Lightning SSDs Provide Crazy Fast Speeds

Pliant's new Lightning line of SSDs provide super fast IOPS that seem... well, lightning fast.

Pliant Technology is claiming in this press release (PDF) that its first series of "lightning" solid state drives (SSD) uses proprietary ASICs to deliver more than twice the input/output operations per second (IOPS) than the fastest SSDs currently on the market. Without using any cache, the Lightning Enterprise Flash Drive (EFD) LS achieves near warp speed with 180,000 IOPS in a 3.5-inch form factor. The company's other Lightning SSD, the Enterprise Flash Drive LB, provides 140,000 IOPS in a 2.5-inch form factor.

Pliant said that the LS model will provide sustained read speeds of 525 MB/sec and write speeds of 340 MB/sec, whereas the smaller LB model offers 420 MB/sec read and 220 MB/sec write speeds. Both SSDs provide a "predictable performance profile" across enterprise workloads, with read/write mix varying from 90-percent/10-percent to 60-percent/40-percent, the company said. While removing the write cache feels like skydiving without a parachute, Pliant promises that the new design will eliminate data loss on power interruptions, and deliver consistent performance.

Pliant also claims that its Lightning SSDs offer unlimited writes, and will work without slowdown for at least five years. Designed around the standard 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch form factors, both drives can be easily integrated into existing Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) enterprise storage and server systems without the need for modifications. The 3.5-inch LS model offers 300 GB and 1250 GB versions; the 2.5-inch LB model only offers 150 GB of storage.

“The exceptional performance and reliability features of Lightning EFDs allow IT managers to address the most significant challenges they’re facing today, namely, keeping up with continually increasing storage demands with fixed budgets, limited data center floor space and the ever growing cost of power,” said Amyl Ahola, CEO of Pliant Technology. “Our Lightning EFDs will dramatically expand the capabilities of current and future enterprise computing systems in new and innovative ways, enabling IT managers to do more with less: deliver maximum performance with less power, lower cost and a smaller footprint.”