SSD Form Factor Working Group to Standardize PCIe SSDs

Looking to promote storage efficiencies in the data center, a coalition of IT solutions providers announced the Solid State Drive (SSD) Form Factor Working Group to advance the benefits of Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) storage drives through standardization.

Together, the working group will focus on enterprise customers who are pushing the storage IO envelope and require high-performance, easy-to-use, cost-effective storage solutions to optimize CPU performance.

The new working group includes Promoter Members Dell, EMC, Fujitsu, IBM and Intel as well as Contributor Members Amphenol, Emulex, Fusion-io, IDT, Marvel Semiconductor, Micron Technology, Molex, PLX, QLogic, STEC, SandForce and Smart Modular Technology.

Currently, PCIe-based SSD solutions provide performance, but lack ease-of-use features customers have come to expect and appreciate. Industry standardization of form factor and interface is required to offer easy-to-use, compatible, scalable PCIe SSD solutions with lower integration costs. To help customers, the SSD Form Factor Working Group is dedicated to advancing technology standards in three technology areas:

• A connector specification which will promote interoperability of several storage protocols, supporting SAS/SATA 3.0 as well as PCIe 3. This allows greater user choice and flexibility.
• A form factor which builds upon the current 2.5-inch standard to enable enclosure flexibility while supporting the new connector definition and expanding the power envelope in support of higher performance.
• The support for hot-plug capability to create high-availability and serviceability benefits.

"Dell is pleased to part of this working group because it supports a broader industry effort to reduce complexity and integration issues around PCIe storage drives. By enabling PCIe standards, Dell is delivering breakthrough storage performance to a mainstream audience. We’re taking a leadership position in PCIe storage technology and standardization which will help our customers achieve greater interoperability, scalability and choice," said Forrest Norrod, Vice President and General Manager, Dell Server Platforms.

"EMC is driven by innovation and continues to lead the industry in delivering SSD technology to the marketplace in our information infrastructure products. EMC is pleased to be a member of the SSD Form Factor Working Group and to participate in defining the PCIe interconnect standard for SSDs. In addition to other high speed protocols, PCIe will be a key interconnect for SSD technology moving forward. EMC is committed to driving standards in this space," said Bill DePatie, Vice President Hardware Engineering, EMC.

"Fujitsu’s PRIMERGY server line is based on a clear commitment to industry standards which directly benefits our customers. We believe that the PCIe Standard Form Factor specification will accelerate the market adoption of PCIe SSDs, offering an electromechanical solution with disk-like handling and true hot-plug capability. Building on the experience as a promoter of the eNVMHCI working group, we now also drive this standardization effort as a promoter, underlining once more our dedication to provide best-in-class solutions to customers," said Jens-Peter Seick, Senior Vice President Datacenter Systems Product Division at Fujitsu Technology Solutions.

"Intel sees PCIe continuing to grow in importance as a solid state drive interface driven by native attach points in our enterprise platforms. Intel is looking forward to working with SSD Form Factor Working Group to collectively define the essential building blocks for future generations of non-volatile memory storage solutions," said Tom Macdonald, Vice President of Intel Architecture Group and General Manager of Platform Components Group at Intel.