Is the Intel Ruler the future of server storage?

Intel technologies has released it’s newest generation of storage products, including new drives and a curious intel ruler format solid state drive (SSD)

The futuristic M.2 format storage ‘stick’ is a lengthy SSD designed to add jaw-dropping storage density to servers: a single 1U server space (approximately 1.75 inches high) will be able to hold 1 Petabyte (that’s 1,000 TB of storage, or the equivalent of more than 500,000 free Dropbox accounts, if you prefer.) 

For perspective, this is sufficient to hold a simply staggering 300,000 HD movies, equating to 70-years of non-stop video.

Intel’s design allows each unit to use significantly less space on holding, connecting to and cooling large numbers of traditionally shaped drives. The solid state format, increasingly the standard in laptops but now also in many servers, holds no moving parts making them increasingly durable. Flash-only storage allows far greater performance, less weight and more efficient power use. Smaller DC S4500 and S4600 formats are also available for a variety of storage sizes, if you prefer the more conventional design.

It’s unclear how manageable the new intel ruler drives will be if a server suffers a drive failure, although expect these to be ordered by the hundred in the world’s most futuristic data-centres, where data replication and forward planning are a science in their own right.

Intel also insist that like the miniaturised version fitted to laptops to improve performance, the new format helps cut power consumption, although here the details are a valuable and closely guarded technology secret. 

 

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