SMART Releases 2.5 inch SSD for Enterprise Applications

Date: 2/3/2009

SMART Releases 2.5" SSD for Enterprise Applications

SMART Modular Technologies has released a Solid State Disk Drive (SSD) designed for the enterprise and commercial systems markets. Available in capacities up to 128GB and designed for both sequential and random I/O applications, the new Xcel-10 SSD is optimised for random, small-block transfers typical of business applications and offers higher performance, higher reliability and lower power operation compared to conventional HDDs.

According to Jeff Janukowicz, Research Manager for Solid State Drives at IDC the enterprise market for SSDs is in its early stages, but is on track for steady growth: "We project that the market will grow from $75 million in 2008 to more than $158 million in 2009, with continued growth in 2010 and beyond. Increasing storage performance and efficiency are key requirements for the enterprise and commercial systems market. Solutions such as SMART's new Xcel-10 SSD, are in a position to capitalize on the opportunities associated with these market needs.”

The new SMART Xcel-10 SSD is available in capacities up to 128GB. Designed for high performance for both sequential and random I/O applications, the Xcel-10 SSD delivers 5,580 IOPS at 100% read or 980 IOPS at 67% read, 33% write, for random I/O using 4K block size. For applications using large block sequential I/O, the Xcel-10 SSD delivers sustained read speeds of up to 115MB/s and sustained write speeds up to 125MB/s. Most SSDs are optimized for applications using either sequential or random I/O but the Xcel-10 drive is unique because it has the versatility to easily support both types of applications in dedicated solutions and application mixes found in enterprise server environments.

Housed in a 2.5" form factor and manufactured using highly reliable single-level-cell (SLC) flash, the SATA 1.0 compliant Xcel-10 SSD demonstrates a mean time between failure (MTBF) of more than one million hours. Smart designed its new SSD with superior flash management techniques, including error correction code and static wear leveling. Combined, these increased performance and reliability factors contribute to a low cost of ownership when compared with HDDs.

The release of the Xcel-10 SSD marks the beginning of a new family of SMART SSDs for enterprise applications, with future products optimised for network attached storage (NAS) and storage area networks (SANs).

The SMART Xcel-10 SSD is available now. For more information, click on the link below.