Micron announces PCIe SSD for data-intensive enterprise applications

Micron Technology has announced a new portfolio of PCI Express (PCIe) solid-state storage systems, the RealSSD P320h solid-state drive (SSD) series, targeted at data-intensive enterprise applications including cloud computing, high-performance computing, data analytics, business intelligence and video on demand.

Micron said it is now delivering early samples of the P320h, with mass production expected to begin in the third quarter.

The RealSSD P320h uses Micron's 34nm SLC NAND flash memory technology, and provides two different user capacities: 350GB and 700GB. From the NAND silicon to the controller to the complete system solution, the P320h SSD is designed and developed by Micron, the company claimed.

For performance, the P320h series reaches a new standard among current PCIe systems, more than doubling the sequential read and write speeds compared to the nearest competitor, achieving up to 3GBs of sustained data throughput per second. In terms of input/output operations per second (IOPS), a common method used in the enterprise market for benchmarking relative performance, the P320h series reaches a maximum of 750,000 IOPS read and 341,000 IOPS write speeds.

"Micron is defining a whole new category of enterprise-class storage with our P320h PCIe solid-state storage systems," said Gary Gentry, general manager, enterprise division, Micron's NAND solutions group.

Other applications that benefit from high-performance PCIe SSDs include Web servers and online transaction processing databases, Micron said.

Micron added the new P320h features its proprietary redundant array of independent NAND (RAIN) management technology designed to ensure enterprise-class data protection by replicating data across the NAND flash memory channels. The P320h drive also provides enterprise-class levels of endurance with the 700GB drive able to write 28TB of data every day for five years.

The first products in Micron's P320h series will be available in a full height, half-length form factor, measuring 111.15mm wide, 167.65mm long and 14.47mm thick. Micron has additional PCIe form factors under development, which the company plans to introduce later in 2011.