Solid State Disk SAN Gets Bigger With Texas Memory Systems

Texas Memory Systems has introduced the RamSan-630 as part of their high-performance storage lineup. The RamSan-620 delivers 10-TeraByte SLC Flash based SSD disk array offer extremely high performance in a small space. According to the company, the new SSD array delivers up to ten terabytes of storage, using SLC Flash memory and fitted into a 3U enclosure. The unit offers 4GB/s of bandwidth over ten Fiber Channel links. Later this year, connection options will be extended to include Infiniband and 8-Gb Fiber Channel adapters, enabling a doubling of the aggregated bandwidth. 

The extreme performance numbers continue, with Texas Memory Systems suggesting that the new array can deliver up to 500,000 sustained I/O operations per second. All of this performance comes in a small package, taking up only three rack units of space in the data center and only using 450W of power.

Obviously, the RamSan-620 is targeted for the highest of the high-performance computing market. I/O intensive database applications, such as Oracle or Microsoft's SQL Server, are going to be biggest benefactors in deploying an SSD-based solution of this magnitude. That said, this level of performance and capacity in a small form-factor is likely well beyond what most mainstream enterprises need or are willing to pay for. 

George Crump, lead analyst with Storage Switzerland and a Network Computing blogger, sees the new offering as a sign of things to come, noting that "With this release, Texas Memory continues to reinforce its place as one of the innovators in the SSD space. It also furthers the case for SSD becoming the default mechanism for primary storage within the next five years. This also may have impact on the auto tiering discussion. If you get to the point were everything is on SSD, a different case will need to made."