- IBM’s flash system C200 aims to replace HDDs with high capacity flash storage
- It delivers 1.1 PB Raw Capacity, 2.3 PB Effective, with 200,000 IOPS –Deown
- This flash setting is optimized for archives, backups and sequential workloads
Pure storage has been predicting the end of spinning disks for some time, and now IBM is looking to speed up this shift with the launch of the flash system C200, a high capacity flash -based storage system designed to replace traditional HDDs in companies while offering high density, endurance and lower operating costs.
IBM positions the C200 as a lower cost alternative (“Use it as TLC, pays for what QLC,” can IBM boast) for archive storage, backup stores and work loads that can tolerate higher latency.
The system is integrated with IBMS storage that virtualizes so that it can join a flash system for non-disrupting migrations.
Writing is on the wall
Blocks & Files says: “C200 uses IBM’s proprietary flashcore modules (FCMS) with a Gen 4 version that provides 46TB of raw capacity using a PSEUDO SLC front end to QLC NAND. It has 32 Xeon cores and a 256 GB cache that delivers 1-2ms latency, up to 200,000 IOPS and 23 GBPS flow. There is a fixed 24-slot configuration with 1.1 PB of raw capacity in a 2ru chassis. Because the system always has hardware-assisted compression, IBM says it has 2.3 pb effective capacity. “
Alongside flash system grid scaling and a full package of company software features, C200 has eight on board 10GBE ports and optional configurations of 16x 32GB FC/NVME-FC or 8x 25/10GBE NVME-TCP ports. IBM says it provides 10 times better performance than traditional HDD or hybrid solutions, making it optimized for sequential workloads.
“Writing is really on the wall for the last of the spinning rust …” IBM blogger Barry Whyte writes. “Over the next few years, we will see the price point for Flash getting closer and closer, and eventually reduces even lower than NL-SAS. With 300, 500 and even 1PB flash drives teasing in the industry, it is almost impossible for even the most advanced magnetic fadt technologies to follow.”
FlashSystem C200 has an indicative end -user price of $ 381,000 which Blocks and files Calls to “Respectable” and it will generally be available worldwide on March 21.
