HDS rolls out flash storage for enterprises

• Features new rack-optimized form factor with lowest cost per bit
• Marks next phase of flash strategy and roadmap announced earlier

HITACHI Data Systems Corporation (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi Ltd, has unveiled Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage, a new flash module (pic) built specifically for enterprise-class workloads.
 
Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage features a custom-designed, rack-optimized form factor and innovative flash memory controller technology from Hitachi Ltd, HDS said in a statement.
 
These features let the module achieve higher performance, lower cost per bit and greater capacity compared to conventional solid-state drives (SSDs) in the market today, the company claimed.
 
Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage is available now for the Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP). Customers can realize a superior return on their flash investment with lower operating expenses.
 
Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage is the first product to incorporate the recently introduced flash memory controller from Hitachi Ltd, and this announcement marks the next phase of the HDS flash strategy and roadmap announced earlier.
 
“Today’s announcement is a milestone achievement in how flash technology will be used in the enterprise data center moving forward,” said Hu Yoshida (pic), HDS vice president and chief technology officer.
 
“[It] n is the first flash device that is optimized for the performance and reliability required for mission-critical applications. These applications include OLTP (online transaction processing) databases, ERP (enterprise resource planning), financial data management, metadata and indexing.
 
“Because of the innovative multi-core flash controller technology from Hitachi, we are able to use multi-level cell (MLC) flash in enterprise applications by extending MLC endurance and exceeding the performance of single-level cell (SLC) flash. The result is the lowest cost per bit of any enterprise MLC flash solution on the market today,” he added.
 
Flash technology has become more pervasive in the data center over the past few years. However, its widespread adoption as a mainstream storage option has been hampered by high costs, limited endurance and sub-optimal write performance, HDS said.
 
IT organizations have been forced to make tradeoffs in performance and capacity to reach the cost points that their shrinking budgets can accommodate.
 
Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage fundamentally changes this model by eliminating these tradeoffs and answering customer demands for high capacity and performance at the lowest cost per bit, the company claimed.
 
It changes the model by leveraging advanced Hitachi controller technology to increase the performance of MLC flash to levels that exceed those of more costly SLC flash. It also extends MLC flash endurance to enterprise levels.
 
The HDS flash roadmap spans across servers, storage and appliances to enable compute acceleration, caching and high-performance storage media use cases. The company said it will continue to expand its roadmap with additional flash-optimized solutions that are highly efficient, available and resilient.