SSDs PCIe Adapters – From LSI – for IBM System x

The new family of High IOPS Modular Adapters from IBM Corp. are performance solutions for embedded DAS.

The offerings will include 300GB, 600GB, and 800GB MLC adapters and a 300GB SLC adapter. Designed to offer performance with low latency and a low CPU burden, they accelerate applications such as web serving, data warehousing, data mining, online transaction processing, and high-performance computing.

Their PCIe host interface, industry-standard drivers, and small form factor make them flexible and easier to integrate into low-profile, high-performance system chassis. These adapters are designed to improve the performance of applications regardless of the mix of reads and writes.

The High IOPS Modular Adapters are built on enterprise-level solid-state technologies and include advanced features to help deliver consistently performance, endurance, and reliability under demanding conditions.

In addition, they are built to provide modular serviceability, reducing maintenance and replacement costs. The technology in these adapters helps optimize the number of program cycles to the flash storage, extending the rated endurance of flash storage by 20x more when compared to standard controllers.

These adapters use NAND flash memory as the basic building block of solid-state storage and contain no moving parts, thus are less sensitive to issues associated with vibration, noise, and mechanical failure. These adapters are built as block devices on a PCIe bus with advanced wear-leveling, ECC, and N+1 chip-level redundancy providing unparalleled reliability and efficiency.

Whether enabling HPC or reducing the storage footprint, IBM offers High IOPS Modular Adapters to meet computational requirements. These adapters are compatible with a variety of System x servers.

High IOPS Modular Adapter purchase is covered under IBM warranty.

Features and functions:
300GB High IOPS MLC Modular Adapter (90Y4361)
600GB High IOPS MLC Modular Adapter (90Y4365)
800GB High IOPS MLC Modular Adapter (90Y4369)
300GB High IOPS SLC Modular Adapter (90Y4373)

• Standard PCIe design
• Enterprise reliability
• High-capacity design with MLC NAND technology and SLC NAND technology
• Capacity options from 300GB to 800GB storage
• Installation as a single drive with no user configuration required, just plug and-play
• Low host burden – no static CPU and memory overhead
• Lower space, power, cooling, and management costs than traditional HDD solutions
• Robust flash management with ease of use

Warranty:
One-year limited warranty1 or system.

Note: Solid-state memory cells have an intrinsic, finite number of program/erase cycles that each cell can incur. As a result, solid-state storage has a maximum amount of program/erase cycles to which it can be subjected. IBM’s warranty for the solid-state storage is limited to devices that have not reached the maximum guaranteed number of program/erase cycles, as documented in the Official Published Specifications for the product. Solid-state storage that reaches this limit may fail to operate according to its specifications.

Note:

• 11.5PB lifetime writes on the 300GB MLC Modular Adapter
• 23.0PB lifetime writes on the 600GB MLC Modular Adapter
• 30.7PB lifetime writes on the 800GB MLC Modular Adapter
• 76.8PB lifetime writes on the 300GB SLC Modular Adapter

Key prerequisites:
These SSD PCIe Adapters can be used on supported System x and BladeCenter servers.

Note: In order to be used with BladeCenter servers, the IBM BladeCenter PCI Express Gen 2 Expansion Blade II is required.

Planned availability date:
December 14, 2012

Note: These modular products will not support Systems x3850 X5/x3950 X5 (7145) and x3850 X5/x3950 X5-Ref. (7143) until January 8, 2013.