Virident Ships New SSD Card for 'I/O Starved' Apps

Virident Systems said June 16 said it has started shipping a new solid state-disk-based  card that offers new power for so-called Tier-0 and "I/O starved" applications.

The tachIOn is a new server-side storage processor card designed for systems that deploy data-intensive applications, such as social media websites, data and Web analytics, financial services, gaming, and others.

The device fits right into the server and does not require its own appliance box.

Because of the high-performance, 24/7-type workloads these processors handle, it is common for conventional processors to last only a period of months before they need to be replaced. Virident CEO Kumar Ganapathy told eWEEK that the tachIOn is designed "to last for years rather than months, and delivers a sustained performance level that is 2-10x higher, even for random I/O."

"Even at full capacity, tachIOn delivers highly predictable performance for 'I/O-starved' applications and environments," Ganapathy said.

Virident's tachIOn features end-to-end error correction, advanced capacity management, and global wear-leveling to assure durability and consistent performance, Virident director of marketing Steve Campbell said.

The tachIOn's compact half-size/half-length profile maximizes density and allows it to fit into either 1U or 2U servers, and its modular design adds flexibility and future field upgrades easier to do, Campbell said.

The new devices are available in 200GB, 300GB, or 400GB of usable capacity per card.

"This device is laying the groundwork for the roadmap for Tier 1, server-side storage," Campbell told eWEEK.

Alan Niebel, CEO of Web-Feet Research, said that "the tachIOn product easily handles multiple and varied workloads and also addresses the enterprise reliability requirements and the need for easy to use global wear-leveling software that extends product lifetime, creating a total systems solution."

Virident Systems, located in Milpitas, Calif., was founded in 2006 by Silicon Valley veterans from Google, Sun Microsystems, Cisco, SGI, and Intel.

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