Flash Summit: Hitachi Data Unveils Flash Strategy

HDS announces an enterprise-ready Flash technology strategy and Integral launches hardware encrypted Solid State Drives.

HDS unveils Flash integration strategy.

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation (HDS) announced a multi-phased strategy to incorporate a new, original flash technology across its portfolio of enterprise and midrange IT solutions. Based on a new flash memory management technology by Hitachi the company plans to offer a series of integrated flash devices to drive greater levels of performance, scalability and capacity. HDS also announced the immediate availability of a flash acceleration feature for its enterprise solution, Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP), that enables it to achieve more than 1,000,000 random read IOPS, an increase of approximately 3 times the performance of the current VSP.

“Up to now, the use of flash media to effectively support the demands of high-performance and time-sensitive cloud-based applications has been limited due to flash memory characteristics and controller performance. These conditions have forced customers to make compromises in cost, capacity and resilience,” said Roberto Basilio, vice president, Infrastructure Platforms Product Management, Hitachi Data Systems. “Foreseeing this, Hitachi realized that the best way to incorporate flash media across the entire IT stack was to develop solutions based on original Hitachi intellectual property. This development strategy yields the performance and end-to-end data management capabilities our customers require. The new flash memory controller designed by Hitachi lets us bring to market a series of products designed from the ground up to accelerate computing for big data and mission-critical applications and databases. These uses require real-time processing, enterprise robustness, security and a small environmental footprint.”

Integral launches Crypto SSD

Integral, a brand of UK-based Integral Memory announced the Crypto SSD, a range of SSD's that feature military-level, AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) 256-bit hardware encryption.  Available in capacities from 32GB to 256GB the FIPS 197-validated Crypto SSDs use a full disk encryption to offer a higher level of security than software-only encryption. Developed to be both tamper-proof and rugged, Crypto SSDs feature a design in which all drive electronics are sealed in epoxy resin and then shielded by a metal outer case.

“The reliable protection of data has long been a risk management issue," said Barry Webb, Integral’s US President.  "The cost of having sensitive data fall into the wrongs hands has to be balanced against the cost of implementation and management of the necessary protections to keep the data secure. At Integral, we believe the 'fit and forget' of Crypto SSD provides a highly cost effective solution to drive data security. The penalties, together with the recovery cost for even minor data breaches are significant and long lasting, both in terms of actual cost and reputation. These costs vastly out-weigh the implementation and management expense of Crypto SSD. The days of being able to lock a computer away in a drawer in an attempt to secure sensitive data is no longer an adequate defense against liability.”

The Flash Memory Summit wrapped up Thursday in Santa Clara, with the naming of Best of Show awards.