The 10GB/s speed of the new SSD is more than 4GB/s faster than other models, and it works with any system that supports Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe). This protocol speeds up data transfers by reducing layers of commands, and helps eliminate informational bottlenecks. The drives come in two types, a 16 lane and an 8 lane model, using a standard PCIe interface. Seagate says their new drives will comply with OCP specifications, but the specific standards haven’t been identified. “Seagate has effectively rewritten the rules for performance with this latest SSD unit”.
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Suggested use cases include large-scale cloud providers and web applications, weather modelling, and statistical trends analysis. The unit could be used in an all-flash array or as an accelerated flash tier with hard-disk drives (HDDs) for a more cost-effective hybrid storage alternative.
OCP was started in 2011 when Facebook announced plans to open source its data centre engineering to start what the firm called a “collaborative dialogue” in creating more cost- and energy-efficient data centres. Seagate hasn’t yet provided additional details such as specs, capacities, and pricing.
While Seagate claims the 16-lane drive is production ready with the 8-lane version close behind, the company is so far silent on finalised specifications including capacity, IOPS, and under precisely what workloads users will see the peak 10GB/s throughput.
In addition to the 10GB/s SSD, which rides 16 PCIe lanes, Seagate is finalizing an eight-lane PCIe SSD as well, which can hit transfer rates of up to 6.7GB/s – fastest in the eight-lane card category. The eight-lane solution will provide an alternative for organizations looking for the highest levels of throughput speed but in environments limited by power usage requirements or cost.
Seagate is slated to showcase both SSDs during the Open Compute Project Summit 2016 convention in San Jose, California beginning today.
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Both units have been made available to Seagate customers with a projected general availability in the summer.
