Kioxia has made a significant leap in the data storage industry with the introduction of their new solid-state drives (SSDs) boasting an extraordinary capacity of 245.76TB. This development positions Kioxia as a leader in the market for large-capacity commodity flash drives. Targeted primarily at artificial intelligence (AI) training, data lakes, and as alternatives to traditional hard disk drives (HDDs) in hyperscale cloud environments, the LC9 series promises to reshape the landscape of enterprise storage solutions.
Unprecedented Storage Capacity
The 245.76TB capacity of Kioxia’s LC9 SSDs significantly surpasses the current maximum from spinning disk technology, which reaches around 40TB. This leap in capacity is particularly noteworthy when considering that Pure Storage has announced plans for a 300TB flash drive using its proprietary DirectFlash Modules, expected to be available later this year. However, those drives will be restricted to use within Pure’s storage arrays, reinforcing Kioxia’s advantage in the broader market for compatible SSDs.
Technology and Specifications
The LC9 drives are available in multiple form factors, specifically the 2.5-inch U.2 and EDSFF E3.S and E3.L options. Utilizing PCIe 5.0 technology, these SSDs can accommodate high-performance applications by supporting either a single full channel or dual channels at half speed. This design enables deployment within storage arrays featuring dual redundant motherboards. While the 2.5-inch and E3.S variants max out at 122.88TB, the full capacity of 245.76TB is unlocked with the E3.L drives.
Central to the performance capabilities of Kioxia’s LC9 is the eighth-generation BiCS NAND flash technology, which incorporates 32 quad-level cell (QLC) circuits, a considerable increase from the 16 circuits employed in previous iterations. This expansion has effectively doubled the maximum capacity from 122.88TB to the revolutionary 245.76TB.
In the rapidly evolving market, Kioxia faces competition from other manufacturers, such as Phison and Solidigm, who also offer 122.88TB flash drives. However, the performance metrics and build quality differ significantly among these products. For instance, Solidigm’s D5-P5336 controller chip achieves maximum write speeds of 3.2GBps and read speeds of 7.4GBps, while Phison’s Pascari D205V has comparable write speeds but boasts a remarkable read speed of 14.7GBps with PCIe 5.0. Kioxia’s LC9, on the other hand, has lower performance thresholds, reaching around 3GBps in write speeds and 12GBps in read speeds.
Performance Insights
One interesting aspect of Kioxia’s LC9 SSDs is their performance in random write scenarios, where they exhibit commendable results attributed to the higher number of NAND chips. The LC9 supports up to 50,000 input/output operations per second (IOPS) for random writes, outpacing Phison’s 35,000 IOPS and Solidigm’s 25,000 IOPS. However, in terms of random read speeds, Phison takes the lead with three million IOPS, followed by Kioxia at 1.3 million and Solidigm at 930,000.
It is important to note that the disparity in performance can be influenced by various factors, including the configurations of onboard random access memory (RAM) used for caching, firmware intelligence for data management, and the inherent characteristics of QLC SSDs. The process of storing four bits in a single memory cell complicates write operations, as it requires additional steps for data management, which can lead to slower write speeds compared to read speeds.
Innovative Form Factor Design
The innovation does not stop at capacity and performance; Kioxia has also redefined drive formats with their “2T” design for E3.L drives, accommodating two 122.88TB cards in one unit. The E3 form factor allows for a compact height of 7.6cm, corresponding to the design of a 2U storage array. This enables a juxtaposition of capacity and size, with E3.S and E3.L drives offering competitive thickness measurements compared to traditional alternatives.
While a typical 2U storage array can fit 24 E3 SSDs, the introduction of the 2T SSDs limits this to 10 units per array. As such, filling a 2U rack with 122.88TB drives results in approximately 2.9PB of raw capacity, whereas using the 245.76TB drives culminates in a total of around 2.46PB. However, Kioxia emphasizes that the primary advantage of the larger capacity drives lies in their efficiency. Using fewer PCIe channels means that a single array can manage more SSDs while reducing energy consumption, a critical factor in modern data center operations.
Market Impact and Future Considerations
As the demand for data storage continues to grow, especially in AI and big data applications, the introduction of Kioxia’s 245.76TB SSDs has important implications for businesses seeking to upgrade their storage solutions. The capacity to replace traditional HDDs with these high-performance SSDs represents not only an increase in speed and efficiency but also enables organizations to manage larger volumes of data more cost-effectively.
With Kioxia’s aggressive push into the high-capacity storage market, it will be interesting to see how competitors respond and innovate in this rapidly evolving landscape. Ensuring compatibility across different storage arrays while optimizing performance will be key strategies for companies looking to maintain their market positions amidst such significant advancements in technology.