Infinidat Expands InfiniBox Line With Solid-State Array With 1PB Effective Capacity
Powered by deep learning software algorithms and extensive DRAM cache
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on June 18, 2021 at 2:34 pmInfinidat announced the new InfiniBox SSA, a solid-state array that delivers high performance for the most demanding enterprise applications.
It is powered by firm’s deep learning software algorithms and extensive DRAM cache. It will deliver performance and latency results that surpass AFAs, while providing the same customer experience, 100% availability, and reliability of the InfiniBox.
“The innovation of our new solid-state array is squarely focused on demanding enterprise applications requiring the highest levels of performance with consistent, predictable low latency for virtually every I/O,” said Phil Bullinger, CEO. “Our established InfiniBox system disrupts conventional all-flash arrays, delivering a unique and very compelling combination of performance, scale, availability and cost for the vast majority of enterprise workloads. The InfiniBox SSA now extends our capabilities to meet the most intensive enterprise storage requirements.”
The new InfiniBox SSA expands the InfiniBox family and is the company’s first 100% solid-state technology for persistent storage which, when coupled with Infinidat’s patented Neural Cache deep learning software, takes the performance of the InfiniBox array to the next level. The InfiniBox SSA for profiles requiring consistent -low latency is complementary to the standard InfiniBox system for general-purpose applications, which are the vast majority of enterprise applications. A common software base between the standard InfiniBox and new InfiniBox SSA provides seamless, transparent data mobility between the platforms, enabling customers to reduce TCO while optimizing latency based on application demands.
Feedback from global customers who have already evaluated and deployed the InfiniBox SSA has been positive. It derives its faster-than-AFA performance through the extensive use of DRAM cache enabled by patented Neural Cache software. DRAM and SSDs are both solid-state technologies, but DRAM is an order of magnitude faster than flash-based SSDs.
“We chose to deploy the new InfiniBox SSA because it is the highest-performing, most resilient and most consistent enterprise-class storage solution on the market today,” said a Fortune 500 insurance company, which requires enterprise-class storage at multi-petabyte scale. “We put the InfiniBox SSA through rigorous testing and compared it head-to-head with the major all-flash array solutions. The InfiniBox SSA surprised us by outperforming every AFA product, achieving 3x the original captured performance with 40 percent lower latency, even during multiple failure scenarios. Now, we are able to support our higher-demanding service level agreement profiles on the SSA platform better than we have ever been able to do with any other storage product.”
“Our market research has affirmed that some enterprise applications require ultra-low latency and extremely high performance. Striking this balance and maximizing the speed have been a challenge, calling for a new approach that goes beyond conventional approaches,” said Paul Nashawaty, senior analyst, ESG. “The strategy to make the back-end persistent storage completely solid-state technology and get the very best performance from any media is a new way of thinking about how to better address performance-sensitive applications.”
By offering both the InfiniBox and the InfiniBox SSA systems, the storahe company enables large enterprise customers to consolidate and address their application workloads with the right mix of performance and latency at the right cost. Not only do users of the InfiniBox SSA get the speed, but they also benefit from the ease of use, scalability, high availability, and lower TCO that have put the InfiniBox platform in high demand among enterprises and service providers alike.
The InfiniBox SSA is generally available.
Comments
This announcement is a real evolution for the company as they preached since the firm inception a proprietary architecture based on DRAM, SSD and HDD powered by intelligent cache algorithms known as Neural Cache.
In that classic Infinidat model SSD plays a L2 cache role. Does it reflect the last corporate directions with new leadership, VC investments and boards members and some later pushes? In other words, in today's market climate, it's tough to ignore the full flash market dynamic with some company direction in mind such an IPO or an exit.
This is again a question of perception and even opinion as it depends where you start. If you start with the wish to consider only AFA, Infinidat is out of the picture. And if a RFP requires such technology, the company is simply out. We can even also say that if some applications require sustained consistent ultra-low latency, "classic" InfiniBox is not the perfect fit and something new is needed.
Now, if you break the ice or the consensus and consider performance requirements with x millions IO/s, scale and availability at a compelling cost, Infinidat clearly belongs to the leader group and shake the market approach with its DRAM-based system design.
As said Infinidat recognized that for some workloads, and for some specific RFPs, in particular with very low latency consistency level having a block storage array without HDD is a must, what they called a full solid-state array or SSA. We understand that the SSA could be deployed in conjunction with the "classic" InfiniBox that consolidates silos and enterprises applications, potentially protected each other with some DR and replication capabilities as they both leverage same software.
With that new product announcement, immediately it means that Infinidat promotes now 3 products InfiniBox, InfiniGuard and InfiniBox SSA, starting to make a portfolio with a clear solid effect associated with it and no longer a single product company. It also confirms that the company enters into a new era confirming its past beliefs but also open to new market demands.
The current SSA model shows a 1PB raw for 50% usable capacity and, as the first iteration, we expect more models with larger capacities.
Infinidat CEO Phil Bullinger told us that the SSA is already sold since 6 months with a rapid adoption accelerating the normal growth and trajectory of the company.
This implicitly confirms that the next company iteration should be an IPO or an exit and we have difficulty to imagine a new private round boosting the valuation at a level that almost prevents some M&A movements. We also learned that the company passed recently a new important barrier with 7.1EB deployed, confirming they operate as one of the top block storage provider.
This product iteration confirms once again that Infinidat initial design choice was really among the right ones as they continue to be valid as the current architecture and software release is exactly the same with 3 controllers... even for the new SSA. When comparisons were made, by Infinidat, it shows that the SSA beats some AFA products. But the market will speak for itself as it reflects the real adoption. As a market effect, it will potential trigger some reactions from usual AFA (block oriented) suspects - Dell, Hitachi, HPE, IBM, NetApp, Pavilion, Pure Storage, StorCentric with Nexsan, Vexata and Violin also adding DDN, Fujitsu and Huawei to that list - as they will consider some new threats on their "protected" business.
From a business perspective, we understand that this SSA product iteration is also a way to assess and adopt some new go-to-market channel adding potentially some OEM partners. We also got the confirmation that InfiniBox as an unified storage system should receive some new access protocols in the future such SMB or even S3 in addition of current iSCSI, FC and NFS. Today a lot of systems provide block and file, some file and object, but only a few with block, file and object. As consolidation is a key adoption trigger for the company, aggregating multiple access protocols is a clear obvious decision and advantage.
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