Targeting the growing market for fast, flash-enabled data storage systems, Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) took the wraps off a new line of all-flash arrays this week.

Comprised of three new models (A220, A250 and A270), the Hitachi Flash Storage (HFS) A series of storage systems not only pack a lot of flash-based capacity into a comparatively small space – they can accommodate up to 60 solid-state drives (SSDs) per 2U tray – they also ship with a full complement of data and system management tools, according to Mark Adams, director of product marketing and business management at HDS. They include, “inline date duplication, inline data compression, thin provisioning, Quality of Service controls, snapshots, clones, and remote replication,” he wrote in a blog post.

“What makes HFS unique is [that] the data services are user selectable at the parity group or volume level depending on the service,” continued Adams. Data encryption support is expected to arrive later this quarter.

On the high-end, the dual-controller HFS A270 can be configured with an effective capacity of 384 TB, delivering 1 million input/output operations per second (IOPS) in a 2U enclosure, according to the company’s estimates. Compared to other all-flash rivals, the new systems take less of a toll on data center operators, Bob Madaio, senior director of product marketing for HDS.

“Hitachi Flash Storage systems are a great solution for high-performance virtual environments where customers want more power and flexibility while using way less space and less energy consumption than Pure Storage or XtremIO,” Madaio told InfoStor. In another comparison, Hitachi claims that EMC customers would require four XtremIO X-Brick nodes (23U) at a price of over $5 million to attain the 1 million IOPS performance level provided by a single, 2U HFS A270 with a price tag of just over $1 million.

For energy-conscious enterprises, the HFS A270 also wins out in terms of power consumption. The HFS A270 requires 880 watts versus over 3,300 for a comparable XtremeIO configuration from EMC.

Madaio added that the new hardware and its underlying storage management software can administrators make the most of those lofty IOPS.

“We feel admins will love a few key features in HFS, including the ability to provide maximum IOPS and bandwidth to a volume, so they can be sure one application doesn’t overrun all the others on the system,” he said. “We also sense the ability to align applications with the proper type of data reduction (compression, deduplication, both or none) will be a big hit too.”