TMS takes chance on high-capacity RAM disk

Solid-state disks have far more benefits for enterprises than some professionals realise

State of play: Even analysts confuse SSD technology for enterprise and consumer use.

As Texas Memory Systems (TMS) launched a high-capacity RAM solid-state disk (SSD), it claimed the industry will never reap the benefits of this technology unless the opinion formers in the channel raise their game.

Last month, TMS unveiled the RamSan-440 SSD system. The firm claimed it can sustain performance of up to 600,000 IOPS, which would quadruple the capacity for RAM-based SSDs. This could create high-margin opportunities for resellers wanting to build systems for enterprises.

At least it would do, if there were fewer misconceptions about SSDs, according to TMS vice president of marketing, Neal Ekker.

“SSD for enterprise use is very different from the SSD in consumer products such as laptops, but even some industry analysts confuse this important point.”

TMS has launched the RamSan-440; a rack-mounted SSD that can be directly connected to servers or a San. The new instant-on input-output technology enables instant access to data from a RAM-based SSD after a unit is switched on.
By making it possible to offer up to 512GB of storage, TMS says it has created a chance for resellers to build a system that operates at many times the speed of traditional storage.

“Gaming firms, etailers and other enterprises can process more transactions per minute with this much faster storage technology,” said Ekker.

Since the footprint of the Raid-based Nand Flash memory modules is much smaller, the cost of owning and managing these systems is much lower. “This allows it to be competitive against hard-disk technology,” he added.

This attitude from TMS drew a cool response from UK-based analyst Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca. “I am all for SSD. I have not been persuaded by the manufacturers, so I cannot recommend that enterprises take it seriously at this stage.”