Tag: VMware

IBM Adds Server-Side Caching

IBM's FlashCache Server-Side Caching SoftwareIBM today announced its FlashCache Storage Accelerator, a software product that supports flash caching in a broad range of systems.  FlashCache operates over three families of IBM servers (System x, BladeCenter and Flex System) and a variety of flash types to accelerate any back-end storage, including non-IBM storage arrays.

Although the cache’s data is dynamically updated to match the random workloads of virtualized systems (i.e. to accelerate VMware), it also improves the performance of Windows and Linux environments.

The cache uses a Write Through policy to solve a number of Continue reading “IBM Adds Server-Side Caching”

SanDisk Upgrades FlashSoft Cache

SanDisk's FlashSoft Enterprise Caching SoftwareSanDisk has rolled out a new revision of its FlashSoft server-side enterprise caching software that includes multiple improvements over the prior versions.  The new release adds:

  • Support for multiple SSDs of mixed sizes and types
  • Concatenation of two or more SSDs into a single caching volume
  • SSD mirroring for “Safe Write-Back” caching
  • A maximum cache size increase from 1TB to 2TB
  • 2,048 accelerated objects can be stored in each cache, up from the earlier release’s 255

The company prides itself in the ease with which the software and a server-side SSD can be added to a system without otherwise changing its storage architecture.

With the “Safe Write Back” feature the FlashSoft software has been upgraded Continue reading “SanDisk Upgrades FlashSoft Cache”

Violin D-Round Values Company at $800M

A Violin Memory VIMM Memory ModuleViolin Memory has announced a $50 million mezzanine round that indicates that its latest crop of investors values the company at $800 million.  That’s pretty good for a start-up whose product has only been shipping since the end of 2008.

This round includes increases from existing investors Toshiba and Juniper Networks (a Violin user) along with new investors SAP Ventures, Highland Capital Partners, and others now joining the pool.

The company has been recruiting a highly-pedigreed staff from companies like Continue reading “Violin D-Round Values Company at $800M”

OCZ: Three Solid State Storage Products in Three Weeks

OCZ's PCIe Z-DriveSSD maker OCZ has been on something of a tear recently, introducing three new solid state storage products in three weeks:

  • Two weeks ago the company introduced the Z-Drive R4 CloudServ PCIe SSD, designed for the data center, in single-card capacities ranging from 300GB-16TB.  This product can transfer data at multiple gigabytes per second rates to deliver over a million IOPS.
  • Last week saw the introduction of the OCZ-SANRAD VXL enterprise storage accelerator, after OCZ’s January acquisition of SANRAD.  This product is flash cache acceleration software for VMware ESX and Citrix Xen virtualized environments that allows Continue reading “OCZ: Three Solid State Storage Products in Three Weeks”