Storage News: New SSD From Intel, EMC, SGI

Here’s a roundup of some of some of this week’s headlines from the storage industry:

Intel adds 910 SSD to product line.  Intel Corporation (INTC) introduced today the Solid-State Drive 910 Series, a super high-performing SSD to address rigorous data center storage demands driven by cloud computing, virtualization and online transactions. The 910 SSD includes Intel High Endurance Technology and optimized multi-level cell (MLC) 25-nanometer NAND flash memory, that allows up to 10 full drive writes a day for 5 years. The new SSD 910 is PCIe-based and can replace multiple 15K rpm hard disk drives to not only save on space and power consumption, but also improve sequential performance and storage scalability and reduce latencies. "The Intel SSD 910 Series is a complete solution that delivers on all fronts: high performance, endurance and reliability, making it ideal for replacing I/O-intensive HDDs," said Roger Peene, director of data center SSD marketing for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. "As a leader in SSD technology, data center IT professionals can have confidence in a tier-one, easy-to-install SSD solution backed by Intel quality, reliability and technical support." Pricing for the Intel SSD 910 Series is $1,929 for the 400GB capacity and $3,859 for 800GB.

EMC Unveils VSPEX Reference Designs.  EMC announced VSPEX Proven Infrastructure – a simple and flexible reference architecture comprised of EMC's storage systems and next-generation backup products, along with best-of-breed virtualization, server, and network technology from EMC alliance partners Brocade, Cisco, Citrix, Intel, Microsoft, and VMware.  The initial fourteen VSPEX configurations focus on the ability to accelerate deployment of private cloud and end user computing environments. Available to partners in the EMC Velocity partner program, the benefits include an increased market opportunity, a faster time to market, partner branded and customizable solutions, and the ability to leverage EMC's investment in the new VSPEX labs. "The new VSPEX solutions represent an excellent option for customers looking to introduce greater levels of productivity and IT efficiency by transitioning to the cloud," said John McHugh, Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer at Brocade. "Brocade's cloud-optimized networking technologies provide an ideal foundation for the delivery of highly-scalable, best-in-class VSPEX Proven Infrastructure that enable customers to benefit from the power of virtualization and cloud without introducing IT complexity and vendor lock-in."

SGI delivers unique storage solution to CESNET.  SGI announced that CESNET, the association of Czech Universities and the Czech Academy of Sciences, has selected an SGI InfiniteStorage Data Migration Facility (DMF) storage tier virtualization solution to support the centralized data storage and archiving requirements of Czech research and education institutions. The purpose of the planned national storage infrastructure is to provision advanced storage services (including long-term archiving), and enable data sharing with enhanced management and lifecycle management generated on a wide range of subjects. The proposed concept will optimize the costs for storage, security, recovery, and data management. "The speed and scale at which our storage requirements have been growing required that we find an advanced solution that could evolve at the same pace," said Dr. Peter Vercimak, Head of Storage department at CESNET. "Rather than try to assemble this critical storage system from modular collection of various parts, SGI was able to provide the hardware, software, and management expertise that allowed us to tailor a solution that will serve us effectively and efficiently as our association's members' and other research and development clients' storage and archiving needs continue to grow."