SGI Ships New HPC Storage for Mixed-Use Systems

 
 
By Chris Preimesberger  |  Posted 2010-09-22 Email Print this article Print
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SGI InfiniteStorage 16000 features dense, industrial-strength data storage and mixed I/O options, with 8G-bit Fibre Channel and 40G-bit InfiniBand.

High-performance computer maker SGI on Sept. 22 introduced its newest storage system, SGI InfiniteStorage 16000, intended for high-octane environments that deal with mixed workloads.

Most often, HPC (high-performance computing) systems that handle computation for projects such as genome rendering, oil and gas geologic exploration, and weather prediction use dedicated servers and storage because the projects involve the flow of so much data.


SGI InfiniteStorage 16000 features dense, industrial-strength storage-it can manage up to 2.4 petabytes of content-and mixed I/O options, with 8G-bit Fibre Channel and 40G-bit InfiniBand.

Having mixed connectivity options enables users to run varying types of workloads on the system without the jobs impacting each other.

SGI claims that the new system delivers up to 10GB per second of read/write performance and up to 1 million IOPS (input/output operations per second), depending upon the workload.

Other features, according to SGI, "include file and application hosting, an active/active redundant design, mirrored cache, support for multiple RAID levels and SSD, SAS and SATA [Serial ATA] disk drives, intelligent block striping, SATAssure data protection, power saving modes, and 8[G-bit] Fibre Channel and 40[G-bit] InfiniBand host-port options."

SGI has a sizable market presence in vertical markets that include government, science and other types of research systems.

"As technical computing platforms have continued a dramatic increase in density and performance, the I/O requirements are also becoming increasingly randomized between throughput and high IOPS," said IDC worldwide storage systems analyst Natalya Yezhkova. "With SGI InfiniteStorage 16000, SGI is offering customers the ability to accommodate the high end of both in a very flexible platform."

SGI InfiniteStorage 16000 systems are available now. The full feature set is described on the company's site.

 
 
 
 
Chris Preimesberger Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz
 
 
 
 
 
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