DDN Packs 5PB in 42U Rack

DataDirect Networks, Inc. (DDN) delivers the world’s densest storage solution with capacity of more than 5PB in a single rack.

As the exponential growth of big data continues to put significant strain on IT infrastructures and budgets, organizations are looking for a long-term solution to ingesting, storing, processing and distributing data. While performance remains a key storage requirement, increasingly HPC, financial services and large enterprise customers are also looking for solutions that help reduce data center sprawl, power consumption, administrative overhead and TCO.  

Tuned for these needs, the DDN high density SS8460 disk drive enclosures, in conjunction with the SFA12K and SFA7700 storage platforms, now can handle up to 84 drives with 6TB drives in 4U rack space.

By nearly doubling the amount of storage in a single rack than was previously available, it offers up to 40% more density as compared to the highest density storage array offerings available, thereby slashing operational expense by half and delivering performance and scalability for organizations looking to solve their big data challenges.

Beyond OPEX and CAPEX:
Flexibility, Reliability, Availability and Storage Optimization
Getting beyond the accounting conventions of OPEX and CAPEX, storage provisioning for big data requires organizations rethink their approach to acquiring storage capacity, and balance capital outlay with a vendor’s ability to provide innovation and long-term value add. DDN solutions are designed to down costs and address the storage needs of organizations with an architectural approach designed to improve storage management and anticipate customers’ future big data needs.

DDN has incorporated multiple innovative features in its Storage Fusion Architecture (SFA) family of products and enclosures to make the company’s storage solutions the world’s densest. They include being able to fit 84 drives in 4U of rack space, designing components to generate as little heat as possible, and optimizing patterns of airflow to prevent hotspots to ensure that temperatures remain well within permissible limits.

These features, combined with the ability to intermix SSD with SATA and SAS HDD drives within a single enclosure, allow administrators to align big data to the appropriate tier and ensure higher media utilization, improved reliability and performance at low TCO.

Molly Rector, CMO, DDN, said: “In a world where data growth is outpacing the power and space needed to store and manage it, customers are relying on the vendors that continually innovate to maximize data center footprint and power utilization. DDN’s rich history in delivering market firsts is reinforced in this latest generation of storage enclosures which is designed to specifically meet customer requirements for massive density, performance and value. With this latest 5 PB offering, we continue to maintain our density lead in the market, as well as our position as the de facto choice for high performance storage for HPC, FSI and large enterprise customers.”

The SS8460 is available and can be configured with either the SFA12K or SFA7700 products.