SSD that is more than twice as fast as the 'SATA (Serial ATA)' interface

Samsung Electronics announced that it has officially launched a '15.36 terabyte (TB) SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) SSD' with four times the capacity of existing products.

SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) is an interface used in servers and storage. It enables the creation of SSDs that are more than twice as fast as the SATA (Serial ATA) interface primarily used in PCs, and its enterprise market continues to expand. A 15.36TB SSD represents the largest capacity among single-form-factor storage devices, including HDDs.

Samsung Electronics' strategy is to quickly transform the SAS HDD market, which requires high investment and maintenance costs, with a solution that offers 'ultra-large capacity, ultra-high speed, high durability, and high reliability.'

This SSD has the highest capacity by mounting approximately 550 memory units, including 32 512-gigabyte (GB) packages with 512 3rd generation 256-gigabit (Gb) V-NANDs stacked in 16 layers each on a 2.5-inch PCB and 16-gigabyte DRAM, on both sides of the PCB. This is equivalent to the memory (in terms of quantity) of seven high-performance laptops (2TB SSD, 8GB DRAM) mounted on a single SSD, opening up a new horizon in the SSD market by implementing the highest storage capacity ever achieved.

This product can significantly improve IT investment efficiency by more than doubling performance and capacity when configuring enterprise storage systems compared to when equipped with 2.5-inch SATA SSDs.

The 15.36TB SAS SSD (Product Name: PM1633a) uses 3rd generation (48-layer) 256Gb V-NAND and dedicated controller and firmware technology to quadruple the capacity compared to the existing 2nd generation (32-layer) 128Gb V-NAND-based 3.84TB SAS SSD (Product Name: PM1633) while achieving the same level of high performance.

Random read speed of 200,000 IOPS, approximately 1,000 times faster than SAS HDDs
Implements random write speed of 32,000 IOPS

Through a high-performance controller that supports the SAS 12Gbps standard and firmware design technology that supports high capacity, it has achieved a random read speed of 200,000 IOPS and a random write speed of 32,000 IOPS, which are approximately 1,000 times faster than SAS HDDs, and a sequential read/write speed of 1.2GB/s, which is more than twice as fast as SATA SSDs. In addition, it has increased durability by 2 to 10 times compared to standard SATA SSD products equipped with existing 10nm-class 128Gb NAND.

In particular, we provide software solutions that enhance the convenience and stability of customer system maintenance, such as metadata preservation technology, which is difficult to develop, and data storage/recovery technology in situations of momentary power failure that require high reliability. Metadata refers to data that describes the properties of data stored in memory, such as documents, music files, and photos.

Samsung Electronics plans to begin mass production of the 15.36TB product next month and sequentially supply a total of six products, including 7.68/3.84/1.92TB and 960/480GB.

“We are doing our best to satisfy the growing demand for ultra-high-capacity SAS SSDs from global server companies,” said Lee Jeong-bae, executive vice president of the product planning team at Samsung Electronics’ Memory Business Division. “We will continue to lead the global IT market trends and the growth of the premium memory market by proactively launching next-generation SSDs through the development of advanced 3D memory technology.”

Samsung Electronics has led the growth of the PC and data center markets with the advance launch of next-generation high-capacity SATA SSDs and ultra-high-speed NVMe SSD lineups, and its strategy is to actively target the enterprise storage market by expanding technological cooperation with global customers.