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STEC has announced two new entries to the SSD world in the form of 2TB SAS and PCIE enterprise level SSDs, as well as a new version of their caching software. The SSDs are called the STEC 2TB s840 SAS SSD and 2TB s1120 PCIe Accelerator SSD, respectively. The s1120 will reach 1.4GB/s performance with 165,000 IOPS while the s840 will reach 500MB/s with 115,000 IOPS.
Both SSDs feature PowerSafe™ technology that protects data during a power failure. STEC has indicated that both drives will also be available in “unlimited writes” versions which means SLC NAND flash as opposed to MLC NAND flash. In short, SLC is much more expensive and less prone to wear-out over the long-term and therefore suitable for environments where a huge amount of data is likely to be written to it. MLC NAND flash is primarily used in consumer-level drives where this is less of an issue. These SSDs are aiming squarely at enterprises making use of I/O intensive applications such as database, data analysis, statistical analysis and modeling, and video imaging, editing and sharing.
EnhanceIO is STEC’s proprietary caching software designed for use in tandem with the aforementioned SSDs. The point of the caching software is to save enterprises money while providing “SSD-like” performance in a server using primarily hard disk drives. STEC maintains the software is completely transparent, operating below the application layer. The new version introduces write-back caching, improvements in data integrity, a graphical user interface, and improved data analysis to help IT departments optimize their storage strategy.
The typical consumer need not apply, as the price of the s840 SSD is $7,995.00 and the price of the s1120 SSD is $ 9,425.00 in volume quantity. The EnhanceIO software sells for $295 for the Linux version and $495 for the Windows version.