One thing to sit up for: A revolutionary new SSD kind issue may quickly redefine high-density storage in information facilities by narrowing the capability hole between mechanical exhausting drives and solid-state drives. Often known as E2, this QLC flash-based drive is reportedly able to storing as much as 1 petabyte (1 million gigabytes) of knowledge whereas delivering efficiency akin to that of a high-end SSD.
The subsequent-generation drive is being collectively developed by the Storage Networking Trade Affiliation and the Open Compute Venture to retailer so-called “heat” information – info accessed much less regularly than scorching information, however nonetheless requiring sooner learn/write speeds than conventional high-capacity mechanical storage options usually present.
Examples of heat information embrace software information, logs, analytics, and backups. Whereas these information sorts have been beforehand categorized as “chilly,” the calls for of latest AI functions, analytics pipelines, and different rising digital companies have elevated entry frequency, redefining them as “heat” and making exhausting disk drives a much less optimum storage resolution.
E2 SSDs will reportedly undertake the Information Middle Customary Kind Issue “Ruler” specification, measuring 200mm in size, 76mm in peak, and 9.5mm in thickness. Every drive may retailer as much as 1 petabyte (PB) of knowledge – roughly the equal of 11,000 4K films. A typical 2U rack server may accommodate as much as 40 of those drives, offering a formidable 40 PB of complete storage capability.
Preliminary specs point out that the drives could ship throughput of 8 – 10 MB/s per terabyte, translating to eight – 10 GB/s for a 1 PB mannequin. To make sure compatibility with next-generation server platforms, E2 SSDs will make the most of a PCIe 6.0 x4 interface operating the NVMe protocol. Every drive will home not less than 64 NAND flash packages and should draw as much as 80 watts of energy below load.
SNIA and OCP depend a number of main information middle operators and SSD producers – together with Meta, Microsoft, Samsung, Micron, Pure Storage, and SanDisk – amongst their members. A few of these firms have reportedly begun designing and prototyping drives primarily based on the brand new E2 SSD kind issue.
As an illustration, Pure Storage unveiled a 300 terabyte E2 prototype in Might in the course of the OCP Storage Tech Discuss occasion, the place the corporate emphasised that the expertise would enable it to supply better flexibility and scalability to its clients.
The E2 kind issue remains to be within the standardization section, that means its specs stay tentative and topic to vary. A clearer image is anticipated to emerge later this summer time, when the official Revision 1.0 specs are scheduled for launch.
Picture credit score: Storage Evaluation
