LSI and Intel put 1TB worth of SSD cache on a Nytro MegaRAID board
RAID cards are one of the more difficult things in the technology world to get excited about. Especially since most of these discrete add-on boards are really aimed at enterprise users, not media centers or gaming rigs. But, we've got to hand it to LSI and Intel for knowing how to make a splash. The companies caught our attention by slapping a pair of 512GB SSDs on a Nytro MegaRAID PCIe card. While there are a couple of models of the controllers, it's the RCS25ZB040LX specifically that's carrying the 1TB of flash storage. The media isn't meant for installing programs or archiving data, though, instead its dedicated cache for the controller. All that blazing fast SLC flash should help speed up any task that is reliant on frequent random reads. We don't think you'll be picking up one of these SandForce-powered bad boys for your personal server though, even an entry level version with 100GB of SLC will set you back $1,795.
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LSI Server-side PCIe Flash Technology Selected by Intel to Accelerate Database and Big Data Applications
LSI® Nytro™ MegaRAID® technology offered with Intel® RAID for Intel® Server Boards and Systems to boost application performance and enhance data protection
SAN JOSE, Calif., April 8, 2013 – LSI Corporation (NASDAQ: LSI) today announced that it has entered into an expanded original equipment manufacturer (OEM) relationship with Intel, whereby LSI® Nytro™ MegaRAID® technology will be available as part of the Intel® RAID product family.
Flash technology is experiencing rapid adoption in enterprise servers as customers look for ways to accelerate storage performance while optimizing existing investments in hard disk drive and direct-attached storage (DAS) infrastructure. LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology uniquely integrates intelligent caching software with server-side PCIe® flash and LSI's leading dual-core RAID-on-Chip (ROC) technology. This integration is designed to enable simple, transparent application acceleration and RAID data protection for DAS environments.
"Customers in virtually every industry are facing competitive pressures to increase datacenter efficiency and lower IT costs," said Noury Al-Khaledy, General Manager Intel Enterprise Platforms and Services Division. "Through our expanded relationship with LSI, we're able to offer customers a single, integrated solution that enables exciting levels of application performance, data protection and a low TCO."
LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology cuts latency and boosts application performance by converting server-based flash into a "hot" data cache for critical business applications. Nytro MegaRAID technology will help to provide Intel server board and systems customers with very high levels of random IOPS performance for data-intensive and latency-sensitive workloads such as databases and big data applications, Hadoop® implementations and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). Benchmark testing using Nytro MegaRAID cards have achieved up to a 33 percent improvement in the time it takes to complete Hadoop jobs and delivered support for up to twice as many VDI sessions compared to a non-caching storage implementation.
"Intel's selection of LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology is another significant validation of our strategic focus and investments in flash-based server acceleration technology," said Gary Smerdon, senior vice president and general manager, Accelerated Solutions Division, LSI. "We're excited to be working closely with Intel to bring the powerful performance, data protection and TCO benefits of Nytro MegaRAID technology to Intel customers."
LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology integrates LSI SandForce® Flash Storage Processors to deliver award-winning performance, reliability and energy efficiency. The products use industry-standard and widely deployed RAID controller technology drivers and management support to enable broad compatibility with existing storage infrastructures as well as simple, plug-and-play integration into today's low-profile, high-performance system chassis.
Intel will offer LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology within their Intel® RAID SSD Cache Controllers RCS25ZB040 and RCS25ZB040LX which include embedded flash of 256GB and 1TB, respectively.
LSI Nytro MegaRAID technology is part of LSI's comprehensive Nytro product portfolio of PCIe flash adapters, including the Nytro WarpDrive® and Nytro XD product families. More information on the LSI Nytro application acceleration product portfolio is available at www.lsi.com/acceleration.
LSI will showcase the Nytro product portfolio in technology demonstrations at the 2013 High Performance Computing Linux for Wall Street conference taking place today at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York, N.Y.
About LSI
LSI Corporation (NASDAQ: LSI) designs semiconductors and software that accelerate storage and networking in datacenters, mobile networks and client computing. Our technology is the intelligence critical to enhanced application performance, and is applied in solutions created in collaboration with our partners. More information is available at www.lsi.com.
LSI, the LSI & Design logo, Storage.Networking.Accelerated., MegaRAID, Nytro, SandForce and WarpDrive are trademarks or registered trademarks of LSI Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
All other brand or product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.
