Product

Western Digital's new storage solutions for data centre architecture

From the cloud, to the edge, to the enterprise, data centre architects are deploying higher levels of flash to unlock the potential of AI, object storage, file sharing and more. At the same time, they are laser focused on controlling spend and must find solutions to help them manage, scale and utilise storage assets more efficiently. ​ This is driving a growing trend to disaggregate and share NVMe flash over fabric (NVMe-oF) for improved performance, availability and flexibility of storage resources. Helping customers simplify NVMe/NVMe-oF storage deployment, Western Digital has announced new solutions: Enhanced OpenFlex Data24 3200 NVMe-oF JBOF/Storage Platform Next generation RapidFlex A2000 and C2000 NVMe-oF fabric bridge devices (FBDs New Ultrastar DC SN655 PCIe Gen 4.0 dual-port NVMe SSD These new storage solutions are enabling an ecosystem, providing more flexibility and choice for simplifying solutions deployment for customers. It has vertical integration capabilities targeting both ends of the ethernet wire to deliver solutions, where data travels from the server initiator to the storage target. Fully integrated OpenFlex Data24 3200 NVMe-oF Storage Platform The platform extends the performance of NVMe flash to a shared storage architecture. By separating storage resources from compute, and sharing it over ethernet, OpenFlex Data24 becomes widely available to multiple applications and servers, allowing for greater resource control and scalability, leading to improved storage utilisation without overprovisioning. Using RapidFlex FBDs, the Data24 3200 allows up to six hosts to be attached without a switch. A switched environment allows scaling even more hosts and Data24 platforms, providing scale-out or scale-up capabilities from hundreds of terabytes to petabytes of its flash with very low application latency. In addition to RDMA over converged Ethernet (RoCE), it now features new TCP connection support. Available in a 2U 24-bay platform and backed with a five-year limited warranty, it is built to deliver low power, high availability and enterprise-class reliability with up to 368TB in a single platform of low latency dual-port PCIe Gen 4.0 SSDs. Next generation RapidFlex FBDs: the A2000 ASIC and the C2000 fabric bridge PCIe adapter card The RapidFlex family of NVMe over fabric bridge devices provide the foundational building blocks for OEMs/ODMs and large organisations taking a DIY approach to their software-defined infrastructure to enable next generation workloads based on highly scalable shared storage across an ethernet fabric. These second generation low-power, high-performance FBDs come in two versions: the RapidFlex A2000 controller, and the RapidFlex C2000 that places the A2000 chip on a PCI adapter for powering solutions. The new FBD is a unique state machine that exports the PCI bus over ethernet, allowing externally connected SSDs to appear as if they were local to the server. The new family also doubles performance with an additional 100GbE port matched to 16 lanes of PCIe Gen 4.0, and provides a PCIe root complex within all NVMe all-flash arrays, making it easy to qualify and deploy. The new FBDs add initiator mode capability to the existing target mode capability, so customers can now deploy more cost-effective and lower power initiator cards in their servers instead of a conventional ethernet NIC for NVMe-oF connectivity. Enterprise-class Ultrastar DC SN655 Dual-Port NVMe SSD This is a cost-effective, dual port, high capacity PCIe Gen 4.0 NVMe SSD designed for cloud, OEM and enterprise customers who need high-performance, high capacity storage for a variety of applications and workloads such as disaggregated storage, object storage, storage servers and other mission-critical applications. The Ultrastar DC SN655 is a vertically integrated SSD that provides a simple, scalable, single-port or dual-port path to ensure continuous data access for enterprise high availability requirements. It also expands capacities from new 3.84TB to 15.36TB, targeting both storage and mixed workload compute applications, and increases drive reliability to 2.5 million hours mean time between failures (projected). Additionally, it reaches more than one million maximum random read IOPs and enhanced Qos for large unstructured workloads. It comes in a drop-in U.3 15mm form factor and is U.2 backwards compatible. It also offers additional enterprise features like power-fail protection and end-to-end data path protection to ensure data is available when needed. Click here for latest data centre news.

CENTIEL leads industry with sustainable UPS launch

CENTIEL UK has launched its new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) StratusPower to provide complete peace of mind in relation to power availability while helping data centres to achieve net zero targets. The latest innovation leads the industry, as StratusPower shares all the benefits of its award-winning three phase, true modular UPS CumulusPower – including ‘9 nines’ (99.9999999%) availability to effectively eliminate system downtime; class leading 97.1% on line efficiency to minimise running costs; true ‘hot swap’ modules to eliminate human error in operation – but now also includes long-life components to improve sustainability. The three phase modular UPS StratusPower now covers a power range from 50 to 1,500kW in one cabinet and can be paralleled for 3,750kW of uninterrupted, clean power, which is perfect for data centres, minimising total cost of ownership but also helping achieve sustainability goals with a full commitment to zero waste and net zero policies. Click here for latest data centre news.

Centiel launches new sustainable UPS

Centiel UK has launched its new uninterruptible power supply (UPS) StratusPower to provide complete peace of mind in relation to power availability, while helping data centres to achieve net zero targets. StratusPower shares all the benefits of its award-winning three phase, true modular UPS CumulusPower, including ‘9 nines’ (99.9999999%) availability to effectively eliminate system downtime; class leading 97.1% online efficiency to minimise running costs; true ‘hot swap’ modules to eliminate human error in operation. But now, it also includes long life components to improve sustainability. David Bond, Chairman, Centiel UK, confirms, “Data centres burn massive amounts of energy and use huge volumes of water to cool equipment, and so it is essential that we work towards developing more sustainable solutions. Historically, Centiel’s innovation has led to the creation of one of the most efficient and available UPS solutions on the market in CumulusPower. For the past four years, we have been working to ensure our latest UPS is now as sustainable as possible too.  “Like all our UPS, StratusPower is manufactured at our factory in Switzerland. However, uniquely, it includes even higher quality components, so instead of replacing filter capacitors and cooling fans every four years, they now need replacing every 15 years, or just once during their entire 30 year design life. As a data centre has a design life of typically 25 to 30 years, StratusPower will last as long as the data centre. Furthermore, at end of life, StratusPower can also be almost 100% recycled.” StratusPower now covers a power range from 50 to 1,500kW in one cabinet and can be paralleled for 3,750kW of uninterrupted, clean power, which is perfect for data centres. Like its whole range of UPS solutions, UPS cabinets are designed with scalability and flexibility in mind, and future load changes are easily accommodated by adding or removing UPS modules as required. A data centre will never outgrow a well specified StratusPower UPS and it can be constantly rightsized to ensure that it always operates at the optimal point in its efficiency curve. David confirms, “Centiel’s team have long been at the forefront of solving technology challenges. As a society and in the board room, we now need to look seriously at sustainability and how it can be genuinely achieved within data centres.  “StratusPoweris a significant move towards this goal as it not only minimises total cost of ownership but also helps achieve sustainability goals with a full commitment to zero waste and net zero policies. The system is highly efficient, scalable and reliable, providing complete peace of mind when it comes to power availability and uptime. Our experienced team are always available to advise on the most appropriate options for organisations looking to improve their approach to sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint while maintaining the highest level of availability for critical power protection.” Click here for latest data centre news.

Schneider Electric has introduced its new Easy UPS 3-Phase Modular UPS. It is easy to select, quote, install and maintain, with a modular architecture that enables redundant, scalable options and Live Swap of power and bypass modules with no scheduled down time. This uninterruptible power supply delivers robust power protection and high availability in a cost optimised, 50-250kW N+1 400V package, ideal for small and medium data centres and other business critical applications. It also features a modular design with Live Swap in a compact, one cabinet footprint. Its scalability enables customers to pay-as-they grow, optimising capital investment with competitive acquisition costs. Customers can buy the power modules they need upfront and enjoy optimised operating efficiency. They can then add power modules with third-party verified Live Swap as demand grows. The modular design also enables N+1 internal redundancy, which increases the system’s availability with no extra footprint.

Pulsant pioneers platformEDGE to deliver edge computing for all

Pulsant has launched platformEDGE — a next-generation platform that will enable regional businesses across the UK to harness the opportunity of digital transformation. platformEDGE is a UK-wide integrated infrastructure that enables scalable, high-performance, low-latency edge application delivery. By placing intense compute power as close to the end device as possible, edge computing enables businesses to exploit data-dense opportunities, such as video analytics, the Internet of Things (IoT), virtual reality (VR) gaming, autonomous vehicles, and remote monitoring. The platform has three components: A regional data centre network, offering the capacity to co-locate in any of Pulsant’s 12 secure data centre locations, connected by 100Gbps Zayo fibre with latency of 10ms or less. Low latency connectivity with flexible options designed to maximise edge performance with Megaport’s SDN (Software Defined Network) platform. A distributed compute and storage platform for edge workloads and hyperscale cloud integrations. These three elements help simplify the journey to the edge for regional businesses, accelerating time to value and ensuring they are well positioned for future growth opportunities. Edge computing is also critical to ensure smart cities remain economically viable as populations and data continue to grow exponentially. Rob Coupland, CEO, Pulsant comments, “Our heritage is built on championing regional business. platformEDGE is the next stage in this evolution, delivering the technological foundation for these businesses to digitally transform. We have invested hundreds of millions in this technology to collapse the digital divide and accelerate innovation throughout the UK.” Simon Michie, CTO, Pulsant adds, “There are just over half a million software developers in the UK. platformEDGE will dissolve the infrastructure constraints they face and unleash regional innovation for local businesses, governments, service providers, and suppliers, in a way that can’t be achieved today.”

Vertiv, a global provider of critical digital infrastructure and continuity solutions, has announced key enhancements to its dedicated offering for channel distributors and resellers. According to Omdia, Vertiv is already ranked at first place in the three-phase UPS market globally, capturing 16% of the market. With these enhancements, its highly efficient and market-leading three-phase uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) from 10 to 60kVA, including the Vertiv Liebert ITA2 and its complementary services, are now available in the Vertiv Solution Designer tool and shipping from stock in Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA). According to Omdia’s UPS Hardware Market Tracker and Analysis 2022, there is an increased demand for three-phase UPS in EMEA from markets outside of cloud, colocation, and telco. These include retail, wholesale, healthcare, manufacturing and other industries. By 2026, the three-phase UPS market in EMEA is expected to grow from $1.66 billion in 2021 to $2.07 billion, a CAGR of 5.84%. “Digitalisation is being leveraged by companies of all sizes and industries, which leads to an increased need for efficient solutions to protect small and medium sites against power outages,” says Karsten Winther, EMEA President at Vertiv. “The strategic addition of three-phase UPS to our IT channel portfolio allows partners to serve a broader market with industry leading solutions, enabling businesses to leverage the latest technologies and accelerate their digital transformation journey.” “As an official Vertiv partner and system integrator for over 30 years, we are seeing more and more opportunities for three-phase UPS systems,” says Ronald Lagerberg, Team Leader Energy Solutions at Endenburg Elektrotechniek. “The extension of Vertiv’s IT channel portfolio expands our options, enabling us to gain substantial logistical, administrative, and financial advantages while enhancing our ability to serve end-users. We look forward to integrating these cutting edge products into our offerings." The Vertiv Liebert ITA2 features a true online double conversion technology, a unity power factor and an extremely compact rack/tower design. Compared to single-phase systems, three-phase UPS allow higher power capacity and up to 99% efficiency in ECO mode. With the offering, expert support on product selection, set-up and performance optimisation throughout three-phase systems’ entire lifecycle is now available also through the channel market. In fact, the three-phase UPS offering is enhanced with customised on-site and contract services specifically designed for the channel, while also leveraging the company’s top tier service network. Having a large portfolio of UPS solutions dedicated to the channel market means that partners have access to a wide range of power protection options, including medium power solutions that allow businesses to expand their digital footprint while still working with their trusted channel partner. Vertiv provides a comprehensive range of specialised services designed to complement channel partners’ business models. The extensive service expertise offers a smooth experience for all parties involved, providing seamless support across their entire service offering, including on-site services, lifecycle services and digital services such as remote diagnostics and incident management. Moreover, partners can leverage Vertiv software solutions to empower asset management capabilities and offer the best experience to their end users. In addition to UPS systems, the company’s broader critical infrastructure portfolio is designed to operate more efficiently, increase capacity and potentially lower TCO while integrating seamlessly with the customer’s existing infrastructure, enabling partners to expand revenue streams and increase margins. With manufacturing facilities across Europe and the world, Vertiv solutions can be made available when and where they are needed. Partners can also access dedicated configuration tools linked with an ecosystem of technical and commercial support teams. Vertiv’s multi-award winning Partner Program features benefits and incentives to equip, develop and reward partner engagement. The addition of the Liebert ITA2 UPS to its IT channel portfolio also enables EMEA resellers in participating countries to earn more points through the Vertiv Incentive Programme (VIP), which allows partners to easily earn rewards without the need for any reporting. Bonus points are uploaded into the Vertiv Partner Portal monthly, and the partner only needs to log in to redeem them.

Panasas pushes HPC storage to the edge

Panasas has announced the launch of its new ActiveStor Ultra Edge platform, a HPC and AI/ML storage solution designed for edge computing environments. Panasas’ ActiveStor Ultra Edge platform has a reduced footprint and lower entry cost, making it an ideal choice for organisations deploying HPC and AI/ML applications in remote locations, closer to where data is generated, to improve real-time decision-making. Global spending on edge computing is expected to reach $208 billion in 2023, an increase of 13.1% over 2022, according to the IDC Worldwide Edge Spending Guide. Organisations deploying edge HPC and AI/ML applications will require greater performance and system reliability at the edge. ActiveStor Ultra Edge offers a robust, compact, and high-performance solution at a competitive price point that enables organisations to scale and keep pace with growing demands of real-time data processing. ActiveStor Ultra Edge is the newest addition to Panasas’ ActiveStor portfolio, designed to serve the evolving data requirements in today’s modern HPC ecosystem, which encompasses traditional HPC applications alongside AI/ML processing as well as cloud and edge computing technologies. The Panasas PanFS data engine, the industry’s first parallel file system for Linux and the heart of the ActiveStor storage family, delivers infinitely scalable storage capacity and performance in the small form-factor Ultra Edge system to address diverse edge computing demands across industries. “Our customers require storage infrastructures that can dynamically adapt to a changing mix of both AI/ML and traditional HPC workflows, but also have the capacity to support workflows across core data centres, remote satellite locations, and into the cloud,” states Tom Shea, CEO at Panasas. “The reduced footprint of ActiveStor Ultra Edge delivers the required performance, reliability, and ease of management that Panasas is known for, making it ideal for smaller and remote HPC data centres.” The Panasas PanFS data engine, together with the PanView and PanMove data visibility and movement suite, is solving data location challenges while delivering simplicity and enhanced protection from drive, node, and site failure. From erasure coding to patented file-level RAID protection, Panasas brings enterprise-grade reliability and ease of use to high-performance parallel storage at the edge, so organisations can make informed decisions faster to improve operational efficiency.

Acronis simplifies endpoint security with new EDR solution

Acronis has announced the general availability of Acronis Advanced Security + Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) for Acronis Cyber Protect Cloud. With new capabilities such as AI-based attack analysis, Acronis EDR reduces complexity and simplifies workflows for a more streamlined operation, making it easier for MSPs and the businesses they serve to deploy comprehensive security and data protection. With more organisations turning to MSPs for their backup and security needs, and with a greater need for simplicity and efficiency, Acronis EDR aims to expand the adoption of advanced security capabilities, helping organisations of all sizes better protect themselves. “With the proliferation of endpoints and increasing frequency of cyber threats, EDR has become a mission-critical tool in incident response and the fight for data protection. But solutions that are difficult to deploy and maintain are an obstacle,” says Research Vice President of Security and Trust Michael Suby at IDC. “The best solutions deliver the advanced security of EDR and meet the needs of the IT professionals who use it. That means easy deployments and rapid detection, response, and recovery with AI and automation on board.” Acronis EDR offers a broad number of out-of-the-box recovery options that take advantage of integration with Acronis Cyber Protect’ backup and recovery, endpoint management, and endpoint security capabilities. Designed for managed service providers (MSPs), it allows them to quickly and easily analyse and prioritise security incidents, minimise downtime, and maintain business continuity while keeping their clients safe and protected. “Other EDR tools can be over-complicated and force MSPs into expensive, time-consuming processes to implement and understand. Acronis EDR delivers a robust EDR solution that is easy to deploy and use while following industry-established standards like the NIST cyber security framework and mapping to the MITRE ATT&CK framework,” says Candid Wüest, VP of Research at Acronis. “By rapidly understanding attack analysis and impact, Acronis EDR users can quickly evaluate a potential threat, gain insight into how an attacker gained access, what damage was caused, and how the attack might spread.” Acronis EDR delivers: • Optimised incident analysis to quickly and easily analyse and prioritise security incidents and potential attacks without relying on costly security expertise or time-consuming processes. • Integrated security with backup and recovery, for comprehensive protection critical to minimising downtime and maintaining business continuity in the event of an attack. • A complete cyber protection solution in a single agent - simple for MSPs to deploy, manage, and scale - that eliminates the cost, complexity, and security gaps inherent in multiple-point solutions.

Clearwater County integrates Perle console servers

Clearwater County, located in west-central Alberta, Canada, has announced its selection of Perle console servers for the out-of-band management of micro data centres, also known as point-of-presence (PoP) sites. The IOLAN console servers will enable administrators to remotely access and manage all equipment housed in numerous PoP sites throughout the county, as part of the Core Backbone Broadband Internet Plan. This multi-year initiative aims to deliver high-speed internet connectivity at lower prices to a majority of local residents and businesses. With multiple PoPs needed across a wide geography, a robust method to remotely access and manage the various sites is critical. Using IOLAN SCG console servers for out-of-band management is the solution chosen by Clearwater County. Bradley Welygan, IT System Administrator for Clearwater County, says, “We use them for connectivity to a bunch of Point of Presence sites throughout the county for out-of-band management of the fiber and network equipment. Each IOLAN SCG is managing the whole site - the DC, the AC, the networking equipment - everything that needs to be accessed and managed remotely.” Bradley and his team can connect to each IOLAN SCG Console Server directly over the fiber infrastructure or by using LTE access as a backup. “We had been using a different provider, but their price point was too high. From a functionality standpoint, the Perle products deliver what we require at a more affordable cost” says Bradley Welygan, IT System Administrator for Clearwater County.

KIOXIA launches data centre NVMe E3.S SSDs

KIOXIA has announced that its lineup of CD7 Series Enterprise and Data Centre Standard Form Factor (EDSFF) E3.S data centre NVMeTM SSDs are first to ship on servers and storage from Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE). The EDSFF drives have been designed with PCIe 5.0 technology, KIOXIA CD7 E3.S SSDs increase flash storage density per drive for optimised power efficiency and rack consolidation.  HPE ProLiant Gen11 servers, HPE Alletra 4000 data storage servers and the HPE Synergy 480 Gen11 Compute Module are enabled with the latest PCIe 5.0 interface, enabling up to twice the performance over PCIe 4.0, and come with optionally equipped EDSFF E3.S drive bays. As a natural evolution of the 2.5in form factor, EDSFF E3.S is designed for the needs of high performance flash storage. E3.S enables more dense, efficient deployments in the same rack unit compared to 2.5in drives, while improving cooling and thermal characteristics and raising capacities by up to two times. “HPE is pleased to work with KIOXIA to offer new CD7 Series EDSFF E3 SSDs to our customers, bringing high performance to our latest generation server and storage product lines,” says Jim Jackson, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “Together, the two companies are focused on continuing to innovate and deliver solutions that improve application performance and efficiency benefits, while lowering TCO.” Available in capacities from 1,920-7,680GB, KIOXIA CD7 Series SSDs support PCIe 5.0 and NVMe 2.0 specifications, conform to the EDSFF E3.S specification and feature read-intensive 1 DWPD  endurance. Paul Rowan, Vice President SSD Marketing and Engineering, KIOXIA, says, “Delivering SSD’s with greater performance, reliability and value through our enhanced SSD products is our core focus. It underlies our commitment to partners like HPE, enabling high-performance systems while utilising EDSFF and PCIe 5.0 technologies.”