Network & Infrastructure

Scalable, reliable storage for cloud-scale computing – guaranteed. SolidFire’s advanced storage technology is changing the way block storage services are provisioned and managed within the cloud. High-speed, solid-state disk in concert with real-time data efficiency techniques and guaranteed quality of service makes SolidFire the most powerful and economical solution for providing Storage-as-a-Service.

SSDs are used exclusively throughout the system – there are no spinning disks. Within each storage node, solid-state drives and processing power are balanced to take advantage of drive speeds and execute SolidFire’s inline efficiency technology. The system also leverages patented algorithms that layout data in a manner that minimizes wear and extends the life of SSD media. In comparison to traditional storage design, SolidFire eliminates write amplification while maximizing random parallel reads and aggregating writes in a linear fashion.

One of the radical improvements within the SolidFire storage system is the removal of RAID algorithms for data protection. Traditional RAID controllers are too slow to keep up with SSDs and causes write amplification that places unnecessary wear on solid-state media.

All data within a SolidFire system is protected via SolidFire’s Helix data protection. This patented self-healing technology maintains data redundancy levels regardless of the type of failure within the system. This enables cloud service providers to manage failures through their maintenance cycle “fire drill” that traditional storage subsystem failures cause. Additionally, the SolidFire SSD SAN uses clever data replication across all storage nodes, improving security over a standard SAN. More storage nodes can be added at any time providing a true scale-out solution.

Helix data protection also reduces the exposure and overall system impact of failures compared to traditional RAID based systems. In most architectures the loss of a single drive can have a 40-50% impact on performance until the drive has been replaced and completely rebuilt – a process that can take days. Within a SolidFire system, the affects of a device failure are proportional to that device’s size within the system. As an example, if a single drive fails out of a 1000-drive system, performance and capacity are only reduced by 0.1%.

SolidFire’s storage technology dramatically reduces the energy cost and consumption for cloud providers when providing block storage at cloud scale. The exclusive use of all-SSD results in lower power and cooling requirements, and when combined with efficient capacity utilization, SolidFire’s datacenter footprint is 600% less than traditional disk systems. With the combination of HP and SolidFire we are now moving towards being Australia’s greenest hosting provider.

SolidFire is a enterprise grade, high performance, all-SSD storage system with guaranteed quality of service (QoS). We are proud and excited to offer SolidFire SSD storage to our valued customers.