Enterprise storage is computer storage designed for high-demand, high-performance and large scale enterprise companies. These environments are usually with-in industries that demands high standards such as the financial, medical, computing and military to name a few. These large-scale, high-technology environments of large OEMs require higher performance, higher scalability, reliability, endurance and a demand for “always-on” devices.
Mid to very large storage systems solutions; fast access, constant and frequent access with increase reliability
Off-line storage for data protection. Usually less expensive than online storage at the same time less demanding in terms of performance
Long term retention of data usually utilized on tape storage medium; cheapest in cost and lowest in performance demands
Data protect and recovery in case of disasters. These solutions are becoming more and more demanding of large scale enterprise as part of continuity plans
STEC Solid State Drives revolutionize the Enterprise storage industry by delivering to the users the ultimate level of performance, security and reliability in a fully integrated device. Known as a leader in flash technology, STEC pioneered the standards for what is a true Enterprise grade solid state drive; Delivering to the industry the first true Enterprise grade SSD, first Tier 0 performances SSD, first SAS enabled enterprise SSD, and many more firsts.
STEC’s SSD Technology is built on a solid foundation of nearly two decades of experience, knowledge, research and innovations. Built for reliability, enabled for performance and structured for quality, these are the attributes that propel every STEC solid state drive, its technology and its team. |
The speed of an Enterprise grade SSD varies from product to product, with our flag-ship ZeusIOPS SSD leading at 45K IOPS to our server enabling MACH8IOPS SSD at 10K+ IOPS. However, sheer speed of a drive is just one aspect of an Enterprise-grade SSD. The ability to perform tasks consistently and maintaining that speed without failure or lost of performance, 24 hrs – 7 days/wk – 365 days/yr is the mark of a true-enterprise ssd. This mentality of “always-on” is what top OEMs are in pursuit of.
STEC SSD is a proven technology with its design fully qualified in almost all major OEMs. The maturity of STEC’s flash technology has enabled SSD within the industry, finding homes in major OEMs such as EMC, SUN, Hitachi and many more. In addition, the reliability and stability of STEC drives are the key components of what OEMs are looking for in an Enterprise SSD. These aspects are perfected at STEC and then improved upon once again to further enable our customers and their solutions. These are the unique values that STEC brings with its solutions. |
Embedded systems can be defined as computer subsystems – e.g. computer mainboards with integrated logic and memory running smaller operating systems – that are integrated into a larger application. Examples include factory automation, kiosks, automotive, and digital signage. Embedded subsystems are typically unique and fairly specialized to the host application they are supporting and often run fairly specialized and compact operating systems including Windows XP Embedded, variations of Linux, or other real-time operating systems (RTOS) like VXWorks or ThreadX.
Embedded systems running these specialized operating systems are typically less sophisticated than standard PC or server architectures and therefore have unique needs, especially as it relates to embedded storage.
From a storage design perspective, STEC addresses many of the flash management challenges posed by NAND flash architecture including:
 Total Drive Wear-Leveling for maximum endurance
Advanced error correction (ECC) to improve data integrity
Power-down data protection to protect against data corruption in the event of an unexpected power loss
This leading flash management capability is enabled by STEC’s proprietary flash controller technology and in-house designs, which include both commercial temperature (0°C to 70°C) and industrial temperature (-40°C to 85°C) support. STEC also uniquely serves the needs of embedded system designers through its focus on industrial OEM customer needs where intangibles like BOM control, product change notifications, ISO 9001 quality procedures, post-sale service and support, and supply-chain management are of great value to managing embedded system designs.
STEC is 100% focused on the needs of embedded and industrial OEM system designers and offers a full line of card and module solutions to meet their unique storage technology and business needs. As a pioneer and leader in the industrial flash storage industry, STEC is uniquely positioned to offer the broadest range of industrial flash storage solutions in the industry. This provides customers with a convenient, one-stop-shop as well as a common flash storage framework for which to design embedded systems around and integrate seamlessly into future applications. Furthermore, because STEC develops its own controller technology and card/module designs, customers can rely on innovative flash storage solutions leveraging next generation interfaces including SATA, PCIe, USB, SD, and other emerging technologies.
Often times embedded subsystems require more configuration flexibility from the memory and storage subsystems so that they can be tuned and manipulated to function correctly. These include things like forced PIO/Memory modes, specific timing parameters, specific LBAs, fixed versus removable storage, unique IDs, etc.
Because STEC owns its own controller technology and card/module designs, this flexibility is easily supported through firmware and hardware design modifications.
This differs significantly from off-the-shelf or outsourced designs using 3rd party controller technology in that customization and design modifications are often very limited. |
Yet another relatively unique requirement in many embedded systems is low power and heat. As many of these systems are part of larger applications, they contribute to the overall power and heat envelope of the host system and are often allocated a maximum power and heat limit. The storage subsystem is again a focus of system designers as traditional PC storage solutions require much higher power than that of smaller solid state storage solutions and also generate more heat that requires the use of cooling fans, adding to the total power required. By contrast; STEC is committed to “green” solid state storage solutions, most of which require less than half the power of traditional PC storage solutions and run much cooler thereby eliminating the need for extra cooling fans (a side benefit being a quieter system). |
Sometimes no larger than a deck of playing cards, embedded systems have relatively unique storage requirements as it relates to available system space. Because of their compact size, many do not support traditional computer storage solutions and must rely on much smaller card or module solutions including CompactFlash, USB, and SecureDigital. Having the ability to manipulate these smaller storage solutions to mimic traditional PC type storage (e.g. use as a boot device to run an embedded OS) is of particular concern to embedded system designers.
STEC supports a full line of flash-based card and module storage solutions. These devices support OS booting to mimic a fixed disk drive allowing embedded system designers to offer true fixed disk alternatives to traditional PC/Server storage solution. |
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How to efficiently integrate SSDs within Compellent's existing block-level tiered storage management system and effectively improve overall performance without increase infrastructure costs. |
The Solution
STEC ZeusIOPS 4Gb Fibre Channel Solid State Drives |
The Benefit
Successful integration of the ZeusIOPS lead to an efficient SSD deployment for Data management within Data Centers that reduces energy consumption, easy to implement and without increasing overall cost of ownership. |
Solid State Drives are being utilizing by major OEMs around the world to "turbo-charge" their overall storage solutions. These deployments of SSDs are being implement in varies different methods such as a new Tier, Caching and to alleviate storage bottlenecks. SSDs have inherent benefits such as reduction in overall space footprint, less energy consumption and cooling, and the obvious, tremendous boost to overall IO performance, these attributes are the reasons why companies understand the need to implement SSDs, however the question now is how to efficiently integrate them.
Compellent, a provider of enterprise-class network storage solutions, along with STEC seek to answer the question of how to implement SSD efficiently while remaining cost effective. By understanding the need of what Compellent required within their systems and the knowledge that not every SSDs is fit for every application, STEC was able to deliver a ideal solution. Compellent required a drive that was reliable enough to stand alongside their own system, tremendous performance to implement with their existing block-level tiered storage management system and easy enough to integrate with low data center impact. Because of these attributes and delivering a low-cost entry point, Compellent and STEC were able to efficiently utilize 3 drives in a RAID 10 configuration to fully service their needs. The financial impact of the SSD within Compellent's system were minimal because the ease of integration of the new drives requires no new racks or infrastructure changes.
By integrating STEC SSDs within Compellents existing block-level tiered storage management system, Compellent was able to deliver to their users a solution with superior performance at an efficient cost.
 Download Concurrent Case Study |
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Digital On-Demand systems provider Concurrent Computer Corporation needed improved video streaming efficiency and enhanced system reliability. |
The Solution
STEC ZeusIOPS Solid State Drive: DRAM
like access times with no moving parts. |
The Benefit
By using ZeusIOPS SSDs in Concurrent’s
MediaCache instead of hard disk drives,
Concurrent was able to improve overall
system reliability and improve video
streaming efficiency from the content
library to the streaming server by 500%. |
The world is moving towards an “On-Demand” model. The providers of content, information and communications are eager to deliver a myriad of media services to end-users. Google wants to provide better searches, MapQuest wants to put a map on every device, OnStar wants to be “the push button” resource for drivers, and Verizon wants to stream music, video and television to every phone, home and office. As consumers, we have come to expect our media and communication needs to be met, instantly, consistently and reliably. Going forward, the request of our “On- Demand” culture will only accelerate and drive the need for increased reliability, lower costs and improved performance in the delivery of vital data, content and associated services.
Why the push for more? High Definition (HD) formats for video and radio, larger capacity files, more precise maps and GPS services will each require greater bandwidth, reliability and consistency. This case study looks at how one “On-Demand” leader in infrastructure solutions is preparing to improve the current generation of services and seamlessly prepare content providers for the future.
| Download EMC Case Study |
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To increase storage performance while reducing overall system’s power consumption. |
The Solution
STEC ZeusIOPS Solid State Drive: unrivaled IOPS performance. |
The Benefit
By enabling unmatch performance, 200 times faster transactional performance than the fastest HDD, ZeusIOPS Solid State Drive is able to greatly reduce power consumption and total cost of ownership. |
The Symmetrix DMX-4 is the premier platform for the first ever enterprise-class deployments of solid state storage and is the result of more than a year of comprehensive testing and qualification. EMC’s strong position as the industry leader in terms of performance and reliability is reinforced in its ability to integrate SSD into its existing systems and introduce this highest tier of storage to customers with the most demanding performance requirements.
STEC was able to provide the ZeusIOPS Fibre Channel SSD that was system compatible with the hard disk drives they were already using. More importantly, integration of ZeusIOPS into EMC’s Symmetrix DMX-4 high-end networked storage systems created unprecedented levels of performance and energy efficiency for their most demanding applications.
“We believe that flash-based solid state storage is a game changing technology and that STEC is at the forefront of the SSD market,” said Brian Gallagher, senior vice president and general manager, Symmetrix Product Group at EMC. “Over the past year, EMC and STEC have collaborated to ensure that the ZeusIOPS Fibre Channel drive meets the stringent quality, availability and reliability requirements of the enterprise storage market.”
| Download Axanna Case Study |
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Designing a "Black Box" for Enterprise Data Recording
with the need for a storage media that is fast, durable and resilient enough for mission critical scenarios. |
The Solution
STEC's Solid State Technology |
The Benefit
By using STEC's ZeusIOPS SSD, Axxana was able to develop the "Phoenix" system that is fast enough and robust enough for enterprise level deployment. |
The Symmetrix DMX-4 is the premier platform for the first ever enterprise-class deployments of solid state storage and is the result of more than a year of comprehensive testing and qualification. EMC’s strong position as the industry leader in terms of performance and reliability is reinforced in its ability to integrate SSD into its existing systems and introduce this highest tier of storage to customers with the most demanding performance requirements.
STEC was able to provide the ZeusIOPS Fibre Channel SSD that was system compatible with the hard disk drives they were already using. More importantly, integration of ZeusIOPS into EMC’s Symmetrix DMX-4 high-end networked storage systems created unprecedented levels of performance and energy efficiency for their most demanding applications.
“We believe that flash-based solid state storage is a game changing technology and that STEC is at the forefront of the SSD market,” said Brian Gallagher, senior vice president and general manager, Symmetrix Product Group at EMC. “Over the past year, EMC and STEC have collaborated to ensure that the ZeusIOPS Fibre Channel drive meets the stringent quality, availability and reliability requirements of the enterprise storage market.”
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