Nimbus

Nimbus Storage provides the most intelligent and efficient solid state storage platform to enable enterprises and data centres to solve the storage superstorm. Over the past decade, while the rest of IT infrastructure has improved exponentially in performance, storage has been virtually stagnant, increasing in capacity but not in performance.

Nimbus S-Class and E-Class Flash Memory are a revolutionary departure from spinning disk arrays, delivering a purpose-built all-flash system with comprehensive unified storage management and data protection software built in.

Performance

•	Delivers consistent and predictable high performance by eliminating rotational latency, dramatically accelerating both random and sequential workloads.

Efficiency

•	Consumes one-tenth of the power of disk arrays of the same capacity, cutting operating costs while enabling more energy efficient, denser, and longer-life datacentres.

Reliability

•	Eliminates sensitive moving parts, minimizing the risk of mechanical or environmentally-induced failures and improving application availability.

Intelligence

•	Provides complete storage software for unified provisioning, end-to-end data protection, and efficient capacity management in one elegant solution.

5000% performance increase

Uses enterprise MLC (eMLC) grade NAND Flash to balance cost and lifetime
Sub millisecond latency - eliminates the storage bottleneck
DRAM cache on every flash module. Commit sent at the DRAM write, not the Flash write - reducing latency and increasing write IOPS
Up to 50x greater IO throughput than conventional disk arrays:

93,000 4K fully random read/write IOPS in a single 2U shelf (10 Gbps iSCSI)
Over 2.7 GBps sustained (256K) from a single 2U shelf (40 Gbps Mellanox)
Up to 800,000 4k IOPS in a rack
Up to 8 GBps sustained throughput from a rack

Perfect for random IO intensive applications such as:

Server Virtualisation
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI)
Databases

High serial data throughput ideal for:

Media Streaming
Rich Content
Scientific Applications

Directly runs off Flash so eliminates tiering, caching or short stroking techniques

80% lower OpEx

Nimbus S-Class consumes as little as 14 watts per usable TB
Nimbus E-Class consumes as little as 5 watts per usable TB
2TB entry level S-Class unit consumes just 80 watts, far less than a server
Reduces cooling requirements due generating much less heat
S-Class can serve up to 4TB of high IOPS capacity per rack unit (168TB per rack)
E-Class can serve up to 10TB of high IOPS capacity per rack unit (440TB per rack)

Enterprise Availability

Each unit incorporates a dedicated flash management ASIC (Application-Specific Integrated Circuit) to evenly distribute IO and perform real-time error correction
Each module incorporates a large capacitor to provide protection of writes from DRAM to Flash in case of power loss, therefore cache battery is not required
Flash optimised file system and TRIM support
System comprises multiple protection measures, including:

RAID protection
28% reserve flash capacity
Redundant network controllers
Dual processors
Redundant power supplies and fans
Dual operating system images on separate flash storage

E-Class adds dual Active/Active controllers in front of flash array for zero downtime requirements
Duty cycle 7 to 10 years
2 million hour MTBF (mean time between failures)

Enterprise Features

Multi-protocol support:

iSCSI (1GbE, 10GbE) - up to 16 ports
8 Gbps Fibre Channel - up to 8 ports
56Gbps Infiniband - up to 8 ports

NFS and CIFS direct support provide unified block and file storage system
Centralised pooling of storage across units
Reserve/release and persistent reservations supported
Snapshots (can be scheduled) with automatic retirement
Synchronous Mirroring (High Availability)
Asychronous Replication (Remote DR)
In-line deduplication, selectable for workload type according to suitability
Full thin provisioning (no pre-allocation for snapshots)
Web GUI with graphical dashboard for day to day management
Scriptable command line interface allows for automated administration
Automatic system monitoring and alert notification
VMware plug-in to allow single pane of glass storage management from within vSphere
All above inclusive at no extra cost on storage unit

Affordable

The Nimbus S-Class comes in units of 24 flash modules in a 2U rack.

Modules are available in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities (800GB E-Class), giving up to 10TB of raw storage capacity in a single 2U rack (20TB E-Class). With inline deduplication this can be significantly increased depending on workload type.

Example price for the 100GB module S-Class (around 2TB usable capacity without dedupe), with 3 years support and 4x 10GbE IO ports is around £30,000 delivered in the UK.

For more info drop us a line and we can design a sustainable, affordable storage system to meet all your needs - present and future.