Toshiba Memory RM5 12Gb SAS 7.68TB 2.5-Inch SSD

Toshiba Memory America, Inc. (TMA), U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, unveiled a category of SAS SSDs expected to replace SATA SSDs in server applications.

The RM5 12Gbs value SAS (vSAS) series features capacity, performance, reliability, manageability and data security advantages – at a price that obsoletes SATA SSDs.

A homogeneous SAS environment has long been the gold standard for enterprise server and storage systems. With vertical integration expertise in flash technology, firmware and controller design, the company leveraged its position as the world’s leading ⁽¹⁾ SAS SSD line optimizing RM5 to close the cost gap with SATA – and usher in a new class of SSD. SATA simply cannot compete with SAS, falling well short in terms of performance, robustness, and encryption options.

Designed with affordability and server applications in mind, the RM5 vSAS series seeks to provide a cost-effective and much higher performing solution to overcome the bottlenecks that are inherent with SATA. Where SATA drives often use SAS expanders to scale out, RM5 enables the use of native SAS from end-to-end, eliminating the need for protocol translation to SATA. Customers can now take advantage of SAS’s richer feature set and realize up to 4x performance throughput superiority over SATA.

“Servers that use SATA currently represent the majority of the market, and our RM5 series is designed to replace SATA SSDs,” noted Jeremy Werner, VP, marketing and product planning, TMA. “This is important, as the roadmap for SATA ends with the current 6Gb/s generation. With the introduction of this new class of drives, we are not only filling the void that the end of SATA has created but also offering our customers better TCO, increased performance and superior reliability.“

Commenting on the introduction of the RM5, “With no planned roadmap extension beyond 6Gb SATA, data centers will increasingly look for alternative interface technologies for storage devices used in future servers and storage arrays,” according to Jeff Janukowicz, research VP, IDC. “Value SAS is a viable option to replace the SATA interface on storage devices as it offers better performance, more robust features and higher reliability.“

Featuring the company’s BiCS FLASH TLC (3-bit-per-cell) 3D flash memory, the RM5 series will initially be available in capacities up to 7.68TB ⁽²⁾ with a single 12Gb/s port, SFF-8639 connector and in a 2.5″ form factor.

⁽¹⁾ SAS unit shipments, IDC Worldwide Solid State Storage Quarterly Update: Summary CY 1Q1 May 2018
⁽²⁾ Definition of capacity: Toshiba Memory Corporation defines a gigabyte as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer OS, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1GB = 2³⁰ bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes, 1TB = 2⁴⁰ bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, such as Microsoft OS and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.