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Editorial Type: Technology Focus     Date: 01-2015    Views: 3310      






OCZ's recently announced Saber 1000 SSD Series is perfect for read-intensive applications, as well as being targeted squarely at high-volume hyperscale and distributed computing environments, explains the company's Scott Harlin.

Over the past several years, OCZ has delivered a leading SATA-based SSD portfolio that supports both client and enterprise applications, and regarded by research firms as one of the leading SSD providers in this market space. OCZ-branded client drives cover the complete gamut of entry-level value, mainstream, enthusiast and power user solutions, and the performance they deliver are typically at the top of their respective classes.

Client SSDs are intended for personal computing applications and though they offer lower acquisition costs than enterprise SSDs, they are not designed for the data centre. They are designed to support one client/single application I/O access where response time is critical especially for such applications as system boot-ups, file transfers and back-ups. The endurance and reliability typically built into client SSDs are not at an enterprise-class level.

As most client SSDs do not provide any protection against the consequences of an abrupt power failure, deploying them in the enterprise can put data at risk and incur data centre costs dealing with problems and/or replacements. In understanding these dynamics, OCZ has developed and evolved its SATA-based enterprise SSD portfolio over the years to not only address varied workload requirements - and deliver leading sustained performance with predictable, efficient and consistent latency responses - but also provide power failure management to customers.

INTRODUCING SABER 1000
The Saber 1000 SSD Series is specifically designed for read-intensive applications such as media streaming, video on demand (VOD), virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), online archiving and web browsing. It is also targeted for high-volume deployment hyperscale, web-hosting and distributed computing environments whereby the volume of data (and the demand for certain types of data) can increase exponentially but must still be accessed quickly. In these cases, hyperscale data centres utilise virtual servers and accommodate increased processing demands typically through cloud computing without requiring existing physical space, cooling or power, making the Saber an ideal, cost-effective solution for those environments. Examples of large distributed computing environments include Facebook, Google, and Amazon.

As not all SSDs and data centres are created equal, the key to achieving increased data and system performance is to understand how the SSD performs under specific application workload requirements - whether the workloads are read-intensive, write-intensive or mixed between the two. Based on research provided by TrendFocus in October 2014, SATA-based enterprise SSDs are currently used for read-intensive applications, equating to 70% usage, while mixed workloads represent 25% usage and write-intensive workloads represent 5% usage (see Figure 1). As the volumes for read-intensive applications continue to grow, OCZ mirrors this industry trend with read-intensive solutions targeted for hyperscale workloads, as well as advanced solutions targeted for mainstream enterprise mixed workload applications.

Whether the workload is read-intensive, write-intensive, or mixed, efficient predictable performance is essential to the success of the enterprise so that connected users are provided with a faster, more responsive storage experience. Without this level of consistency, I/O response latency spikes become evident in the system requiring IT personnel to adjust application workload requirements accordingly, which in turn increase maintenance and support costs, as well as overall total cost of ownership (TCO).

SPEED CHECKS
The Saber 1000 SATA III SSD Series utilises cutting-edge A19 nanometer NAND flash process geometry from Toshiba coupled with OCZ's internally-designed Barefoot 3 controller that enables full design control over the product roadmap while delivering high performance storage, and required endurance and drive reliability for enterprise hyperscale applications.

Designed to support 240GB, 480GB and 960GB usable capacities, the Saber 1000 Series delivers consistent sustained I/O performance across all capacities to accelerate enterprise applications. The performance metrics for a 960GB capacity Saber 1000 SSD include read bandwidth of up to 550 MB/s, write bandwidth of up to 470 MB/s, 4KB random read speed of up to 98,000 input/ output operations per second (IOPS), and 4KB random write speed up to 20,000 IOPS.

The Saber 1000 Series is delivering great performance for today's typical data centre applications, and employs unique firmware features that enable heavy read queues to be prioritised in short bursts that literally allow the SSD to 'shovel' data at incredible speeds to clear the queue and return to normal housekeeping functions.

MADE TO LAST
The Saber 1000 SSD Series is engineered to provide endurance and data reliability tools through its powerful Barefoot 3 controller and associated firmware. This includes flash management tools that can analyse and dynamically adapt to increasing NAND vulnerabilities as flash cells wear.



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