Viking’s SATADIMM provides Server-Based SSD without a Drive Bay or PCIe Slot
As server virtualization continues to drive up storage IOPS requirements, SSDs are becoming a popular solution for improving application performance. IT managers less interested in throwing spindles at their storage performance problems are looking to solid state flash storage devices. One implementation strategy is to simply put flash storage into servers, using drive form factor devices. But plugging an SSD into a standard 2.5” drive slot requires an empty drive slot. If all the drive bays are full of disk drives then adding an SSD to improve application performance is suddenly not such a simple operation.
To make matters worse, a lot of data centers have standardized on 1U and 2U blade severs, which don’t typically come with a lot of drive bays. Another alternative for SSD implementation is with PCIe cards. But again, companies using low profile servers can have a hard time finding an available PCIe slot to install a flash storage device.
Thursday, April 7, 2011
Viking has an interesting alternative. They’ve put flash storage on a DIMM that connects as a SATA SSD. The SATADIMM product is a solid state drive in an industry standard DDR3 240-pin memory DIMM form factor. This enterprise-class SSD comes in SLC, eMLC and MLC flash, providing up to 480GB capacity per module. Performance for the 6Gb SATA drive is 520MB/s and 60K IOPS, and 260MB/s and 30K IOPS for the 3Gb model. Each DIMM module needs no external power connections and has the advanced flash management, performance and wear leveling technology you’d expect from an enterprise product. Viking, part of $1B Sanmina-SCI, has been building solid state memory and storage devices for over 15 years.
Storage Swiss Take
This is a really innovative solution for solving a ‘step 2’ problem that IT faces - implementation. After the decision is made to adopt a new technology, like SSD, the question is then how to integrate it into the infrastructure. Viking has provided a great alternative to replacing an existing disk drive or consuming a scarce drive bay. SATADIMM gives data center managers a way to leverage SSD technology to improve application performance without forcing a sever upgrade in the process.
Eric Slack, Senior Analyst
SNW Briefing Note
It is April and that means that Storage Switzerland is once again at Storage Networking World (SNW). This spring we find SNW in Santa Clara, California, the home of much of the storage industry. As a result this year we have a record setting number of briefing meetings as well as a speaking session on solid state storage specmenship.
Viking is not a client of Storage Switzerland
