Data Direct Networks on Oct. 1 launched a new, high-end storage appliance—one unlike anything else now available.
Appliances generally are supposed to be purpose-driven machines doing specific types of workloads. The GS7KTM Parallel File System Appliance is far more than that; it is the industry’s first scale-out parallel file system package with enterprise-class features, network-attached storage (NAS) access and cloud-tiering capabilities.
This is not unlike utilizing a powerful parallel database, like Oracle’s, inside a single rack-mounted storage unit. The new appliance, with its big data-handling capabilities, represents a measure of trickle-down IT from the high-performance computing (HPC) world.
Traditional scale-out NAS systems face scaling limitations when it comes to meeting performance and capacity requirements; standard parallel file systems are massively scalable but lack many critical enterprise data management features. The DDN appliance combines both approaches into fully integrated enterprise data management and protection capabilities, Data Direct Chief Marketing Officer Molly Rector told eWEEK.
“Increasingly, we’re seeing HPC technology being needed in the enterprise—namely non-traditional enterprise, such as research, government-funded projects and others,” Rector said. “It’s really because corporate America is taking on the concept of big data and leveraging value in their data sets by using analytics on them.”
The GS7K appliance is DDN’s third generation of embedded PFS appliances. The system starts small as a single 4U chassis with DDN’s real-time SFA storage operating system, embedded GPFS parallel file system and up to 60 drives.
Users can mix solid-state and SAS drive types with the ability to tier data between the media.
The appliance, available now, is designed specifically for data-intensive industries, such as life sciences, oil and gas exploration, financial services, manufacturing, and media and entertainment. Go here for more information.