Netlist, an Irvine, Calif.-based computer memory specialist, today unveiled EXPRESSvault EV3, a PCIe 3.0 card for servers and storage arrays that offers the speed of DRAM with the persistence of NAND flash, according to the company.
Packed with non-volatile RAM (NVRAM), EXPRESSvault EV3 is designed to offer near-instantaneous backups of data in memory, enabling organizations to quickly get their application and database servers up and running after a mishap. The half-height, half-length card can soak up 16 gigabytes (GB) of data in 96 seconds, according to the company’s estimates.
EXPRESSvault EV3 is available in 4, 8 and 16 GB capacities. Bandwidth is rated at 6.5 GB per second and the card can achieve random 4 kilobyte (KB) read/write performance of 250,000 input/output operations per second (IOPs). Latency clocks in at between 10 microseconds and 15 microseconds.
In addition to helping to protect enterprise application data, Netlist envisions that its technology can IT shops boost their data caching capabilities and help accelerate online transaction processing (OLTP), Web-scale applications, in-memory databases and all-flash data storage systems. In storage systems, the technology can be applied to assist in inline deduplication and compression, encryption, indexing and mapping operations.
Christopher Lopes, vice president of Worldwide Sales at Netlist, said EXPRESSvault EV3 “meets the high performance and endurance demands of enterprise storage and data center applications for the cloud,” in a statement. Netlist claims that the EV3 features a virtually unlimited write endurance and can retain data for up to three months.
Inside, a supercapacitor helps keep data safe when the lights go out. The supercapacitor can be recharged in under three minutes (8 GB version) when power is restored, claims Netlist. For data center operators, EV 3 can help offset backup power requirements. “EXPRESSvault EV3 architecture ensures data in memory is immediately and reliably backed up without the use of expensive, inefficient UPS [uninterruptible power supplies] or battery technologies,” stated Lopes.
The technology, which is compatible with the 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Ubuntu, CentOS, and Red Hat Linux, is ready to incorporate into practically every server and storage environment, he added. “Because this solution is independent of the memory bus technology and works in both DDR3 and DDR4 based hardware, it is easy to integrate and take to production.”
Netlist is showing off EXPRESSvault EV3 on an Intel Haswell-powered Dell R630 server at this week’s Data Storage Innovation Conference in Santa Clara, Calif. EXPRESSvault EV3 is currently available in limited quantities. Full production runs are scheduled for June 2015.