SEAGATE HAS announced what the firm claims will be the world's fastest solid state drive (SSD).
The 10GBps device is already production-ready and has been built to Open Compute Project (OCP) specifications, making it suitable for hyperscale data centres.
It has been designed with an eye to power and energy reduction, which sometimes represent the biggest barriers to data centre SSD adoption.
"Your data is only as good as how easily you can access it and put it to use," said Brett Pemble, Seagate’s general manager and vice president of SSD products.
“Seagate is committed to providing the full spectrum of technologies to help meet the diverse needs of organisations so they can unlock this value. Whether for consumer cloud or business applications, this SSD will improve on demands for fast access to information, where split seconds drive incremental value gains.”
The new drive is designed around the recently introduced Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) protocol, which offers significantly faster throughput over traditional SATA.
Suggested use cases include large-scale cloud providers and web applications, weather modelling, and statistical trends analysis. The device can be used on its own or as part of a superfast tier to a wider hybrid system.
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 has been an active partner in the programme and one of the architects of NVMe.
The PCIe interface required by the drives comes in 16-lane and eight-lane configurations. The 16-lane version is 10GBps, while the eight-lane version has a throughput of 6.7GBps, making it no slouch and a highly affordable alternative for companies on a tight budget.
Both units have been made available to Seagate customers with a projected general availability in the summer. µ
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