Solid state disks for greater performance

Compellent has been supporting solid state disks (SSD) in the same enclosure as its high-speed fibre disks without purchasing additional SSD enclosure. Just remove the fibre disks and replace or add additional solid state disks.

Compellent's efficient design delivers value for any enterprise requiring performance and reliability.

SSD solutions are ideal for enterprise applications, such as online transactional databases and business intelligence software that demand higher performance and lower latency than traditional spinning disks.

Compellent's advanced features and use of SSD includes:

* Automatically spreads volumes across multiple tiers and intelligently moves data to and from the SSDs to help reduce capacity requirements by as much as 80%, and significantly lower storage hardware and management costs.
* The starting configuration of two 146GB SSDs is capable of supporting Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) of 30 000-50 000 and reducing latency to 20-120 microseconds.
* On-the-fly installation in Compellent Fibre Channel disk enclosures does not require investment in a dedicated SSD system.

* Data Progression software automatically recognises the SSDs and places them into the proper tier of storage, allowing multiple applications to share SSD performance.
* With Compellent's Thin Provisioning capacity, consumption of SSD occur when data is actually written.

Combining SSD with Compellent's patented Data Progression software helps to increase application performance while reducing storage costs. Leveraging Compellent's Dynamic Block Architecture, which tracks the characteristics and usage of every data block, Data Progression automatically moves inactive data from SSDs to lower tiers of less-expensive, higher-capacity drives such as Fibre Channel or SATA drives. Automated tiered storage keeps business data online, yet removes the need for administrative intervention or data classification software, saving time and money.

Says Andr'e M"oller, director at Ingran Africa: “Compellent allows us to give our customers the ability to grow from an entry level SAN using fibre channel disk drives to an enterprise SAN using SSD, without purchasing an SSD enclosure or the need to change from one model to the next, unlike other vendors. Just remove the fibre channel disks and replace with a minimum of two solid state disks. This reduces the total cost of ownership and provides the customer with peace of mind and capital expenditure protection.”

Compellent's technology independent hardware architecture delivers:

* Unmatched investment protection: Easily integrate new storage technologies without replacing or discarding existing hardware and software investments.
* Connectivity independence: Front-end and back-end technology independence enables the simultaneous mixing and matching of any server interface and/or drive technology.
* Flexible configurations: Design a system with the speed and bandwidth your business requires.

Says Mayur Nanalal, CEO at Ingran Africa: “Unlike traditional SAN vendors, Compellent doesn't place artificial limits on drive capacity. Instead, the Compellent SAN allows you to maximise capacity while customising your ideal balance of performance and cost. With Compellent, you have the freedom to mix drive types and technologies, capacities and speeds without lowest common denominator penalties.”