Intel Announces the 'World's Densest' SSD (zdnet.com)

Intel has unveiled its new 3D NAND solid-state drive (SSD) "ruler" form factor storage for data-center servers. From a report: The chip giant first set out this form factor a year ago, based on the Enterprise & Datacenter Storage Form Factor (EDSFF) standard for server makers to cut cooling costs and offer a more efficient format than SSDs in the classic 2.5 inch size. Intel describes the new ruler-shaped Intel SSD DC P4500, which is 12 inches by 1.5 inches, and a third of an inch thick, as the world's densest SSD. Server makers can jam up to one petabyte (PB) -- or a thousand terabytes (TB) -- of data into 1U server racks by lining up 32 of these 32TB Intel rulers together. So, instead of the decades-old 2.5-inch square SSD drives inherited from and designed for disk-based storage, Intel now has long and skinny sticks, thanks to flash. The new shape allows it to optimize SSD storage density, cooling, and power for data centers.

Comments

Re:Changing the way storage is delivered.

[Junta]

Note that it actually quite common now to have drives that go into the front and the back. For these 12" long suckers, that's unlikely and having that volume of NAND chips all front serviceable without a tray would be one point of these things. 12" is however a bit *too* long for reasonable 1U servers. 6" depth might have been a pretty sweet spot, not much longer than 3.5" drives. As such this form factor pretty much requires the design of the server to be focused on the storage to the exclusion of other concerns.