Micron Announces 5100 Series of Enterprise SATA SSDs With Tunable Drive Performance

Micron is announcing their latest enterprise SATA SSD lineup, designated as the 5100 series. This new series of enterprise SATA SSDs gives data storage platform designers the ability to future-proof their data storage with ideal combinations of performance, capacity and enterprise-class reliability. The 5100 series provides IT with a realistic upgrade path as storage systems migrate to an all-flash data center.

Offered in capacities of up to an industry-leading 8TB, the 5100 series provides the ability to effectively manage the tidal wave of data that our increasingly digital universe creates. Key features of the 5100 series include:

• Improved Quality of Service (QoS) – provides up to 99% better QoS than spinning platter media.

• Unequaled Capacity – 8TB is double that of nearest SSD manufacturing competitor(s). Variety of capacities to meet a wide variety of demands.

• Improved Application Performance – designed for performance with up to 80,000 random write IOPS. Micron’s integrated FlexPro™ firmware architecture allows for tunable drive performance and/or endurance.

• Improved Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) – reduced IT costs and improved data center efficiency are achieved via server and storage platform consolidation.

According to Darren Thomas, Micron’s Vice President of Storage, “Micron is uniquely positioned to help IT embrace modernization and agility, and leading enterprise and cloud data centers look to Micron for breadth and depth in solid state storage solutions to tame a diverse digital universe. Our Micron 5100 Series SATA SSDs featuring FlexPro architecture offer a seamless migration path with enterprise class reliability and proven ROI, ensuring flexibility, continuity and agility for data management today and tomorrow.”

Featuring Micron’s industry-leading 3D NAND technology in either 2.5″ or M.2 form factor, the 5100 Series is being offered in three versions to meet a wide variety of usage scenarios:

• The 5100 Eco – cloud services focused, optimized for content sharing (video and media streaming). Performance and endurance are geared to consistent data throughput and information delivery.  MSRP is expected to be in the 0.45/GB to 0.55/GB range.
  

• The 5100 Pro – Micron’s workhorse. Excels at consistent performance delivery in latency-sensitive applications. Improved response times for databases powering e-commerce, trading transactions, etc., which can enhance the bottom line. MSRP is expected to be in the 0.55/GB to 0.65/GB range.
  

• The 5100 Max – meets un-forecasted demands of today’s mission-critical data centers. Has the flexibility and agility to respond quickly and efficiently.  MSRP is expected to be in the 0.65/GB to 0.75/GB range.
  

MSRPs indicated above are estimates, and can vary based on channel demand and promotion.

To be effective, an enterprise SSD must also include the management tools needed to optimize and fully utilize the drive to get the most out of its performance and endurance in order to maximize the drive’s lifespan. Micron’s new FlexPro™ firmware architecture is just such a tool, allowing IT to future-proof their storage systems. The FlexPro architecture unifies design elements across all Micron data center SSDs, and opens up the true capabilities of the storage media. This allows IT managers to easily tune specific drive features, including capacity, security, performance, endurance, power, data layout and data cleanup.

The first two features of this new FlexPro architecture are available in the 5100 series. Flex Capacity™ allows users to adjust their 5100’s capacity to provide application and workload-optimized performance. Admins save both time and money with the ability to re-purpose drives to other applications that may require different configurations and/or settings. The second is Flex Security™, which provides robust security to protect data from unauthorized access. Addresses enterprise security requirements with market-leading data protection and encryption, with zero impact on performance. This includes AES-256 bit encryption and TCG-enterprise protection in a FIPS-validated SATA SSD.

For more information, you can visit the Micron 5100 Series product page here.