New STEC ZeusRAM 6Gb SAS SSD

STEC, Inc. announced at Oracle OpenWorld its ZeusRAM SSD tailored for extremely fast and continuous read/write workloads including metadata logging, journaling, and database indexing applications.

ZeusRAM solves the primary challenge in these environments – speeding access to data – by minimizing latency to an extremely low sub 23 microseconds.

As a result, the SSD enables network attached and unified storage appliances to have high-speed access to ‘metadata,’ information on where and how data is stored, on systems that are becoming increasingly complex.

ZeusRAM’s design utilizes fully-backed up DRAM to Flash, ensuring power back-up protection in the event of a host system’s power loss. This implementation leverages the endurance of DRAM and the persistence of Flash to create an enterprise drive that is highly-reliable with superior wear-resistance. In contrast, traditional solutions such as those relying solely on DRAM and hard disk drives (HDDs) have been inadequate in handling the explosive growth of data and sophisticated file systems. The ZeusRAM SSD, currently sampling into high-performance enterprise OEMs, will launch in a 3.5-inch standard form factor with native 6Gb SAS interface.

"The introduction of our ZeusRAM offers another example of how STEC is pushing the performance boundaries of SSD technologies, in this case, by creating ultra fast cache to address evolving market needs," said Manouch Moshayedi, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of STEC. "As an enterprise SSD leader, we have leveraged our extensive design expertise to engineer a high-performance solution to minimize new storage bottlenecks."

ZeusRAM is a critical addition to STEC’s Zeus product line as it fills the need for customized fast write commit applications. The key distinguishing feature of the RAM-based SSD is its superior wear-resistance, designed specifically for persistent writes. This advancement will allow SSDs to replace older technologies within arenas outside of traditional Enterprise storage. For example, these capabilities are important in certain NAS, unified storage, de-dupe, and data protection appliances.