SC15: Performance Storage Solutions For Supercomputing

High-Performance Storage For High-Performance Computing

While most of the buzz around the annual Supercomputing conference is focused on supercomputers, storage vendors are quick to remind industry observers that the fastest computers in the world, and in the enterprise, need high-performance storage behind them.

New storage technologies, including NVMe SSDs and scale-out storage, are allowing the building of storage solutions that provide the kind of performance required by high-performance computing (HPC) applications such as online transaction processing, online analytical processing, and data caching and indexing.

This month's SC15 conference provided a chance for a wide range of storage vendors to break out their highest-performance gear. But not everyone could make the trip to Austin, Texas, to attend. For those, CRN has brought together a dozen representative technologies sure to bring out the geek in everyone. Turn the page and see what we mean.

Cloudian HyperStore 5.2 Smart Data Software

Cloudian HyperStore from San Mateo, Calif.-based Cloudian is peer-to-peer software-defined smart data storage that the company said provides enterprise-grade, S3-compliant object storage capabilities on industry-standard servers. Storage-as-a-service providers can use HyperStore to deploy and manage both public and private clouds, while enterprises can use it to maintain private and hybrid clouds for unlimited data scale and protection.

Cloudian said it recently lab-tested Intel Xeon D 1500 Processors on Quanta servers running HyperStore software and was able to achieve a capacity of 3.84 petabytes in a single rack.

DataDirect Networks' (DDN) Lustre-Based Performance Storage

DDN, of Santa Clara, Calif., showcased its ES7K Lustre-based high-performance storage solution at Supercomputing 2015. It's targeted at channel partners serving end-user customers with fast data ingest, processing and distribution requirements, and big data analytics workflows in high-performance enterprise and high-performance computing environments. DDN claims ES7K is the fastest and densest Lustre appliance available, the only one to deliver unified data across performance, cloud, and archive storage.

DDN said the ES7K provides triple the performance and more than double the storage density of its closest competition, and offers extended Lustre accessibility to entry-level and mid-range, data-intensive, scale-out environments.

Fixstars Partners With Lenovo On SSDs For Supercomputing

Fixstars Solutions, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based SSD manufacturer, said at Supercomputing 2015 that its Fixstars SSD-3000M and Fixstars SSD-6000M are being used in Lenovo's System x3550 M5 and System x3650 M5 high-performance servers.

The SSD-6000M solid-state drive squeezes 6 TBs of MLC flash storage capacity in a 2.5-inch drive format, while the SSD-3000M maxes out at 3 TBs. Both also feature a 6-Gbit-per-second SATA interface.

Gigabyte Unveils NVMe Storage Interface-Based Solutions

Taipei, Taiwan-based Gigabyte unveiled two new models of server rack-mount solutions supporting the NVMe storage interface to provide significantly higher IOPs, lower latency and lower power consumption compared to the latest generation of SATA and SAS interfaces.

New to the lineup is the H27N-H70, a high-density NVMe server that includes four server nodes in a 2U footprint supporting eight 2.5-inch hot-swappable NVMe bays and eight 2.5-inch hot-swappable SAS or SATA bays.

Also new is the R18N-F2A, which puts two 2.5-inch hot-swappable NVMe bays and eight 2.5-inch hot-swappable SAS or SATA bays into a 1U chassis.

Huawei ES3000 V3 Series NVMe PCIe SSD Card

The Huawei ES3000 V3 series NVMe PCIe SSD from Shenzhen, China-based Huawei Enterprise offers up to 3.2 TBs of capacity in a 2.5-inch form factor. The SSD's PCIe 3.0 interface supports NVMe for performance of up to 3.2 GB-per-second bandwidth and up to 800,000 IOPs. They also allow for easy maintenance by supporting both scheduled and violent hot-swapping.

The SSDs are targeted at such applications as online transaction processing (OLTP), online analytical processing, virtual desktop infrastructure cloud and virtualization, high-performance computing, and data caching and indexing, Huawei said.

Infinidat InfiniBox V 2.2

Needham, Mass.-based Infinidat's InfiniBox combines commodity hardware with its patented Infinidat Storage Architecture to provide up to 2 petabytes of high-performance storage capacity in a single 42U rack. Infinidat also claims its InfiniBox delivers mainframe-class reliability with 99.99999-percent availability and 900,000 IOPs of performance. Included with the solution are such capabilities as automated provisioning, management and application integration.

Mangstor NX6320 All-Flash Storage Array

Mangstor, of Austin, Texas, unveiled the general availability of its new NX6320 all-flash storage arrays, which feature NVMe technology for enterprise-class performance. Mangstor claims the NX series to be the first storage solutions to use NVMe to share all-flash storage at speeds of up to 100 Gbits per second over standard Ethernet and InfiniBand networks.

The company also demonstrated its own Mangstor NVMe PCIe SSDs.

Quantum Xcellis Workflow Storage

San Jose, Calif.-based Quantum used the Supercomputing 2015 conference to introduce several high-performance computing solutions, including its new Xcellis workflow storage.

Powered by Quantum’s StorNext scale-out storage platform, Xcellis is a high-performance storage solution that addresses issues caused by the fast growth of unstructured data and the need to share and leverage that data to gain strategic value from it. Xcellis can be deployed as a stand-alone system or as the primary storage component in a multi-tier storage environment including object storage, tape and cloud technologies.

Seagate ClusterStor G200 Spectrum Scale

Cupertino, Calif.-based Seagate Technology marked its entry into the high-performance computing storage solution market with the introduction of its ClusterStor G200 Spectrum Scale. The G200 supports IBM’s Spectrum Scale file system, formerly known as GPFS or General Parallel File System, to provide high-performance data access across such industries as life sciences, automotive and aerospace design, and financial services.

The G200 integrates Seagate’s new 3.5-inch ClusterStor HPC drives, which support up to 4 TBs of capacity and 300 MBs-per-second sequential data rate.

Spectra Logic ArcticBlue

ArcticBlue, Boulder, Colo.-based Spectra Logic’s new nearline disk storage system, targets high-performance computing object storage requirements. ArcticBlue utilizes new Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) disk drives for improved storage density, and can power down individual disk bands when not in use to cut power costs and extend disk shelf life to over seven years.

ArcticBlue sits behind Spectra Logic’s BlackPearl Deep Storage Gateway, providing an S3 object storage interface. It leverages BlackPearl’s newest feature, Advanced Bucket Management (ABM), to create one or more copies on both the ArcticBlue disk array and Spectra Logic tape libraries for extended tape retention. ArcticBlue starts at about 10 cents per GB, with up to 6.1 petabytes of capacity in a single rack.