ITJ_03_SSDs_for_Embedded.pdf

Intel® X25-E and X25-M SATA Solid-State Drives have been designed to provide high performance and capacity density for use in applications which were limited by traditional hard disk drives (HDD), input/output (I/O) performance bottlenecks, or performance density (as defined by bandwidth and I/Os/sec per gigabyte, per Rack Unit (RU), per Watt required to power, and per thermal unit waste heat. Solid State Drives (SSDs) have also found a place to assist in capacity density, which is the total gigabytes/terabytes per RU, per Watt, and per thermal unit waste heat. Enterprise, Web 2.0, and digital media system designers are looking at SSDs to lower power requirements and increase performance and capacity density. First as a replacement for high end SAS or Fiber Channel drives, but longer term for hybrid SSD + Hard Disk Drive (HDD) designs that are extremely low power, high performance density, and are highly reliable. This article provides an overview of the fundamentals of Intel’s Single Level Cell (SLC) and Multi Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash Solid State Drive technology and how it can be applied as a component for system designs for optimal scaling and service provision in emergent Web 2.0, digital media, high performance computing and embedded markets. A case study is provided that examines the application of SSDs in Atrato Inc.’s high performance storage arrays.