Western Digital begins sampling of its 20TB SMR and 18TB CMR hard disk drives, to help scale data centers for zettabyte age

Western Digital announces that it has started shipping its high-capacity HDD samples to enterprise OEMs and hyperscale customers worldwide, so that users can efficiently scale their data centers for the zettabyte era.

The 20TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR HDDs and 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDDs, first previewed in June 2019, and announced in September 2019, feature its initial commercial implementation of energy-assisted magnetic recording technology on a nine-disk platform, enabling customers to more efficiently provision and scale their data center environments with improved total cost of ownership.

Optimized to deliver improved capacity and low TCO, the Ultrastar DC HC600 series provides unprecedented capacity capability by harnessing two core complementary technologies: HelioSeal technology and host-managed SMR (HM-SMR). These field-proven technologies provide the foundation for delivering efficiency, quality and reliable performance required by cloud and hyperscale data centers. 

Unlike CMR drives, HM-SMR drives are not drop-in replacements for traditional drives and require system software modifications that take advantage of the new command sets to ensure data is written sequentially to the drive. This software investment helps yield cost-efficient storage solutions.

With zettabyte-scale data growth, the need for higher-capacity data storage across a broad spectrum of applications and workloads can be reliably met only with high capacity enterprise HDDs. 

The capacities of Western Digital’s Ultrastar 20TB SMR and 18TB CMR HelioSeal HDDs enable customers to deploy up to 22 percent fewer racks and reduce their TCO by up to 11 percent, along with the corresponding reductions in power consumption, cooling costs, and data center infrastructure needs when compared with 14TB CMR HDDs.

Western Digital achieves high areal density performance in these drives through the innovative use of energy-assisted magnetic recording. Together with the company’s HelioSeal and SMR technologies, triple-stage micro actuation and 9-disk platform, the energy-assisted recording technology provides an integrated solution, resulting in the dramatic gain in drive capacities.

“The market outlook for capacity-optimized enterprise HDDs remains very positive as IDC expects petabytes shipped to hyperscale cloud data centers and for OEM storage systems and servers to grow at a combined compound annual growth rate of 28 percent through 2023,” said Ed Burns, Research Director, HDD and Storage Technologies at IDC. “Western Digital’s new 20TB and 18TB HDDs should make a compelling case for customers to transition to higher capacity points as they seek greater storage and energy efficiencies in the near-term while building more cost-effective and scalable infrastructures for the future.”

“Delivering samples of our Ultrastar 20TB SMR and 18TB CMR HDDs marks a significant milestone for Western Digital—demonstrating our enduring commitment to the open SMR-based ecosystem, as well as our strong track record of innovation to provide great value for our customers,” said Phil Bullinger, senior vice president and general manager of Western Digital’s Data Center Business Unit. “These new HDDs deliver unsurpassed capacity and are our first to leverage energy-assisted magnetic recording technology, enabling new levels of data center efficiency and driving value creation from data at scale.”

Western Digital is now sampling the 20TB Ultrastar DC HC650 SMR HDD and the 18TB Ultrastar DC HC550 CMR HDD, with qualification and volume shipments expected in the first half of next year.

Infortrend incorporates DaVinci Resolve project server into its scale-out shared storage offering

Infortrend Technology releases on Tuesday its highly scalable shared storage EonStor CS that supports NLE software, such as DaVinci Resolve, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Final Cut Pro to facilitate collaborative editing of 4K and above ultra-high resolution videos. EonStor CS supports over 100 GB/s performance and 100 PB capacity, making it an ideal storage solution for large-scale post-production studios with more than ten workstations. 

In a traditional architecture, the database project server, which contains reels, edited files and timeline, is deployed on a dedicated workstation and connects to other workstations in a peer-to-peer network for editors, colorists, and animators to work together on the same project. Any single point of failure, however, will pose a threat to the project. 

In light of this issue, Infortrend integrates DaVinci Resolve Project Server into the shared media storage and provides RAID protection to guarantee high data availability. The simplified network architecture also makes deployment and management easier for video professionals to focus more on content production.

EonStor CS is a scale-out shared storage solution that allows enterprises to address the sheer volume of data via its scalable capacity and linear-increasing performance. The scalability through a scale-out expansion offers an easier and more cost-effective way of managing growing data in the agile enterprises while reducing consequent performance bottlenecks. 

EonStor CS also improves data utilization and simplifies data management by integrating data from all nodes into one cluster system. The superior performance and scalability make CS suitable for a wide range of data-intensive industries and applications such as media and entertainment (M&E), high-performance computing (HPC), video surveillance, file sharing and backup. 

With EonStor CS, enterprises gain speedy process for storage expansion and data migration. EonStor CS can keep up as the business grows, making it the optimized data storage and management solution.

Moreover, the shared media storage comes with user-friendly management software that is also designed to simplify the deployment. The EonOne software offers two accounts to separate different management roles. One account is for M&E User Administrator, who uses EonOne to set up user accounts and storage quota. The other account is for System Administrator, who is in charge of advanced configurations and maintenance.

In addition, Infortrend develops a client-based utility EonView, which is installed on Windows and macOS workstations to automatically detect the connected storage system and mount the assigned file folder according to the user credentials. This smart utility simplifies the complexities of storage system deployment and network setup, especially for video professionals who are not familiar with IT setting.  

“Infortrend offers comprehensive storage solutions for today’s M&E, no matter the business scale,” said Thomas Kao, senior director of Product Planning. “Besides its highly scalable performance and capacity for large workgroups to fulfill simultaneous workflows, CS supports high density 4U 60-bay form factor to deliver optimized size for massive data storage requirements. With the launch of CS, we aim to serve M&E customers with smarter, easier, and more flexible solutions,” 

Everspin achieves data center OEM qualification of its 1Gb STT-MRAM offering; announces production shipments

Everspin Technologies announced on Wednesday that it has secured the qualification notice from a major server OEM of its 1-Gigabit (Gb) Spin-transfer Torque Magnetoresistive Random Access Memory (STT-MRAM) device. This qualification notice affirms the quality, performance and specifications of the 1Gb device and enables its use in the production of products for this customer. 

The STT-MRAM provides a significant reduction in switching energy compared to Toggle MRAM, and is highly scalable, enabling higher density memory products. Everspin’s third generation of MRAM technology uses a Perpendicular MTJ, and has developed materials and Perpendicular MTJ stack designs with high perpendicular magnetic anisotropy, which provides long data retention, small cell size, greater density, high endurance and low power.

The 1Gb is the newest generation of STT-MRAM, utilizing ST-DDR4 which is a JEDEC-like DDR4 interface with some modifications needed to take advantage of the persistence from MRAM technology. These products perform like a persistent DRAM but with no refresh required. Additional products are planned which will utilize high speed serial interfaces for a range of embedded applications.

Earlier this summer, Everspin announced pilot manufacturing of its 28 nm 1Gb device and is now qualified to make production shipments to its first qualifying customer. 

No other manufacturer has achieved production of any discrete STT-MRAM device, a further testament to Everspin’s position in the field having achieved production of its 256Mb STT-MRAM in 2017. To date, Everspin has produced more than 120 million units of its Toggle and STT-MRAM devices.

Everspin’s STT-MRAM devices allow enterprise infrastructure and data center providers to increase the reliability and performance of systems where low latency data persistence is critical. This is achieved by delivering protection against power loss and allowing storage OEMs to significantly improve quality of service of their products. 

Similar benefits can also be achieved using the 1Gb STT-MRAM device as a persistent data write buffer in storage and fabric accelerators, computational storage, and other applications.

The data center OEM name is not being disclosed as they have not yet announced their end product(s).

“We continue to make great strides in the commercialization of MRAM across many market segments, including the data center,” said Kevin Conley, president and CEO of Everspin. “It is very rewarding to see the completion of this very important customer milestone with our 1Gb STT-MRAM, along with the collaboration that has taken place with our customers and our ecosystem partners.”

XenData debuts X1 Archive Appliance for LTO, cloud and optical disc to offer archiving functionality in a small footprint

Data storage company XenData launched on Tuesday its X1 Archive Appliance that connects to a network and allows file-based applications to seamlessly archive to LTO external drives, Sony Optical Disc Archive (ODA) drives or cloud object storage. The appliance runs Windows 10 Pro and is powered by XenData Archive Series and FS Mirror software.

The archive appears locally as a single logical drive – the X: drive, and comes with multiple ways to write to and restore files from it. The ‘Share the X’ drives over network and users can write to it and restore from it like any disk-based share. By using the FS Mirror, users can synchronize one or more locally accessible file systems or file shares to the LTO archive. The FS Mirror can create archive drop-boxes on the network that automatically move files to the archive, while using third party applications that integrate with XenData's XML API.

The X1 is available in three models: for LTO external drives, ODA external drives and for cloud. Each model is based on Intel NUC hardware and includes a high-endurance 1.92 TB SSD cache for enhanced performance.

The X1 for LTO connects to an LTO external drive via Thunderbolt 3 or USB 3, and for LTO drives with SAS connections, they may be connected via a Thunderbolt to SAS converter. The appliance manages an unlimited number of LTO cartridges and up to 2 billion files. It enables file transfers that span across cartridges and, when using two or more attached LTO drives, it supports automatic cartridge replication.

The X1 for ODA supports Gen 1, 2 and 3 drives with cartridge capacities up to 5.5 TB. They connect to the X1 via USB 3. As with LTO, the X1 manages an unlimited number of cartridges and it supports file transfers that use the 1.92 TB cache to span cartridges.

The X1 model for archiving to cloud storage supports multiple clouds including AWS S3, Azure and Wasabi S3. The system may be configured to replicate files to different cloud locations and different cloud providers.

The X1 Archive Appliance is immediately available. The models for managing an LTO or ODA external drive are priced at US$5,950 and the X1 for Cloud starts at $2,495.

KIOXIA’s KumoScale software now put on UNH-IOL NVMe-oF integrator’s list

KIOXIA America (formerly Toshiba Memory America), the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corp., announced this week that its KumoScale storage software with NVM Express over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) v3.11 has been added to The University of New Hampshire InterOperability Laboratory’s (UNH-IOL) official Integrator’s List. 

In order to be considered for inclusion on the list, technologies must undergo conformance testing performed by the UNH-IOL through laboratory tests or during an NVMe plugfest. Successful completion of this testing provides a level of assurance that the product being tested will function properly in NVMe-oF environments.

Developed with a strong focus on virtualizing, managing and securing data, the KumoScale software suite provides a feature-rich storage abstraction for containers and virtual machines. It delivers secure flash access, API access to orchestration frameworks, among other capabilities, and takes advantage of the unique performance characteristics of NVMe SSDs. 

KumoScale software was the first storage software technology to be granted NVMe-oF certification by the UNH-IOL, and KIOXIA America continues to submit new releases of the software suite for certification. 

“Ensuring the interoperability of technologies with the NVMe standards is at the heart of what we do,” noted David Woolf, senior engineer, Datacenter Technologies, UNH-IOL. “KumoScale block storage software was the first of its kind to be listed on the NVMe-oF Integrator’s List back in 2017. We commend KIOXIA for their continued software innovations and for making NVMe-oF more deployable in cloud data centers.”

Toshiba brings in DT02-V surveillance HDD lineup with high areal density and improves reliability

Toshiba America Electronic Components (Toshiba) announces the DT02-V Series of surveillance HDDs, its product lineup created for digital video recorder (DVR) and network video recorder (NVR) platforms.

The series utilizes latest magnetic recording technologies to achieve high areal density, helping to improve reliability compared to the prior MD04ABA-V Series. With up to 6TB capacity, the new DT02-V Series supports a maximum of 32 high-resolution camera streams and is ideal for use in surveillance DVR and NVR platforms with as many as eight drive bays.

The DT02-V Series is designed for robust 24/7 operation at HDD temperatures as high as 40ᵒC for 600,000 load/unload cycles, at rated workload of 180TB a year. Other features include a SATA 6Gbit/s interface with a 128MiB cache to help minimizing frame drops, and a robust mechanical platform designed to achieve a 1 million-hour MTTF.

“Our latest surveillance HDD family, the DT02-V Series, delivers up to 6TB of storage capacity, and is designed for use with leading surveillance DVR and NVR platforms,” says Shuji Takaoka, general manager of storage products sales and marketing division at Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage. “It also provides a variety of capacity options while improving reliability for high resolution surveillance video streams.”

The DT02-V Series 4TB samples are currently available, 6TB samples will be planned from January, and a 2TB sample is expected to be available in March.

AutoStore delivers flexible, high-density storage solution enabling retailers to deliver products to consumers in record time

AutoStore, vendor of high-density storage with an existing robotic cube-based, automated storage and retrieval system that has transformed the logistics and delivery process for businesses across the globe. The system has evolved to accommodate the increasing demands on retailers to change and stock inventory at speed and deliver goods to consumers within same-day or several hour timeframes.

Consumers are demanding more choices and are more willing to change brand allegiance to get better value and service. To remain competitive, retailers, whether big box or independent, require a presence across multiple channels – stores, online, social networking and mobile. Same-day delivery and immediate local-store pick-up are no longer perks for online shoppers, they are expectations.

Micro-fulfilment presents one of the largest challenges for business owners and retailers to not only store ever-changing inventory within a warehouse, but to ensure the warehouses are close enough to consumers. Managing fulfilment of consumer goods and groceries from regional distribution centres does not accommodate customised needs of consumers, nor can it sustain cost efficiency.

AutoStore provides a solution for the future of logistics and warehousing with micro-fulfilment at the retail store level. The pioneering Cube Storage Automation system offers the densest product/inventory storage solution in existence, where up to 15,000 SKUs can be stored within 604 sq meters. 

Modular in design, the system can be configured to fit different store ceiling heights and obstacles and suits a range of environments – from back-of-house of a grocery retailer to retail spaces for consumer products.

The AutoStore system contains a three-dimensional aluminum grid structure with self-supporting crates that are moved to pick stations by independently operating robots, providing swift and accurate movement of orders. Each robot has two sets of wheels that enable it to move along perpendicular axes, and this makes it possible for all robots to reach any position, and any crate on the grid independently – providing near 100 percent system availability.

For customers who would prefer to collect their items, AutoStore's pick-up points play a critical role in maintaining high-volume throughout for output workstations. Online orders can be consolidated in less than 10 minutes and confirmed in the system for customers to collect at any time. Orders can be retrieved from the system in just a few minutes, and customers can choose their preferred option to collect pre-picked orders, whether in-store or for home delivery.

“AutoStore delivers the flexibility and scalability needed for streamlining automated fulfillment of online orders, which is absolutely critical to accommodate increasingly higher numbers of SKUs, and seasonal spikes in ordering," said Karl Johan Lier, CEO and president of AutoStore. "It gives retailers the flexibility to make more targeted decisions about where they believe automated micro-fulfilment will be most beneficial."

Qualstar releases prototype enterprise class library offering with Sony Imaging

Qualstar Corp., provider of data storage systems, has developed a prototype enterprise class library solution with Sony Imaging Products & Solutions.

The highly scalable enterprise class library solution leverages Qualstar’s expertise and experience in designing efficient robotic-based storage systems. Utilizing Sony’s Optical Disc Archive Generation 3 technology, a single library will scale from 4.7 PB up to 50 PB. It can scale out to multi-library cluster configurations capable of managing hundreds of petabytes of archive data.

“Today’s supercomputing environments need high capacity, scalable data storage solutions to archive data for a longer period of time,” said Arun Vaishampayan, Qualstar’s vice president of global sales. “Sony’s Optical Disc Archive Generation 3 storage platform fulfills the needed requirements of this market.”

“We are delighted with the progress of this project,” said Steven N. Bronson, CEO of Qualstar. “We believe the jointly developed product will serve the needs of our valued customers and open new markets for optical devices.”

Infortrend optimizes data center footprint with high density 4U 60-bay storage

Infortrend Technology Inc. has introduced the 4U 60-bay unified storage system to address rapid data growth and limited datacenter space challenges. The 4U 60-bay EonStor GS Gen2 features advanced performance, and its high density enclosure can accommodate up to 896 drives in one system, delivering 10PB+ massive capacity for data-intensive applications.

EonStor GS 3000/4000 Gen2 is the latest generation of Infortrend’s high availability enterprise unified storage which integrates NAS/SAN/Cloud gateway into one system. 

Compared with the previous solutions, GS Gen2 NAS performance is improved by 60 percent, reaching up to 9,900/5,500 MB/s read/write throughput. It also supports 900K IOPS performance. Other enhancements include double memory capacity, four onboard 10GbE ports for high-speed I/O connections, and comprehensive form factors.

The EonStor GS 3000/2000 series are comprehensive enterprise solutions with exceptional SAN and NAS transmission performance to meet the storage needs of SMBs to large enterprises. Besides various form factors, they also offer up to 4 sets of modular host boards to fulfill the requirements of numerous applications or architecture transformation to allow more deployment flexibility. 

Furthermore, the system also comes with high expandability of more than 8PB storage capacity to easily meet the needs of future data growth. As such, its outstanding performance, flexibility, and high expandability can run critical applications for SAN and NAS on the market. The GS 3000 is perfect for the performance-conscious, while the GS 2000 is ideal for the budget—conscious as it can meet all general storage needs.

With the support of Intel’s advanced CPU platform, and the newly-released 4U 60-bay form factor, GS Gen2 is designed to empower customers to overcome the issues of rapid data volume growth in terms of storage performance and capacity, while optimizing datacenter space utilization.   

The EonStor GS 5000/4000 series forms the backbone of our high performance solution for enterprises with its powerful performance, flexibility, and high expandability to efficiently boost overall productivity. They can handle large amounts of I/O and file transfers even under high workloads, and are especially ideal for hybrid environments that adopt SAN, NAS, and cloud integration. 

The GS 5000 is perfect for those who want performance, capacity, and a high port count, while the GS 4000 is ideal for the budget-conscious as it can easily meet all general storage needs.

“Infortrend releases the 4U 60-bay GS Gen2 series to prepare businesses for the enormous data management requirements,” said Thomas Kao, senior director of product planning. “This new solution is especially future-proof for data-intensive applications, such as media & entertainment, surveillance, and HPC (high performance computing).”