IT/Datacenter & Super Computing - Page 11

Login VSI B.V. has announced a major new release of their flagship performance testing application Login VSI.

Login VSI is an industry standard benchmarking tool for measuring performance and scalability of centralized desktop environments, such as Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) and Server Based Computing (SBC). The performance-testing program simulates unique user workloads to test VMware Horizon View, Citrix XenDesktop and XenApp, Microsoft Remote Desktop Services, or any other Windows based hosted desktop solution.

The new Login VSI 4.0 dramatically improves ease of installation, test creation, and management. Login VSI 4.0 also offers unparalleled production realism in workload patters, datasets, and test execution.

Today Micron is unveiling their new P420m I/O Accelerator in two form factors. The P420m rounds out Microns ever-growing line of enterprise offerings with a standard PCIe HHHL (Half-Height Half-Length card and the world's first MLC 2.5" PCIe SSD.

The Micron P420m accelerates performance of today's demanding data center applications, including online transaction processing (OLTP), data warehousing and virtualization. The 2.5" P420m will come in capacities of 350 and 700GB and features random read performance up to 430,000 I/OPS. This version also packs a whopping 1.8 GB/s of sequential read performance, far above any other 2.5" device on the market.

The HHHL card, which slips into a standard PCIe slot, will come in capacities of 700GB and 1.4TB. These x8 PCIe Gen2 cards sport 750,000 random read I/OPS and up to 3 GB/s of sequential read throughput. Both versions support 1-4 DWPD (Drive Writes Per Day) of endurance.

Today SMART Storage Systems and Diablo Technologies are announcing a new partnership to the world. This partnership has actually been working feverishly in the background for a year and a half developing a radical new storage technology. Details of the new technology are scarce and reading the press release generates more questions than answers.

Luckily, we were able to catch up with Smart Storage Systems president John Scaramuzzo and Diablo founder and CEO Richard Badalone for an in-depth interview to shed more light on this new approach.

The high-level takeaway from the announcement is the upcoming release of a new class of storage from this new partnership, vaguely described as Ultra Low Latency (ULL) SSDs. The coming products are the fusion of SMART's Guardian Technology and Diablo's Memory Channel Storage (MCS) technologies. This new class of storage will radically transform enterprise server, virtualization, and cloud environments by taking a new approach to connecting NAND flash to the server.

LSI Corporation have something kinda big to talk about for the weekend, and that news is IBM are now offering versions of their High IOPS Modular Adapters based on LSI's Nytro WarpDrive technology. These models join a growing list of PCIe Flash cards that are designed to be used with IBM System x server series.

IBM's System x server series are used by large clients that require insane speed for Big Data analytics. LSI's Nytro WarpDrive products provide ultra-low-latency, high-performance storage for data-intensive applications, all while helping cloud and enterprise datacenters reduce their storage footprint, as well as those ever-increasing energy costs. The IBM High IOPS capacity options range from 300GB to 800GB of SLC and MLC Flash memory for IBM System x servers.

Nimbus Data, a pioneer in the all-flash storage market, announced a major upgrade to their product line with the update of their HALO management system. This new program injects Advanced Analytics, Open API, and Mobile Apps into their award winning storage operating system.

For those not familiar with Nimbus Data, they offer one of the world's most resilient and future-proof all-flash SSD products on the market. Nimbus Data has experienced huge growth over the last few years, with 415% year-over-year growth in 2012, and plans to match that level of growth in 2013. They are also profitable, which is a rare quality in many flash start ups today.

Their Gemini Flash Memory Array is a monster flash array that is available with up to 48 TB of flash storage in a 2U system. This array features over a million IOPS in a 2U rack, and is deployed into a number of uses, primarily focusing on database and virtualized environments. The system offers up plenty of connectivity options, with native FDR Infiniband, 40GBe and 16 GB FC.

Today SMART Storage Systems and IBM discussed the topic of server side flash and the benefits of using drive form factor SSDs in comparison to deploying PCIe SSD solutions in a live webinar titled "Is PCIe SSD Dead?". The webinar is also available for playback at your convenience at the BrightTALK website.

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.

These massive performance improvements are beginning to challenge PCIe SSDs in datacenter deployments. One key to the performance of drive form factor SSDs lies in the fact that they are self-contained units. All management of the storage device is handled by the SSD itself and does not impede upon precious host server resources.

SGI has launched the new InfiniteStorage 5600, a next-generation high performance storage platform. SGI has a huge presence in the storage market, delivering over 600 Petabytes of storage last year alone. This next gen RAID platform provides the highest throughput for its footprint, spindle count, watts consumption and investment dollars. Designed to capitalize on many forms of storage, from SSDs to HDDs, this platform is well suited for high performance computing, research and analysis, simulation and modeling.

The flexible modular architecture of this new system allows customers to tune their specific performance and capacity requirements. The IS5600 can intermix multiple drive types and enclosure densities, ranging from 4TB high capacity drives to extreme performance SSDs in a single, scalable system.

With a tremendous advantage in MB/s per spindle over competing solutions, the IS5600 provides higher performance with fewer spindles than any other solution on the market.

The introduction of 12Gb/s SAS products has just inched closer, with LSI firing the initial salvos of this new technology by being the first to ship OEMs a 12Gb/s product. Several key players are lining up to provide customers with 12Gb/s products, but LSI has apparently taken the lead in this race with the CeBIT announcement.

LSI is currently shipping the LSISAS3108 12GB/s SAS ROC and the LSISAS3008 12Gb/s SAS I/O controller. The new Invader controllers can top 6GB/s in throughput and 915,000 IOPS.

At FMS 2012 we were able to spot some of LSIs new 12Gb/s gear with the MiniSAS HD connections to the rear of the controller. These connections provide 12Gb/s speed in a smaller form factor.

Today Micron is unveiling their new P410m SSD. This is Micron's first SAS SSD, and is designed for data center servers and storage platforms. Providing a SAS solution rounds out Micron's impressive portfolio of enterprise SSDs. This new SAS SSD comes hot on the heels of the, mainstream SATA P400m, the entry level SATA P400e, and the high end PCIe P320h. A quick click of each link will take you to our full product evaluations of the entire Micron Enterprise SSD line of products.

The P410m adds another facet to the Micron line of products by providing a high endurance 25nm MLC SSD for SAS customers. The robust feature set of SAS is rooted in its early origins in aircraft, providing bulletproof reliability in an environment that requires always-on accessibility. The P410m features SAS's standard dual-port functionality which provides multipath and failover capability.

This 25nm MLC NAND SSD provides surprising endurance from standard MLC, with up to 10 full drive writes per day for five years. This provides an overall endurance of up to 7PB of lifetime data written to the drive depending upon the capacity utilized. Micron is backing up this endurance promise with a five-year warranty for this new product. The P400m comes in a slim 7mm form factor with capacities available in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB. The P400m is already validated through several key OEM partners and is available for immediate purchase.

SMART has announced the new 1.8" SAS Enterprise-Class Optimus SSD. This SAS SSD features random speeds of 100,000 read IOPS and 45,000 write IOPS. Sequential read and write speeds are 500MB/s.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of this SSD is the intended market. This small form factor SSD is designed for blade servers, caching and other high-density computing environments, which typically have space constraints. Providing smaller robust solutions will address the needs of this market segment. Another impressive feature is the density, with this SSD coming in capacities of 200GB and 400GB.

The new Optimus 1.8" SAS SSD leverages the Guardianâ„¢ Technology Platform to provide the endurance and feature set required for enterprise environments. A comprehensive suite of proprietary features, the Guardian Technology Platform is comprised of FlashGuardâ„¢, EverGuardâ„¢, and DataGuardâ„¢ technologies. FlashGuard, an innovative combination of Aggregated Flash Management and Advanced Signal Processing technologies, enables commercial MLC Flash to achieve higher endurance levels, making it suitable for the enterprise environment.

HGST, formerly Hitachi and now a Western Digital company, announced today the new C10K1200 10K RPM enterprise HDD. This HDD sets itself apart from the crowd by becoming the highest capacity 10K HDD in a 2.5" form factor to spin at 10,000 RPM.

Featuring 1.2TB of capacity, this new HDD is designed for the increasing demands for more storage capacity in the datacenter. This capacity extension to the product line utilizes a SAS 6GB/s interface and 64MB of cache buffer for optimized read/write response time. The 10K rotational speed also provides the power for these drives inclusion in high performance computing environments.

The increase in capacity ushers in higher density servers, blades and network storage arrays. By packing more data in less space, users will save in floorspace, cooling and power. These factors are ongoing costs that can add up to cost much more than the device over the course of its lifetime, so any increase in density is always welcome.

Today Micron is unveiling their new P400m SSD. This SSD is designed for data center servers and storage platforms and increases Microns impressive enterprise SSD portfolio. This 25nm MLC NAND SSD provides surprising endurance from standard MLC, with up to 10 full drive writes per day for five years.

This provides an overall endurance of up to 7PB of lifetime data written to the drive depending upon the capacity utilized. Micron is backing up this endurance promise with a five-year warranty for this new product. The P400m is geared for a multitude of applications including Cloud, VDI, bootstorm management, social media and logging applications.

This terrific endurance is due to Microns implementation of their proprietary XPERT (eXtended Performance and Enhanced Reliability Technology) drive management. This suite of highly optimized firmware algorithms and hardware enhancements increase the endurance of MLC NAND and provides full data path protection. As part of their approach Micron utilizes the same RAIN (Redundant Array of Independent NAND) technology that we have seen utilized in their P320h PCIe SSD. Additional facets of the XPERT approach include Adaptive Read Management/Optimize Read (ARM/OR) and DataSAFE technology.

OWC has announced their newest SSD in their venerable Mercury line, the OWC Mercury Viper SSD. This 3.5" behemoth sports impressive specifications of up to 600MB/s. This SSD bucks the current 2.5" trend by going with the 3.5" form factor, relegating it to desktop and server applications.

The truly impressive 600MB/s in sequential throughput will place this SSD firmly at the top of the SSD heap, with no other single SSD on the market able to match this top speed. 600MB/s is bumping up against the limits of the 6GB/s interface, and further numbers, such as random performance, will be released in the coming weeks. This large form factor also allows for huge capacity, with the range starting out at 240GB and topping out at a massive 2TB. This large capacity will be well suited to professional usage models.

OWC is also announcing the Jupiter mini-SAS DAS/SAN Scalable Storage Solution, which would be a great pairing with the above mentioned Mercury Viper. This series of enterprise class storage solutions continues OWCs expansion into the enterprise space. The series consist of JBOD and expansion racks, PCIe HBA cards and switches. The attraction of using the mini-SAS specification lies in its high performance, up to 48GB/s, and its relatively low cost when compared to competing fibre channel solutions.

CES 2013 - At CES 2013 Plextor revealed the new M5 Pro Extreme SSD, this SSD features new TSOP Toshiba Toggle NAND, providing higher performance in the 19nm SSD category.

This new version of NAND will lead to a lower price point for end-users. The new firmware can also be used with older versions of the M5 Pro, so current owners of the M5 Pro will not be left out in the cold.

The M5 Pro Extreme features a Marvell 9187 controller which provides up to 540MB/s in sequential read and 470MB/s in sequential write speeds. Perhaps most impressive is the 100,000 random read IOPS and 88,000 random write IOPS.

CES 2013 - Micron today had the first working samples of DDR4 memory in action, putting on a demo that not only shows the new RAM working, but also being simultaneously tested by a Teledyne LeCroy analyzer.

The new DDR4 spec operates at voltages as low as 1.2V, which is roughly 20% lower than previous generations, and yet still manages to run twice as fast as DDR3. The stock timings for DDR4 will weigh in at a hefty 2133MHz, compared to the old DDR3 starting at 1066MHz. This will speed up users' applications, improve responsiveness, increase multi-tasking, handle data-intensive programs and overall increase the speed that the computer processes data.

This new DDR4 module looks like standard fare for a stick of RAM, but it packs a serious performance punch, with speeds expected to be much higher when overclocked at lower voltages.

CES 2013 - SMART Storage Systems introduced the new CloudSpeed Series of SSDs today which provide some great endurance with a very low price point, with enterprise class features at prices only slightly higher than consumer SSDs.

The two new SSDs are the CloudSpeed CS1000 and the CS1000E, which will both be available soon. The real story here is the shrink to 19nm MLC NAND and the high endurance that SMART Storage Systems has managed to pull from the NAND. In an effort to spread the word in a new and refreshing way, SMART Storage Systems CEO John Scaramuzzo formed the NAND Band.

In order to understand the need for new more powerful storage solutions we must take into account the data explosion that is currently taking place. As we can see from the graph above there is a shocking amount of data produced every day, and the data is only multiplying as users are becoming increasing mobile.

CES 2013 - IDT revealed new hardware today that is focused on impending NVMe products. IDT is leading the charge to provide controllers powering the first wave of NVMe equipped SSDs.

First up we noticed the IDT reference SSD board. This is a 2.5" form factor SSD which can be used in numerous applications. This reference board is provided as a template for resellers to manufacture and pattern their own devices after. This SSD will be used in enterprise applications, and actually connects via the PCIe interface.

We were allowed to pop off the cover of the SSD, and it is a very heavy milled chassis. There are also thermal pads that shed heat into the heavy milled chassis. The thickness of the case and the thermal pads point to a processor that while powerful, probably creates a bit of heat. Heat typically correlates directly to power draw, and unfortunately we do not have power draw figures for this controller.

Microsoft is looking to capture the energy in the gas produced by sewage and harness that otherwise wasted energy for data centers. Microsoft has just gotten approval to test out a new modular data center that will be powered by a biogas fuel cell. The fuel cell will be situated at a sewage plant in Wyoming.

"A person is consuming data and that person's waste is going to power the data center," Microsoft data center researcher Sean Parker told Technology Review. "It's been a mind shift...when we smell that methane at a water treatment plant, we realize we're smelling energy."

Supposedly this isn't just some project designed to make Microsoft appear "green" to the public. They actually seem genuinely interested in being able to co-locate smaller data centers around sources of biogas. This means datacenters could find their way to your local sewage system, farm, or landfill.

LSI AIS 2012 - During the keynote address at the 2012 LSI Accelerating Innovation Summit (AIS) the head of the Windows Server 2012 program stepped on stage to say a few words about the extensive role that LSI played in helping to develop Windows Server 2012, in particular the High Availability segment.

LSI and Microsoft worked very closely during the development of Windows Server 2012. LSI's overwhelming presence in the datacenter helped Microsoft to understand the needs of customers and their most pressing issues, and together they came up with several initiatives to address storage-based challenges.

One of the most sought after attributes by customers are High Availability products. These are in essence 'always on' solutions, which will continue to function regardless of the situation. For instance, if a server were to fail another would have the ability to pick up its workload with absolutely no interruption of service. For these types of challenges to be addressed both servers have to share the same storage pool.

LSI AIS 2012 - The keynote from LSI CEO Abhi Talwalkar today focused on the data deluge that is currently overwhelming system administrators in some of the world's largest datacenters. This onslaught of data is being driven primarily by the explosion of mobile devices and social media. With users increasingly turning to the 'cloud' to store and share their data, the flood of information being stored in the datacenter is becoming overwhelming.

This data deluge is leading to new and exciting technologies on the storage front to handle the load. As noted on the banner behind the CEO, more data equals more opportunity for those in the data storage business.

This chart puts things in perspective. In 3 minutes alone there were over 183,423 (or 18 years) hours of video downloaded, 3.9 million YouTube views and 18 million Facebook views. YouTube views on mobile devices was up a staggering 300% last year alone, and the year over year growth for mobile usage is intended to multiply further this year. The increase in mobile bandwidth, with 4G and faster connections becoming prevalent, is placing the focus increasingly upon service providers to deliver better latency to serve customers faster.