Nimbus Data, the company behind the world’s largest solid state drive (SSD), has unveiled the world’s highest capacity QLC SSD - a 64TB monster called the ExaDrive NL (which stands for nearline).
The drive targets the millions of 3.5-inch SATA or SAS hard disk drives that exist in data centers all over the world and will need replacing sooner rather than later.
“By combining QLC flash with Nimbus Data’s patent-pending architecture, ExaDrive NL offers enterprise-grade reliability, record-setting capacity, balanced performance, and incredible portability,” said Thomas Isakovich, CEO and founder of Nimbus Data.
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The ExaDrive NL weighs less than one pound, reducing the weight per terabyte by 95% compared to bulkier hard drive-based systems.
On top of that, savings in terms of opportunity costs, cooling and power and downtime means that the market share of nearline SSD can only increase as technology improves.
The biggest surprise is perhaps the pricing. Nimbus Data's 100TB flagship SSD costs $40,000 (or $400 per TB) while the smaller 50TB Exadrive DC costs $250 per TB.
The ExaDrive NL, however, costs as little as $170 per TB, which is far cheaper than the likes of Samsung PM1643 (note, the latter has a smaller form factor, is available with a SAS interface only and uses MLC flash rather than QLC).
The NL series will be available in 16TB ($2,900), 32TB ($5,600) and 64TB ($10,900) models, in SAS or SATA. Nimbus Data has confirmed its price list is updated quarterly, based on flash market conditions (in other words, demand and supply).
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