Smart Storage Systems Unveils Fast Enterprise SSD

SMART Storage Systems, Inc. announced ULLtraDIMM, the first enterprise ultra-low latency (ULL) SSD.

Connecting NAND flash directly to the memory channel via a DIMM form factor design, the ULLtraDIMM SSD is a storage device that achieves DRAM-like performance. It establishes a new ULL SSD tier for enterprise servers and storage systems by providing consistent and ultra-low latency. This enables improved performance of various applications, including high frequency trading, cloud computing, virtualization, VDI and big data analytics.

"For many applications, low, consistent and scalable latency is of greater importance than IO/s performance. Current flash storage devices are undoubtedly a step in the right direction for most applications, however many data centers still struggle with latency that is consistent and scales in more mission-critical applications, especially those that require real-time data analysis," said Jim Handy, director, Objective Analysis. "SMART Storage Systems’ new offering has the potential to help organizations get additional value from their applications because it not only provides low, consistent and highly scalable latency, but high throughput as well."

The ULLtraDIMM SSD connects flash directly to the CPU through the memory channel by leveraging Diablo Technologies, Inc.‘s Memory Channel Storage (MCS) architecture, which SMART Storage Systems has exclusive access to through the companies’ technology partnership.

The ULLtraDIMM SSD can be deployed via any existing memory slot and achieves write latency at less than 5μs and up to 150K/60K R/W IO/s and 1GB/s and 760MB/s of sustained R/W performance per DIMM slot.

By adding more devices into the system, I/O performance scales linearly while maintaining consistent write latency, enabling enterprise data centers to increase total throughput for their applications without impacting response times.

The ULLtraDIMM SSD can scale to unprecedented capacity and performance levels through the available 200GB and 400GB modules.

It leverages SMART Storage Systems’ Guardian Technology Platform to enable a cost-effective flash achieving up to 10 drive writes per day (DWPD) over the five year warranty period, meeting the endurance needs of write intensive and mixed-workload applications. It comes equipped with a line of enterprise features, including SMART Storage Systems’ third generation backup power circuit technology, full data path protection and data fail recovery.

"The ULLtraDIMM is a game-changer unlike any other the storage industry has seen," said John Scaramuzzo, president, SMART Storage Systems. "ULLtraDIMM allows for data to be accessed at speeds never before possible because of this innovative design which brings flash as close to the CPU as possible. This represents the final-frontier of storage latency and will not only redefine how organizations view and deploy flash storage, but will lead to increased opportunities to capitalize in real-time on the large data sets they are generating. This is the new standard for ULL storage in the enterprise."

The ULLtraDIMM has begun sampling with select customers.