Xyratex Enters Into Strategic Relationship with AMD to Create Solutions Tailored for Apache Hadoop and Object Storage

HAVANT, United Kingdom, April 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Xyratex Ltd (Nasdaq: XRTX), a leading provider of data storage technology, today announced that Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) has chosen Xyratex as a strategic supplier. AMD selected the Xyratex OneStor™ Modular Enclosure as one of the building blocks for its big data and storage intensive solutions and optimized the SeaMicro SM15000™ server to provide more than five petabytes of storage capacity in two racks for big data applications such as Hadoop and Object Storage.  The combination of Xyratex and AMD products delivers an ultra-dense, high performance platform that eliminates excess hardware costs and cabling while simplifying installation and minimizing footprint requirements.

"SeaMicro SM15000 server with the Freedom Fabric Storage solution is known in the market for its superior computing efficiency and storage density, as well as the lowest total cost of ownership," said Dhiraj Mallick, Corporate Vice President and General Manager of Data Center Server Solutions at AMD. "With the combination of the SM15000 and the Xyratex OneStor data storage product, we have a winning solution that is unmatched in storage density and capacity." 

The OneStor™ family of data storage systems from Xyratex offers a series of storage building blocks end users can deploy in a variety of ways to accommodate their most demanding storage requirements. These next-generation storage solutions consolidate server storage requirements into a single storage computing platform. This unique architecture eliminates additional hardware costs, minimizes footprint requirements and simplifies cabling and installation, enabling partners to deliver more fully integrated, powerful and intelligent storage solutions.

"This tight integration of the SM15000 server and Xyratex storage into a solution will boost performance, make deployment easier, simplify management and lower operating costs, enabling AMD's customers to achieve their goals faster and cheaper than previously possible," said Todd Gresham, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Xyratex. "This relationship is the most recent success in our strategic plan to partner with leading companies to create market-leading solutions. We look forward to working with AMD on this exciting offering and building a successful collaboration that delivers innovative, quality server and storage solutions for this fast-growing market."

"Users today are increasingly demanding scale-out data storage and server architectures that pack as much performance, value and scalability into as small an area as possible, because this is the emerging formula for minimizing operating expenses and achieving the lowest total cost of ownership," said Ashish Nadkarni, research director of storage software at IDC.  "The partnership between AMD and Xyratex is a natural one, and will address this growing market nicely – both companies are very good at packing big value into a dense space, and their technologies complement one another well."

AMD's SeaMicro SM15000 system is the highest-density, most energy-efficient server in the market. In 10 rack units, it links 512 compute cores, 160 gigabits of I/O networking, more than five petabytes of storage with a 1.28 terabyte high-performance supercompute fabric, called Freedom™ Fabric. The SM15000 server eliminates top-of-rack switches, terminal servers, hundreds of cables and thousands of unnecessary components for a more efficient and simple operational environment.

AMD's SeaMicro server product family currently supports the next generation AMD Opteron™ processor, Intel® Xeon® E3-1260L ("Sandy Bridge") and E3-1265Lv2 ("Ivy Bridge"), Intel® Atom™ N570 processors. The SeaMicro SM15000 server also supports the Freedom Fabric storage products, enabling a single system to connect with more than five petabytes of storage capacity. This approach delivers the benefits of expensive and complex solutions such as Network Attached Storage (NAS) and Storage Area Networking (SAN) with the simplicity and low cost of direct attached storage.

About Xyratex

Xyratex is a leading provider of data storage technology, including modular solutions for the enterprise data storage industry and hard disk drive (HDD) capital equipment for the HDD industry. Xyratex enterprise data storage platforms provide a range of advanced, scalable data storage solutions for the Original Equipment Manufacturer and High Performance Computing communities. As the largest capital equipment supplier to the HDD industry, Xyratex enables disk drive manufacturers and their component suppliers to meet today's technology and productivity requirements. Xyratex has over 25 years of experience in research and development relating to disk drives, storage systems and manufacturing process technology.

Founded in 1994 in an MBO from IBM, and with headquarters in the United Kingdom, Xyratex has an established global base with R&D and operational facilities in North America, Asia and Europe.

SOURCE Xyratex Ltd