Winchester Systems Brings Auto-Tiering Hybrid Flash

Winchester Systems Inc. has upgraded its line of FlashDisk RF-Series COTS-Rugged storage systems.

FlashDisk RF-2U24

COTS-Rugged products are designed to store and protect data in harsh C5ISR operating environments; tolerating levels of dust, moisture, shock and vibration not possible with standard commercial units – for less than ultra-ruggedized systems. Numerous U.S. Federal/Military programs currently depend on these products to be easy to deploy, manage and provide high fault tolerance in theater and data centers alike.

Available, the new FlashDisk RF models add hybrid flash capability – combining flash-based SSD performance with the economical capacity of magnetic disk drives – and support up to 16 host ports, and over 2PB of capacity using 360 6TB disk drives. It enables hybrid flash using Automated Tiered-Storage Pools, grouping SSD and HDD drive types into two tiers within a virtualized storage pool. Controllers send write transactions to blocks in the higher-performing tier, and monitor the access frequency and age of each data block, automatically migrating hot or cold data to the appropriate tier. Storage tiers can also be defined based on other drive types or on different RAID levels.

Each FlashDisk RF controller includes eight built-in 1GbE iSCSI ports, with additional 1GbE or 10GbE iSCSI, 8Gb or 16Gb FC, or 6Gb SAS host ports provided via a hardware module that plugs onto the controller motherboard. This modular design makes it easy to tailor each system to suit specific mission requirements. It also enables field upgrades: a FlashDisk RF system initially deployed with 1GbE ports, for example, can later be upgraded in-theater to 10GbE or 16Gb FC when faster connectivity is needed.

New models include:

• FlashDisk RF-2U12: a 2U ruggedized rack-mount base unit that holds up to twelve 3.5-inch magnetic disk drives or SSDs, delivering up to 5,000MB/s and over 1 million IO/s.
• FlashDisk RF-3U16: a 3U ruggedized rack-mount base unit that holds up to sixteen 3.5-inch magnetic disk drives or SSDs, delivering up to 5,500MB/s and over 1.2 million IO/s.
• FlashDisk RF-2U24: a 2U ruggedized rack-mount base unit that holds up to twenty-four 2.5-inch magnetic disk drives or SSDs, delivering up to 5,200MB/s and over 1.4 million IO/s.

Sporting controllers, power supplies and fans that are modular, redundant and hot swappable, FlashDisk RF hardware is purpose-built for continuous availability and long-term durability. The front door is crafted of 3/4-inch milled aluminum to provide rigidity, structural integrity and prevent flying-object hazards. It also contains a dust/raindrop seal and a heavy-duty filter to trap dust particles and provide a moisture shield to protect internal components. An optional 1U mounting tray enables front access to normally rear-accessed components/connectors, saving three feet behind the storage unit and increasing structural integrity.

COTS-Rugged FlashDisk RF-Series systems are for deployable video surveillance and playback, mobile ground stations, and multi-application mission-planning and analysis systems.

Other ruggedized products include FlashNAS ZFS RZ-Series COTS-Rugged NAS; COTS-Rugged servers; and Ultra-Ruggedized removable-canister RAID and Ultra-Ruggedized portable server systems that comply with MIL-STD-810G, MIL-STD-901D, MIL-STD-461E, etc.

Custom design and integration services are available to meet program-level requirements where standard COTS products just will not suffice.

The company also offers storage-infrastructure consulting, on-site installation and service spares, and 24×7 product service and support worldwide.