PMC Scales Performance Storage Tier with Industry’s First PCIe Storage Switches and Fastest SSD Controllers
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PMC Scales Performance Storage Tier with Industry’s First PCIe Storage Switches and Fastest SSD Controllers

Switchtec PCIe Storage Switches and Flashtec PCIe SSD Controllers Enable End-to-End, Reliable PCIe Deployment in Hyperscale and Enterprise Data Centers

SUNNYVALE, Calif. — (BUSINESS WIRE) — August 10, 2015 — PMC-Sierra, Inc. (PMC®) (Nasdaq: PMCS), the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data, today announced the industry’s first PCI Express® (PCIe®) storage switches and the world’s fastest solid-state drive (SSD) controllers. SSDs designed with PMC’s second-generation Flashtec™ NVMe™ Controllers can deliver one million IOPS and greater than 20TB of flash capacity. Systems connecting a pool of these high-performance, low-latency drives require a new class of PCIe switching solutions with robust storage features. PMC Switchtec™ PSX PCIe Storage Switches enable PCIe-SSD-based systems to scale, with the resiliency, programmability and advanced diagnostics needed for mass deployment. Together, Switchtec PCIe storage switches and Flashtec PCIe controllers provide an end-to-end solution to reliably scale the next-generation performance tier of storage (see video, figure 1).

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“While working with the industry to enable the first NVMe SSDs, it became clear there was no reliable way to connect and scale many of them in a single enclosure, much like SAS does today,” said Derek Dicker, vice president of the Performance Solutions Group at PMC. “In partnership with the industry’s most forward-thinking hyperscale and all-flash array customers, PMC created a new PCIe storage switch category with our Switchtec products to deliver the high port count, low power, resilient storage features that the industry needs.”

Hyperscale and enterprise data centers are adopting PCIe because it provides the highest speed and lowest latency connection between SSDs and host processors, giving it a significant performance advantage over SAS and SATA. Independent testing by Demartek shows that a single Flashtec-based PCIe SSD can deliver 2.5 times higher bandwidth than eight SATA SSDs running an OLTP workload in a Microsoft SQL server database (see figure 2). Flashtec controllers also enable more than double the IOPS performance of other PCIe SSDs. However, despite the performance advantages, PCIe SSDs have not been widely deployed in high-density storage environments due to the lack of a storage-grade PCIe switch. Existing PCIe switches do not have the high availability and storage capabilities to attach and scale out SSDs. PMC Switchtec PSX devices solve the scale-out storage challenge, enabling wide-spread PCIe SSD deployment, with 60 percent less power than other switches.

“Data center architectures are increasingly growing their use of PCIe infrastructure, due to its high performance and low latency benefits,” said Bev Crair, VP & GM Intel Storage Group, Intel Corporation. “The PCIe switching investment by PMC will help strengthen the ecosystem and drive broader deployment of PCIe storage solutions.”

Intel helped spearhead creation of PCI Express to provide a low-latency, high-speed bus to the CPU for peripheral expansion and co-founded the NVMe storage interface specification to further enable the ecosystem for direct-attached PCIe SSDs.

Industry’s First Enterprise PCIe Storage Switch

PMC Switchtec PSX storage switches are engineered to scale PCIe flash in high-performance storage systems, with enterprise-class resiliency and the industry’s lowest power. Systems built with Switchtec PSX consume up to 60 percent less power than those using other PCIe switches, enabling a savings of nearly 1000 Watts per rack. Systems also require 75 percent fewer devices than other switches in a typical flash array, allowing system designers to increase flash density, lower bill of materials costs, and improve the mean time before failure for higher reliability (see figure 3). The Switchtec PSX family comprises switches from 24 lanes to 96 lanes, providing:

Highest Capacity, Performance and Reliability Controller

PMC’s second-generation Flashtec NVMe Controllers, NVMe2032 and NVMe2016, provide the highest capacity, performance and reliability to store the world’s critical data. They are the industry’s first SSD controllers to integrate DDR4 DRAM, alleviating bottlenecks and maximizing throughput. Flashtec’s flexible and programmable architecture allows customers to differentiate their SSDs and customize for endurance, performance and capacity to meet total-cost-of-ownership targets and workload requirements. Advanced Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) Error Correction Codes (ECC) enable support for the latest NAND technology nodes and the industry’s widest selection of memory types, including 3-D and TLC NAND. The controllers are optimized for power efficiency, including automatic idling of processor cores and antonymous power reduction capabilities. Industry-leading features include:

Availability

Switchtec PSX PCIe Storage Switches and second-generation Flashtec NVMe Controllers are sampling now to lead customers. For more information, visit: www.pmcs.com/performancestorage.

Note to editors: PMC will exhibit in booth #213 at the Flash Memory Summit, August 12-13, at the Santa Clara Convention Center, featuring demonstrations of the Switchtec storage switches, as well as the Flashtec SSD controllers reaching one million IOPS. For more information, visit www.pmcs.com/lit.

Photos:
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Industry quotes

Memory Vendors

“PMC’s products highlight the innovation necessary to meet the needs of the evolving and rapidly-growing enterprise storage market,” said Phill LoPresti, president and CEO of Everspin. “Everspin’s products have been optimized for this market - our ultra-low latency and high endurance ST-MRAM provides a persistent DRAM solution that is reliable and efficient, matching up well with PMC’s new offerings.”

“We are pleased to work with PMC to enable Micron’s 3D NAND technology with their high-performance LDPC controller,” said Eric Endebrock, vice president of Storage Marketing, Micron. “These efforts will help enable enterprise customers’ mission-critical and high-performance workloads, such as big data, as well as optimize virtualized workloads.”

“We look forward to working together with PMC to enable SSDs based on SK hynix 3D NAND and PMC’s industry leading PCIe SSD controllers for the hyperscale and enterprise SSD markets,” said VP S.H. Choi, head of NAND the Product Planning Office in SK hynix.

“As a leading NAND Flash memory vendor, Toshiba is constantly evolving its technology to achieve high performance and high reliability for SSDs,” said Shigeo (Jeff) Ohshima, technology executive, Flash Storage System, Semiconductor and Storage Products Company, Toshiba Corporation. “Our tight relationship with PMC and PMC’s PCIe SSD controllers provide the optimal solutions for each SSD vendor to satisfy these high requirements.”

Industry Analysts

“Social media, databases and big data are driving data centers to deploy PCIe to take advantage of its high-performance and low-latency benefits,” said Tom Coughlin, Founder, Coughlin Associates. “PMC’s Switchtec PSX storage switches should advance the ability of the industry to solve scalability and resiliency challenges and enable mass deployment of PCIe to serve end-user needs.”

“The industry continues to look for high performance solutions to drive broader flash deployments across the data center,” said Jeff Janukowicz, research director at IDC. “By enabling the use of lower-cost NAND, along with high capacity and reliability, solutions such as PMC’s Flashtec controllers are key to the continued growth of 33 percent CAGR from 2013 to 2018 of enterprise solid state drive unit shipments.”

“PMC’s years of experience in SAS and SATA markets are evident in the advanced features provided for both Flashtec and Switchtec,” said Loring Wirbel, senior analyst at The Linley Group. “Flashtec’s flexibility and advanced LDPC engine makes the architecture a leader in NVMe support, poised to displace SATA designs. Switchtec, based on an advanced architecture, offers the kind of advanced features for PCIe storage switching that are required in today’s data centers.”

About PMC’s Server, Storage System and Flash Solutions

PMC is a leading provider of enterprise and data center solutions for networked and server storage applications with a broad portfolio of Adaptec® RAID adapters and HBAs, Flashtec™ NVMe controllers and NVRAM drives, Switchtec PCIe switches, Tachyon® SAS/SATA and Fibre Channel protocol controllers, RAID controllers, SAS/SATA I/O controllers and SAS expander products. Together, these products provide end-to-end semiconductor and software solutions to the industry’s leading storage OEMs, ODMs and hyperscale data centers. For more information, visit http://www.pmcs.com/storage.

About PMC

PMC (Nasdaq: PMCS) is the semiconductor and software solutions innovator transforming networks that connect, move and store big data. Building on a track record of technology leadership, the company is driving innovation across storage, optical and mobile networks. PMC’s highly integrated solutions increase performance and enable next-generation services to accelerate the network transformation. For more information, visit www.pmcs.com. Follow PMC on our Blog, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and RSS.

© Copyright PMC-Sierra, Inc. 2015. All rights reserved. PMC, PMC-SIERRA, TACHYON and ADAPTEC are registered trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. in the United States and other countries, PMCS, Flashtec and Switchtec are trademarks of PMC-Sierra, Inc. PMC disclaims any ownership rights in other product and company names mentioned herein. PMC is the corporate brand of PMC-Sierra, Inc.


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