Intel unveils next-gen data centre solid state drive

Production is expected to begin by end of 2012

Intel Corporation on Tuesday announced its next-generation data center solid-state drive (SSD), the Intel Solid-State Drive DC S3700 Series, designed to remove storage bottlenecks and maximise multi-core CPU performance.

The Intel SSD DC S3700 Series delivers fast, consistent performance and low latencies along with strong data protection and high endurance to help IT personnel support today’s most demanding data center applications, the company said.

“Today’s data explosion creates unique storage challenges for data center professionals,” said Rob Crooke, Intel vice president and general manager for the Intel Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) Solutions Group.

The key to the Intel SSD DC S3700 Series' superior and consistent fast performance is a tight distribution of input/outputs per second (IOPS) with low maximum latencies. The Intel SSD DC S3700 feeds I/O-starved applications with 4KB random read performance of up to 75,000 IOPS and 4KB write performance of up to 36,000 IOPS.

This accelerated storage performance gives parallel multi-threaded computing increased storage throughput to keep multicore CPUs more active. This reduces lapses in response time for end users for a smoother computing experience. For IT/data center professionals, who must also worry about data protection and maximum security, the Intel SSD DC S3700 Series offers full end-to-end data protection and 256-bit Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) capability.

The drive incorporates Intel High Endurance Technology (HET) to deliver single-level cell SSD-like endurance in more cost-effective multi-level cell (MLC) technology.

By combining SSD NAND management techniques with NAND silicon enhancements, HET enables the Intel SSD DC S37000 Series to achieve 10 full drive writes per day over the 5-year life of the drive. This is the equivalent of recording more than 186 years of HD video over the life of the highest capacity 800 GB drive.

The Intel SSD DC S3700 Series is a 6 gigabit-per-second (Gbps) SATA drive with performance transfer rates of 500 megabyte per second (MB/s) reads and 460 MB/s writes. It delivers 2x read and 15x write performance over its previous generation Intel SSD 710 Series.

Samples of the product are now available for data center customers to begin quality and validation cycles. General production is expected to begin by the end of the year, with volume production in the first quarter of 2013.