Month: July 2013

Diablo: Flash Belongs on the Bus

Diablo TechnologiesDiablo Technology has just introduced a new set of DIMMs that put flash memory right onto the DDR3 memory bus.

I can already hear readers saying: “Wait!  You can’t do that!”  Well, you’re right, but the new module comes awfully close to that by putting the NAND behind an ASIC that interfaces between the DDR3 bus and the NAND.

Why do this?  Quite simply because you can get more “Bang for the Buck” by adding NAND to the system once you’ve reached a certain DRAM size.  The Diablo “Memory Channel Storage” (MCS) approach supports the addition of terabytes of NAND at the loss of Continue reading “Diablo: Flash Belongs on the Bus”

OCZ Launches Database Accelerator

OCZ ZD-XL GraphicOCZ has just introduced a new software/hardware combination aimed at accelerating the performance of Microsoft SQL Server.  The OCZ ZD-XL SQL Accelerator combines a custom PCIe SSD with caching software optimized for the SQL Server workload.  The company boasted that this product won the “Best of Interop 2013” award, a distinction certainly worth crowing about!

How does this product differ from standard caching software?  OCZ tells us that the key elements required to Continue reading “OCZ Launches Database Accelerator”

Webinar: Flash Best Practices

I had the opportunity to participate in a round table webinar covering the best practices for solid state storage on July 18.  The hour-long session (including Q&A) can be replayed at BrightTalk.

In this round table webinar entitled Best Practices for Solid State Storage Implementation storage analyst Tom Coughlin moderated three of us, Radoslav Danilak of Skyera, Esther Spanjer of SMART Storage Solutions, and The SSD Guy (Yours Truly) in a Continue reading “Webinar: Flash Best Practices”

SanDisk to Acquire SMART Storage

The following is excerpted from an Objective Analysis Alert e-mailed to our clients on 2 July, 2013:

SanDisk to Acquire SMART Storage SystemsSanDisk Corporation announced on 2 July 2013 an agreement to acquire SMART Storage Systems, the SSD arm of SMART Modular Technologies, for $307 million in cash and equity. The transaction is expected to close in August, 2013.

SMART has strong SSD technology that allows the company to ship MLC-based SSDs with endurance specifications superior to those of some SLC SSDs.  The SSD maker had shipments of about $25M in its most recent quarter.

The SMART acquisition will be the fourth Continue reading “SanDisk to Acquire SMART Storage”