German University Hochschule Aalen Deploys Xinnor’s xiRAID

ABC Systems AG has implemented a storage solution at Hochschule Aalen (Aalen University of Applied Sciences), one of Baden-Württemberg’s largest universities of applied sciences.

The solution, which combines Xinnor’s xiRAID software with IBM Storage Scale, delivers performance while maintaining cost efficiency for the university’s demanding ML and deep learning applications.

The implemented solution features 2 Supermicro NVMe servers, each equipped with AMD Genoa CPU 9224 processors and 10 x 7.68TB NVMe PCIe 5.0 Kioxia drives. Each server achieves performance metrics, with sequential read speeds of 80.2GB /s and write speeds of 42.8GB /s, representing 87% and 78% efficiency respectively at the filesystem level.

“When designing this solution, we carefully evaluated various RAID options available in the market,” said Alexander Ruebensaal, MD, ABC Systems. “Xinnor’s xiRAID Classic emerged as the clear choice due to its ability to leverage modern CPU architecture through AVX technology and its innovative lockless data path. This allowed us to achieve maximum performance while minimizing system resource usage, without wasting up precious PCIe lanes to handle alternative RAID solutions. Thanks to that, we manage to implement the entire Storage without any switch that would have increased the cost and the latency.“

“We were pleasantly surprised by how this cost-optimized solution not only met but surpassed our performance requirements,” said Patrick Krawczyk, project manager, Hochschule Aalen. “The combination of xiRAID’s efficient data protection and IBM Storage Scale’s distributed capabilities delivers exceptional performance while maintaining high reliability. What’s particularly impressive is that this system’s current performance leaves us with substantial headroom for future expansion, which is crucial as our research computing needs continue to grow. This combination of high performance and scalability, achieved within our budget constraints, represents exceptional value for our institution.“

Davide Villa, chief revenue officer, Xinnor, commented on the implementation: “This successful deployment at Hochschule Aalen demonstrates the power of modern SDS solutions. By combining xiRAID’s efficient data protection with the feature-rich IBM Storage Scale on standard server hardware, we enable organizations to deploy simple, reliable and cost optimized solutions that outperform bulky OEM implementations based on proprietary hardware.“

The solution addresses several critical requirements for the university, including:

• Storage capable of supporting demanding machine and deep learning applications
• Robust data protection through xiRAID-6 configuration
• Geographical asynchronous replication across 2 locations with IBM Storage Scale Active File Management
• Easy scalability to accommodate future growth
• Cost-effective implementation through software-based RAID and optimized hardware choices

Case study: Aalen University: High-Performance Storage Based on xiRAID and IBM Storage Scale