DataDirect Networks Introduces Industry's First Enterprise-Class Scale-Out Parallel File System Appliance, Making Customers' Big Data Deployments Effortless and Infinitely Scalable

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 1, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- 

News Facts

• For enterprise analytics, data-intensive rich media and technical computing customers who require a cost-effective turnkey appliance to help solve their big data challenges, DataDirect Networks (DDN) today introduces the GS7K^TM appliance, the industry's first scale-out parallel file system solution complete with enterprise-class features, NAS access and Cloud tiering capabilities.
• Unlike traditional scale-out NAS systems that face scaling limitations when it comes to meeting performance and capacity requirements, or Parallel File Systems that are massively scalable but lack many critical enterprise data management features which make them costly and complex to install and use, the DDN® GS7K offers the best of both worlds including all the performance of a Parallel File System with fully integrated enterprise data management and protection capabilities, in a simple, all-in-one, scale-out appliance.
• Designed specifically for data-intensive industries including Life Sciences, Oil and Gas, Financial Services, Manufacturing and Media and Entertainment, the new GS7K leverages the power of DDN's Storage Fusion Architecture^TM (SFA) with the embedded performance and scalability benefits of GPFS to enable customers to jumpstart their first Big Data projects with an optimally sized and priced enterprise appliance.
• With the new GS7K, customers benefit from the full range of DDN's high end appliance capabilities, as well as an optimal blend of SSD cache, hard disk capacity, parallel file system performance, and ability to extend to tape or the cloud – all in a single cost-effective, easy to deploy appliance.

Tweet this: The best of both worlds: scalability + enterprise features in new @DDN_Limitless GS7K scale-out GPFS appliance http://bit.ly/1tezpL2

Enterprise-Class Features Deliver Massive Scalability, Performance and Density, with Cloud and NAS Extensions

• Allowing users to start small and then easily and cost-effectively scale their footprint as their data needs grow, the GS7K base appliance starts with 60 drives in 4U and capacity that can be expanded non-disruptively by adding up to four additional 4U 84 drive enclosures. Multiple GS7K systems can then be aggregated to hit 100s of GB/s of performance and PBs of capacity to minimize overall TCO.  
• Built on the third generation of DDN embedded technology and leveraging more than a decade of experience supporting the world's largest HPC storage systems, the GS7K is engineered for performance and can deliver ~11 GB/s per 8U, making the appliance the most powerful and scalable appliance of its size.
• Offering customers peace of mind with data protection and management at multiple levels, the GS7K also provides a rich feature set of enterprise-class capabilities including snapshots and rollback, quotas, replication, Cloud connectivity and data tiering. Multi-level data protection capabilities like battery-backed cache, flexible RAID, integrated backup and DirectProtect^TM with no single point of failure makes the GS7K among the most reliable storage appliances on the market today.
• By automating migration between SSD and SAS, tiers, object-based private Cloud and tape under one global namespace, the GS7K offers the ability to intelligently manage data throughout its lifecycle from a single point of control. With built-in policy-based cloud tiering capabilities, users can tier, migrate and archive GS7K file data to DDN WOS to free up space and improve performance. Federation of GS7K namespaces also provides multi-site ingest, distribution and collaboration capabilities for multiple GS7K Clusters. 
• Additionally, the GS7K leverages DDN's Storage Fusion Xcelerator^TM (SFX^TM) technology and SSD technology to combine the scalability and affordability of low-cost rotating media with the performance of flash to enable Big Data customers to maximize performance at the lowest TCO.

Availability

• The GS7K will be available for volume shipments in January 2015.

Supporting Quotes

• Michael Vildibill, vice president of Product Management, DDN

"In recent years, the scaling limitations of traditional storage methods have proven ineffective in addressing the throughput demand of customers' growing big data environments. In looking at high I/O alternatives, while they like the idea of parallel file systems, customers don't want to trade off complexity, cost and risk to get there. DDN's GS7K offers the best of both worlds, including massive performance and scalability in a scale-out parallel file system that also offers the simplicity and rich feature set enterprise customers are used to in an all-in-one appliance. For customers looking to jumpstart their big data projects, the GS7K provides organizations a cost-effective storage solution to meet their needs today, and as their data continues to grow, offers a sustainable model for massively scaling out data stores in the future."

• Addison Snell, CEO, Intersect360 Research

"High performance computing is critical in commercial markets, spanning a wide range of applications across multiple industries, and this trend is only growing. The GS7K from DDN will help bring the latest high-performance storage technologies to more of these markets, connecting companies to their next innovations faster while satisfying their enterprise standards."

Supporting Resources

• More on GS7K
• More on GRIDScaler
• More on DDN Customers
• Follow DDN via Blog and Twitter

About DataDirect Networks

DataDirect Networks (DDN) is the world leader in massively scalable storage. Our data storage and processing solutions and professional services enable content-rich and high growth IT environments to achieve the highest levels of systems scalability, efficiency and simplicity. DDN enables enterprises to extract value and deliver business results from their information. Our customers include the world's leading online content and social networking providers, high performance cloud and grid computing, life sciences, media production, and security and intelligence organizations. Deployed in thousands of mission critical environments worldwide, DDN's solutions have been designed, engineered and proven in the world's most scalable data centers to ensure competitive business advantage for today's information powered enterprise. For more information, go to www.ddn.com or call 1-800-837-2298.

©2014 DataDirect Networks, Inc.  All rights reserved. DDN®, Storage Fusion Architecture® and EXAScaler™, are trademarks owned by DataDirect Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

DDN Media Contact:
Dani Kenison
Sr. Director, Global Corporate Communications
Email: [email protected]
Work: 408-990-2658

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20130223/MM65263LOGO

SOURCE DataDirect Networks (DDN)