Toshiba Demonstrates High Performance Object Storage Technologies At Openstack Summit 2015

May 18, 2015

Toshiba introduces key value drive technology with large capacity HDD, high performance SSD, gigabit Ethernet and compute-for-storage in a single 3.5-inch form factor

IRVINE, Calif., — The Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., a committed technology leader, announces new key value-based technologies for scale-out object storage, big data analytics, virtualization and for active archival. With these technologies, Toshiba customers can reap the benefits of large capacity and high performance scale-out object storage while maximizing the uptime and reducing the overall mean time to repair (MTTR¹).

One of Toshiba's key value technologies is a multi-device storage solution that integrates Ethernet, solid state drive (SSD) for low latency, large capacity hard disk drive (HDD) for higher throughput, 64-bit compute, and an open source Linux platform for running next generation software-defined storage applications on an industry standard 3.5-inch form factor. This new key value technology is intended to help the enterprise meet its growing data storage needs by enabling a rich set of scale-out object storage features² that deliver on both capital expenditures and operating expenses reductions, while providing performance on par with HDD-based primary storage.

The other key value-based technology solution Toshiba announced today is an Ethernet based HDD-only version primarily optimized for the emerging shingled magnetic recording (SMR) media interface. This large capacity key value technology is optimized for archival and cold storage applications.

As scale-out object storage deployments in enterprises increase, key value technologies have the potential to be part of mainstream performance as well as capacity-oriented business applications. Enabled with scale-out storage software such as Ceph, Toshiba's high performance and capacity-optimized key value-based object storage drives are well suited for enterprise primary storage, unstructured data, information governance, analytical data, and for archival and cold storage. Toshiba key value technologies provide a homogenous building block that allows enterprise customers to buy a single class of product and provision them differently for disparate and demanding workloads, thereby delivering a true software-defined storage infrastructure.

"These new technologies demonstrate Toshiba's commitment and leadership in emerging key value-based object storage drive markets. By approaching this market holistically with two different technologies, Toshiba is addressing both the high performance workloads and large capacity workloads," said Tar Thirumalai, director of market development at Toshiba Storage Products Business Unit. "As the storage industry evolves beyond storage management to data management, it is important to expand our storage solutions offering to include key value object-based data access methods."

"When we were first designing Ceph ten years ago, the key idea was that a loosely-coordinated collection of smart devices may scale and perform better than a traditional array of disks. It is exciting to see that vision shared by leading component manufacturers like Toshiba and translated into a technology that can make its way into users' hands," said Sage Weil, leader of the Ceph project and manager of software engineering and consulting engineer, Red Hat.

"As the leading developer of object based filesystems, Exablox is excited to see this next generation of key value store technology from Toshiba. We feel that Toshiba's approach will enable new classes of revolutionary storage solutions for customers of all types," said Douglas Brockett, CEO of Exablox.

The multi-device key value Ethernet drive technology demo is showcased at booth P1 during OpenStack Summit 2015 held in Vancouver May 18-22, 2015. For more information on Toshiba's line of industry-leading SSDs, HDDs and SSHDs, visit www.toshibastorage.com. To connect with Toshiba Storage, visit the corporate blog at http://storage.toshiba.com/corporateblog/ and follow @ToshibaStorage on Twitter.

*About Toshiba Storage Products

Toshiba Corporation and its affiliates offer one-of-a-kind global storage solutions, offering hard disk drives (HDDs), solid state drives (SSDs) and NAND flash memories — technologies that drive a wide range of consumer electronics, computer and automotive applications, as well as enterprise solutions for the global marketplace. Toshiba is a leader in the development, design and manufacture of mobile, consumer and enterprise hard disk drives and solid state drives. In North America, the Storage Products Business Unit of Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc., markets high-quality storage peripherals to original equipment manufacturers, original design manufacturers, value-added resellers, value-added dealers, systems integrators and distributors worldwide. Inherent in the Toshiba storage family are the high-quality engineering and manufacturing capabilities that have established Toshiba products as innovation leaders worldwide. For more information, visit www.toshibastorage.com.

*About Toshiba Corp. and Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. (TAEC)

Through proven commitment, lasting relationships and advanced, reliable electronic components, Toshiba enables its customers to create market-leading designs. Toshiba is the heartbeat within product breakthroughs from OEMs, ODMs, CMs, VARs, distributors and fabless chip companies worldwide. A committed electronic components leader, Toshiba designs and manufactures high-quality flash memory-based storage solutions, solid state drives (SSDs), hard disk drives (HDDs), solid state hybrid drives (SSHDs), discrete devices, custom SoCs/ASICs, imaging products, microcontrollers, wireless components, mobile peripheral devices, advanced materials and medical tubes that make possible today’s leading smartphones, tablets, cameras, medical devices, automotive electronics, industrial applications, enterprise solutions and more.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. is an independent operating company owned by Toshiba America, Inc., a subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation, Japan’s largest semiconductor manufacturer and the world’s sixth largest semiconductor manufacturer (Gartner, 2014 Worldwide Semiconductor Revenue Estimates, December 2014). Founded in Tokyo in 1875, Toshiba is at the heart of a global network of over 590 consolidated companies employing over 200,000 people worldwide. Visit Toshiba's web site at www.toshiba.co.jp/index.htm.

¹ Relative to typical rebuild times for traditional scale-out storage.
² Delivered in combination with scale-out object storage software on the Toshiba Key Value-drive.

Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services and contact information, is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable Toshiba product specifications.