Close
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Storage

    Violin Memory, Toshiba Sign New Partnership for PCIe Storage

    By
    Chris Preimesberger
    -
    March 5, 2013
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Memory-based storage systems maker Violin Memory said March 4 that it is partnering with NAND flash inventor Toshiba to share intellectual property and produce new PCIe cards for servers.

      In return for being a premier supplier of NAND flash to Violin — guaranteeing delivery in case of product shortages — Toshiba will have IP access to Violin’s PCIe architecture and software for memory-based storage, ranging from storage arrays to PCIe cards.

      The Toshiba alliance enables Violin to have full visibility and control of the supply chain, manufacturing, distribution and R&D efforts at the foundry, chip and software layer.

      Violin Memory is positioning the partnership as facilitating mass adoption of a new “economic” memory-based IT infrastructure, which is news in itself. At this time, any type of NAND flash-based storage can be up to five or 10 times more expensive than standard hard disk drives or digital tape.

      PCIe Cards Are Speed Demons

      The payback with solid-state, of course, is in the tremendously higher-speed performance it offers. PCIe cards are among the fastest server components now available.

      Intel introduced Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) in 2004. It is a computer expansion-card standard based on point-to-point serial links rather than a shared parallel bus architecture, and replaces the older PCI, PCI-X and AGP standards.

      PCIe-based flash storage has the ability to bypass traditional storage overhead by reducing latencies, increasing throughput and enabling efficient processing of massive quantities of data.

      “In the past, Toshiba has been an investor and a strategic supplier to us. This announcement is about us broadening our relationship in terms of supply-chain control,” Violin Memory Vice-President of Products Narayan Venkat told eWEEK.

      “As we get into the new market of server side in addition to the storage side of the flash memory market, having a guaranteed supply of flash is an important attribute to becoming a viable enterprise vendor.”

      Toshiba May Move into Enterprise Market

      Under the agreement, Toshiba will be able to remanufacture Violin’s products as they are using Violin’s IP blueprints or “bring out new products based on the IP that suits the market that they service,” Venkat said.

      “They (Toshiba) is certainly a huge consumer and midmarket play. Our focus is the enterprise, and the combination of the two is to deliver memory-based storage across the globe,” Venkat said.

      Because Violin Memory’s Velocity PCIe cards use a lightweight driver, CEO Don Basile said, expensive host CPU and DRAM resources are not required, so costs are saved. Application performance is not compromised, he said.

      Loads of Storage Capacity

      The Velocity product line includes 1.37TB to 11TB of capacity (per card) ranging from $3/GB to $6/GB list price and form factors that range from low profile to full height and full length.

      “Our new focus on PCIe cards will allow both companies to drive radical new economics that lead to the mass adoption of memory-based architectures,” Basile said. “NAND memory is now a requirement at every level from the smart connected device to the core of the cloud and the enterprise data center. The combined product portfolios continue leadership across the evolving memory-based solution market.”

      “The PCIe card market is important to Toshiba’s customers,” said Hiroyuki Sato, Toshiba’s Vice President of Storage Products. “Expanding our strategic relationship with Violin Memory will allow us to bring the valuable Violin enterprise IP to a broad range of solutions in our future product offerings.”

      Chris Preimesberger
      https://www.eweek.com/author/cpreimesberger/
      Chris J. Preimesberger is Editor Emeritus of eWEEK. In his 16 years and more than 5,000 articles at eWEEK, he distinguished himself in reporting and analysis of the business use of new-gen IT in a variety of sectors, including cloud computing, data center systems, storage, edge systems, security and others. In February 2017 and September 2018, Chris was named among the 250 most influential business journalists in the world (https://richtopia.com/inspirational-people/top-250-business-journalists/) by Richtopia, a UK research firm that used analytics to compile the ranking. He has won several national and regional awards for his work, including a 2011 Folio Award for a profile (https://www.eweek.com/cloud/marc-benioff-trend-seer-and-business-socialist/) of Salesforce founder/CEO Marc Benioff--the only time he has entered the competition. Previously, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. He has been a stringer for the Associated Press since 1983 and resides in Silicon Valley.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Cybersecurity

      Visa’s Michael Jabbara on Cybersecurity and Digital...

      James Maguire - May 17, 2022 0
      I spoke with Michael Jabbara, VP and Global Head of Fraud Services at Visa, about the cybersecurity technology used to ensure the safe transfer...
      Read more
      Android

      Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro: Durability for Tough...

      Chris Preimesberger - December 5, 2020 0
      Have you ever dropped your phone, winced and felt the pain as it hit the sidewalk? Either the screen splintered like a windshield being...
      Read more
      Cloud

      Yotascale CEO Asim Razzaq on Controlling Multicloud...

      James Maguire - May 5, 2022 0
      Asim Razzaq, CEO of Yotascale, provides guidance on understanding—and containing—the complex cost structure of multicloud computing. Among the topics we covered:  As you survey the...
      Read more
      Big Data and Analytics

      GoodData CEO Roman Stanek on Business Intelligence...

      James Maguire - May 4, 2022 0
      I spoke with Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, about business intelligence, data as a service, and the frustration that many executives have with data...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2021 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×