance, capacity, endurance and reliability. All of these factors come into play when planning out hardware options for hyperscale architecture. Understanding the importance of hyperscale data centers not only makes C-Level management happy, but also allows storage architects to design a highly reliable and performance-driven data center that will lower the overall cost of storage in the long run. With up to 10 drive writes per day, 500/500MB/s sustained read/write performance, 100K/45K random IOPS and a five-year warranty, Optimus Eco is changing the way data centers are being structured, and analysts agree.

“SMART Storage continues its product development in the SAS SSD space with the new products that add incremental density and lower cost per GB.”

-       James Bagley, Analyst, Storage Strategies NOW

To learn more about how to overcome the challenges of developing hyperscale data centers, join us for a webinar with George Crump, lead analyst of Storage Switzerland. The first 100 registrants will receive a free white paper on “High Performance Storage For Hyperscale Data Centers.” You can also find out more on our website.

-        Mike Lakowicz, Vice President Sales and Marketing, SMART Storage Systems

Q. What did SMART Storage Systems and Diablo Technologies announce today?

A. SMART Storage Systems and Diablo Technologies have forged an exclusive relationship that will usher in a new era of ultra-low latency Flash storage technology. This partnership will bring together our own Guardian Technology Platform and Diablo Technologies’ Memory Channel Storage platform. Together, we are creating a new class of enterprise SSDs with ultra-low latency, which will be unlike anything else on the market, delivering significantly improved performance and latency to dramatically transform enterprise servers, cloud computing environment, relational databases, virtualization and cloud services.

Q. Why did SMART Storage Systems and Diablo Technologies partner on combining the Guardian Technology Platform with Diablo’s Memory Channel Storage?

A. For us, it wasn’t a question of “if” we should partner with Diablo Technologies but “how soon.” By combining SMART Storage Systems’ Guardian Technology Platform and enterprise design team with Diablo’s MCS technology, we can create a new ultra-low-latency tier of enterprise Flash storage at a competitive cost/GB. Since day one, we have been focused on revolutionizing the storage industry by providing cost-effective Flash storage solutions that meet the needs of enterprise organizations. Until today, this was done by leveraging SMART Storage Systems’ Guardian Technology Platform to increase the endurance of MLC Flash so it can be effective in enterprise applications. Together, we are taking innovation to a whole other level, combining our leading technologies to bring to market a new class of enterprise SSDs.

Q. What is the challenge this partnership is helping to overcome?

A. Up until now, volatile DRAM was the only media that could communicate directly with the microprocessors memory controller. This partnership allows us to connect Flash as persistent storage directly to the memory controller.

Additionally, this new product will create a new tier of storage within the enterprise data center, dramatically improving latency, transaction throughput, IO bandwidth, density, scalability and operating cost over a wide range of enterprise-level deployments when compared to Flash-based designs using PCIe, or SAS/SATA-based SSDs.

Q. What are we trying to change with this partnership?

A. The world! No, but seriously, Flash-based memory storage will change the way enterprise software and systems are designed, providing new levels of performance and storage density.

This new product is expected to provide 50 percent higher transaction rates with 80 percent lower latency in database caching and OLTP applications, and enable 10X more virtual machines per server while reducing DRAM requirements by more than 70 percent in virtualized environments. It’s just incredible!

Q. What is the end goal?

A. We believe this new product will usher in a new era of ultra-low latency Flash storage. This new product will not only be about re-architecting storage, but re-architecting the integration of servers, storage and flash acceleration.

Q. What does this mean for the future of SMART Storage Systems and for the storage industry?

A. I firmly believe this partnership will strengthen our position as a leader in enterprise storage. We’re bringing to market a new high performance tier of persistent storage unlike anything seen before.

Q. What does the “New Era of Flash Storage” mean for the storage industry?

A. We’re looking at new, organic growth in overall enterprise storage demand and the need to dramatically transform enterprise servers, cloud computing environments, relational databases, virtualization and cloud services.

To find out more about our recent announcement, visit our website or catch up with us on Twitter.

-       John Scaramuzzo, President, SMART Storage Systems

The webinar provided some insight into questions such as, “Why did the data center decide to go with PCIe?” and “Why is the data center returning to drive form factor SSDs?” In the past, PCIe SSDs have been considered THE performance solution. Today’s server side SSD technology is changing this. During the webinar, we had the opportunity to share why enterprises should reconsider today’s server side SSD solutions. With IBM recently announcing the offering of our Optimus SSD, it further validates that drive form factor SSDs can provide a superior alternative to PCIe based solutions. Tweaktown, one of our webinar viewers, even stated in a recent article:

“The far-ranging conversation of the benefits of drive form-factor SSDs in wide deployment in the server was certainly eye-opening and worth a view from anyone considering deploying these types of solutions into an enterprise environment. The density, performance and latency of 2.5″ and 1.8″ form factor SSDs is rapidly increasing in the new generation of SSDs. SAS equipped SSDs in particular are providing latency that is in the range of PCIe solutions.”

What do you think about the future of PCIe? What types of applications should you deploy server side SSDs for? For better insight into these questions, tune in to the webinar here.

-        Esther Spanjer, Director of SSD Technical Marketing, SMART Storage Systems

For instance, at the event, I gave a presentation titled, “Best Practices for SSD Selection for Cloud Applications.” I was able to communicate the need for data centers to deploy more suitable SSDs for today’s applications. The biggest challenge with Client MLC SSD is its finite lifespan, making it incompatible for write intensive applications if left untreated, forcing data centers to prematurely replace SSDs. Those who attended my presentation walked away with the understanding that recent advancements in flash endurance technologies are able to end the rip-and-replace game.  The open stage was a great platform to share this message and our booth was the perfect place to connect with attendees who stopped by to learn more about SMART Storage Systems products. We even had multiple people come by the booth following my presentation to learn more about SSDs for server and cloud applications.

Although there were fewer OEMs at this year’s CeBIT than expected, there were a lot of Integrators and VARS that we met with to talk about important building blocks! Other people we met with included Les Tokar of the SSD Review. It’s always a pleasure meeting with our main storage reviewers and those in the industry that work across the pond. As always, we appreciate the opportunity CeBIT provides!

Were you able to attend CeBIT? If not, did you have any questions on the right SSD for the right application? We’re happy to help!

-          Esther Spanjer, Director of SSD Technical Marketing, SMART Storage Systems

You may be thinking, “can’t the cost-effective scale and capacity issue be solved by just using cheaper client-class SSDs or HDDs?” I don’t think so, and here is why. Traditional HDDs can provide the scalability and capacity required at a reasonable cost. They are so low performance, however, that processing the large data sets typically found in data centers today would drive anyone using only HDDs mad before they got any useful information from it. With regard to using client-class SSDs, they are cheap and fast, but they are not designed to handle a lot of data being written to them. In big data scenarios, so much data would be written to them so frequently that they would wear out in no time and you would be replacing them on a frequent basis (and spending more money each time).

This is why endurance is the key. By being able to extract extra endurance from more cost-effective MLC Flash you can strike the balance between performance and endurance needed for big data processing without breaking the bank. When it comes to capacity and scalability, we are seeing a lot of customers becoming interested in max capacity drives, like our Optimus which can deliver up to 1.6TB in a single 2.5-inch SSD. Pooling multiple of these together in a single rack can provide a tremendous amount of capacity and performance, making the big data problem a worry of the past. And, because our Optimus SSDs leverage the most cost-effective MLC flash, you get capacity and performance at an attractive price.

In the end, it all comes down to dollars, and we’re proud to “put our money where our mouth is.” By offering SSDs with the lowest cost per terabyte written ($/TBW) in the industry and reducing TCO, we’re proving that endurance really is money!

-          Esther Spanjer, Director of SSD Technical Marketing, SMART Storage Systems

Zsolt’s six-year-old list, “Top SSD Companies,” has been seen by more than 4 million readers and is now regarded by many key influencers in the SSD industry, including investors and OEMs, as one of the most useful SSD articles that influences decision making. The list is developed by search-volume-based data and analyzes the entire SSD competitive landscape. What we are trying to say is that only the movers and shakers make the list, and we’re thrilled to be among the proud few, let alone make our way up to the ninth slot!

Check out a list of the top 10 below and the full listing here!

1. Fusion-io
2. STEC
3. Violin Memory
4. OCZ
5. Skyera
6. Whiptail
7. LSI
8. Texas Memory Systems
9. SMART Storage Systems
10. Virident Systems (tie)

What are your thoughts on the list? Where do you think we’ll stand next quarter?

-          John Scaramuzzo, President, SMART Storage Systems

The new Optimus 1.8” SAS SSD is designed for applications such as blade servers, caching and other high-density computing environments which typically have physical space constraints. It delivers random read/write performance of 100K/45K IOPS and sustained read/write speeds of 500/500MB/s and is available in useable capacities of 200GB and 400GB. To operate reliably under mixed and write intensive workloads, the new Optimus 1.8” SAS SSD achieves 10 full drive writes per day for a period of five years while leveraging cost-effective consumer-grade MLC NAND flash. Extending from the 2.5” to 1.8” form factor, the Optimus 1.8” SAS SSD provides a solution that spans multiple enterprise applications that require different form factors while meeting their performance, capacity and endurance requirements at an affordable cost.

The Optimus 1.8” SAS SSD will begin sampling to select customers in Q2 2013. Join us in ending the capacity/performance/endurance compromise! Contact our sales team today: http://www.smartstoragesys.com/support/contact_us.asp.

-          Bernie Rub, Vice President and CTO of Storage Business Unit