June 24th, 2009
Adaptec v. the lithium-ion battery
5Z RAID controllers with NAND flash memory, courtesy Adaptec.
Adaptec is coming out with a product for datacenters that is so obvious, so simple, so why-didn’t-we think-of that. Flash memory that is constantly updated rather than hard-drives that need battery power to allow data retrieval. Why is this happening now? Adaptec sees this as a huge move toward energy and operations efficiency.
My first question to Scott Cleland, Adaptec’s Director Of Marketing, why hasn’t this happened before? There’s been some use of flash memory in some datacenters but Adaptec’s new 5Z system is plug and play. Oh, and do away with lithium-ion batteries needed to back-up those hard-drives. Right now the only way to protect cached data is to write data in cache to a daughter card powered by a lithium ion battery.
Adaptec Series 5Z products are RAID controllers which are designed to manage and control data between the server and hard drives, providing a level of protection for the data as it flows in the input/output (I/O path). The Adaptec Series 5Z family consist of RAID controllers that include a NAND Flash drive powered by a supercapacitor to protect data in cache.
Scott went to explian the problems with lithium-ion batteries. Dangerous to move around in airplanes. Need for frequent testing and replacement costs.
Adaptec at least 35% of their potential customers are now totally dependent on batteries for data back-up. Some companies can’t bear the cost of battery systems sotheya re running naked. With flash memory under Z5, set it and forget it, says Scott.
This is aimed at cutting operations cost, no battery testing and monitoring. No battery shipments. Less cap ex because the flash memory is nearly faultless.
Adaptec estimated a four-year svaings of $600 per server and controller by converting to flash-based data storage.
Zero-Maintenance Cache Protection with the Adaptec Series 5Z eliminates battery backup to protect cached data in the event of power loss Adaptec’s Series 5Z controller saves the cached data to a NAND Flash drive (powered by a supercapacitor), and the data is stored there for up to 10 years. There’s no need for Lithium Ion batteries to power the drive. Thus solving problems of bvattery storage and maintenance, not to mention resources used to make the battery and obstacles to reycling or disposal.
A newsman since 1969, Harry Fuller has worked for CBS, ABC, CNBC Europe, CNET and was founding news director at TechTV. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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