IBM PCIe Flash Adapters for System x and BladeCenter From Fusion-io

The IBM Flash Adapters F825, F1650, and F3200 Enterprise Value for System x are designed for the application of solid-state storage to webscale and cloud data centers.

Delivering speed, low latency, and efficiency, this line of flash adapters brings scalable and optimized performance to distributed architectures.

With simple management, these solid-state devices can scale I/O performance in-line with System x and BladeCenter processing performance to optimize computing efficiency, such as when supporting a distributed server environment. And by minimizing infrastructure and eliminating complex control points, high performance can be achieved with consistency, reliability, and low overhead.

Based on standard PCIe architecture and NAND MLC flash storage technologies, the adapters deliver 825GB, 1.6TB, or 3.2TB of flash memory per PCIe slot. These adapters are built as block devices on a PCIe bus with wear-leveling and redundancy with self-heal technology, providing durability and efficiency at the flash cell level.

Features and functions:

Standard PCIe design
High-speed, low latency, consistent, and scalable I/O performance
Simple management and minimal overhead
Reliability: wear-leveling; ECC used for maximum efficiency; redundancy with self-heal technology
High-density design with MLC NAND technology

IBM Flash Adapter Enterprise Value options offer a 1-year limited warranty or System warranty.

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. A drive that reaches this limit may fail to operate according to its specifications.

Key prerequisites

Flash Adapters Enterprise Value can be used on supported System x servers with an available PCIe expansion slot.

Planned availability date

October 22, 2013