Flash Storage Platform promises much for primary storage

Violin Memory has introduced the Flash Storage Platform (FSP), including the new 7300 and 7700 all flash arrays, Concerto OS 7, and Symphony 3 simple management control. The Flash Storage Platform is the first all-flash storage system designed to run all primary storage and active workloads below the cost of traditional disk. The Flash Storage Platform achieves the ultimate consolidation and simplification of next generation data center workloads by delivering the highest performance storage at the lowest Capex and Opex possible today. All Flash, All Workloads, All Performance, All at a Cost Lower than Disk.

At the heart of this engineering achievement is Concerto OS 7, which combines Violin’s system-level flash management and control, block-level de-duplication and compression data efficiency engine, and one of the broadest sets of data management, protection, and recovery services, into a single, integrated operating system. All the power of Concerto OS 7 is managed by the user through Symphony 3, delivering the ultimate flexibility and granular control on a per workload, application or LUN level of all features with the most elegant, and simple, single pane of glass storage management solution in the industry.

The 7300 and 7700 Flash Storage Platform designs reduce the effective cost-per-gigabyte by more than 75 per cent over Violin’s prior generation of arrays, and are more than 25 per cent lower in cost-per-gigabyte than the competition. For large deployments the system delivers all-flash storage for as low as $1.50 effective cost-per-gigabyte, making it possible for the first time, to upgrade all primary storage to all-flash, opening up the roughly $15B primary storage market to all-flash based solutions.

The Flash Storage Platform’s fourth generation Flash Fabric Architecture (FFA) sets new and unprecedented levels of performance, scale and density. The capacity of the 7300 FSP is 217TB effective in a three-rack unit space, while the Violin 7700 FSP six-shelf configuration exceeds 1.3 petabytes effective, delivering an industry-record scale and density of 2.2 petabytes effective in a rack. Each shelf or array delivers sustained performance that can achieve 1 million IOPS at sub-millisecond latencies.

“The Flash Storage Platform is a game changer for our customers and the industry as it creates the tipping point for enterprises to capture the promise of flash for all primary storage workloads, and to migrate and refresh disk storage to all-flash cost effectively. At the same time, customers gain 10X performance improvements for most applications. These performance improvements deliver efficiencies that can completely change the competitive dynamics of most industries by removing the latency and bottlenecks created in the data centre by legacy disk,” said Kevin DeNuccio, CEO at Violin Memory.

“The Flash Storage Platform delivers the performance of flash, and enterprise-grade data services, including user selectable block-level, inline de-duplication and compression at end-user costs that compete with traditional disk array prices on a single, simple, powerful platform,” DeNuccio concluded.

“For the first time, customers no longer need complex solutions with multiple components running different software environments and fragmented feature sets. With Concerto OS 7 as the foundation for the Flash Storage Platform, data protection, data reduction, performance, and scalability for the vast majority of primary storage needs are met in a single enclosure running a single operating system managed through a single pane of glass,” said Steve Dalton, Violin’s SVP engineering.

7300 Flash Storage Platform: Native, Block-level, Inline Data Reduction

In addition to integrating a wide range of data services into the operating system for performance, reliability, and scalability, Violin has added user selectable, block-level inline de-duplication and compression on the 7300 FSP to give customers maximum storage efficiency. Delivering up to 217TB of effective capacity in 3 rack units at a data reduction rate of 6:1, the 7300 FSP supports mixed and multiple workload environments across an entire range of primary storage requirements.

The 7300 FSP unique combination of high-performance and efficient data-reduction makes it the leading and most cost-efficient solution for virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments, supporting up to 5,000 persistent virtual desktops per system.

“Our selectable, block-level inline de-duplication and compression is enabled by default,” said Said Ouissal, SVP Product Management and Strategy at Violin Memory. “This approach maximises storage efficiency while allowing users the option of selectively turning off de-duplication and compression on a per application basis to further optimise performance, providing the only single platform capable of consolidating tier-0, tier-1 and tier-2 workloads.”

7300E Flash Storage Platform: Pay-As-You-Grow

The Violin 7300E FSP provides the same capabilities and features as the 7300, but at an entry-point as low as 34TB effective. With Violin’s industry-leading “Pay-As-You-Grow” capacity licensing model the 7300E can be expanded seamlessly and without any additional hardware upgrades all the way up to 125TB effective in a compact and cost effective 3 rack unit foot print.

“The availability of the Flash Storage Platform from Violin Memory addresses real customer challenges – balancing our client’s storage Capex with their increasingly competitive business requirements,” said Kevin McConnell, Transactts Sales Director. “There is little room for discussion when you compare the cost of flash to disk and realise that often the ROI on flash is higher and achieved in shorter time than with traditional enterprise disk storage.”

7700 Flash Storage Platform: Flash for the Largest and Highest Available Tier-1 Storage Needs

The Violin 7700 FSP is the latest generation of Violin’s high-end modular array line up, engineered for maximum performance, scalability and the only all-flash platform in the industry that natively delivers a zero data loss architecture. The 7700 FSP is targeted at large, multi-petabyte and multi-site deployments for customers that look for ultimate scale, availability and flexibility.

Powered by Concerto OS 7, the 7700 FSP provides over 1.3 petabytes of effective capacity or serves 20,000 persistent virtual desktops across six shelves, and adds synchronous replication and stretch cluster capabilities to the menu of data protection services.

The 7700 FSP also provides an excellent investment protection path for existing Violin 6000 series and 7000 series all-flash array (AFA) customers, as these all-flash arrays can now upgrade to a 7700 FSP, taking advantage of the Concerto OS 7 industry-leading feature set and Symphony 3 revolutionary storage management experience.

Concerto OS 7: The Premier All-Flash Storage Operating System

The Violin 7300, 7300E and 7700 Flash Storage Platforms run Violin’s Concerto OS 7 storage operating system, the world’s first all-flash storage operating system developed for primary storage. Concerto OS 7 combines the best of vMOS 5, Violin’s previous operating system, and the Concerto data management and inline data-reduction capabilities into a single and integrated software image that powers all current and future generations of Violin’s Flash Storage Platforms.

“This release of our field-proven, battle-hardened Concerto OS 7 operating system integrates data reduction, data protection and business continuity features directly into the OS. It allows users to deploy a single, easily-managed, flash-based platform as their primary storage solution below the cost of traditional HDD-based arrays,” said Steve Dalton. “We’ve eliminated the final cost and feature barriers to mainstream flash and the Flash Storage Platform as the industry’s best choice for primary storage.”

Symphony 3: Easy Management of Petabytes on Violin Flash Storage Platforms and All-Flash Arrays

The Symphony Management Console, bundled with the 7300 FSP and 7700 FSP, enables simple management of Violin Flash Storage Platforms from a single, powerful interface. With granular control over enterprise-grade data services, customised health monitoring, real-time analytics and advanced reporting, Symphony 3 delivers detailed, automated and centralised management of a customer’s entire Violin environment.