Huawei Integrates HGST 6TB Helium HDDs

Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd has entered a partnership with HGST to deploy the new Ultrastar He6 6 TB helium-filled HDDs into its storage systems.

Being one of the first vendors across the world to employ HGST’s helium-filled HDDs, which feature the largest capacity in the industry, Huawei is dedicated to providing storage products and solutions with capacities and reduced power consumption.

“Huawei is very glad to collaborate with HGST in the helium-filled HDD domain. With a high-density design, the integration of this technology into Huawei’s storage systems, will enable us to provide customers with storage products and solutions that offer bigger capacity, higher efficiency and lower power-consumption,” said Fan Ruiqi, president of storage product line, Huawei Enterprise.

“Huawei is one of the world’s leading information and communications solutions providers, and HGST is excited to be collaborating with them on enhancing its innovative storage solutions utilizing our new 6TB HGST Ultrastar He6 helium HDDs,” said James Ho, VP, AsiaPac, HGST. “With our industry-leading HelioSeal technology platform and the advantages of drive’s high capacity, low power and low temperature, Huawei will be able to expand its product line with a strong competitive offering that will increase system storage density for better scalability and storage efficiency at a lower TCO for its data center customers.”

Filled with helium gas instead of air, helium HDDs break the capacity limit caused by head recording of traditional HDDs, as helium gas has a far lower density which does not only help reduce aerodynamic shear resistance generated by platter movement in drives, it also allows standard 3.5-inch drives to house more platters. By deploying helium-filled HDDs while incorporating advanced high-density storage architecture, Huawei improves the capacity density of its storage systems by 87.5%, reduces power consumption required by 23%, and brings down room temperature generated by the machine by 4°C, as compared to current industry standards.

In addition, with the deployment of helium HDDs, Huawei strengthens its position in Immersion Cooling Solution (ICS) for storage systems. ICS enables devices to maintain a stable operating temperature at a reduced cost. It also sets a foundation for futur designs of storage systems and data centers.