Micron has just launched a new ultra-high performance SSD model for data centers. Called 6550 ION E3.S, this is said to be the world's first PCIe Gen 5 solid-state hard drive model that also offers storage capacity of up to 60TB. This is the successor to the 6500 ION model and promises to deliver faster performance, better energy efficiency and more innovations for those requiring the ability to handle high-intensity usage such as in the data center.
The Micron 6550 ION operates at up to 12GB/s while consuming only 20W of power (4W when idle in L1 state). In addition to claiming to be the first 60TB E3.S SSD on the market, Micron also boasts 20% better power efficiency than its competitors.
Although SSDs with capacities up to 60TB for data centers are not new, the adoption of the PCIe Gen 5 interface is the highlight, allowing for a significant increase in performance during block processing. amount of work. Micron promises the following improvements over competitors in the market:
- 179% faster sequential read speeds and 179% higher read bandwidth per watt
- Sequential write speeds are 150% faster and write bandwidth per watt is 213% higher
- 80% faster random read speeds and 99% higher read IOPS per watt
Applied to real-world testing, the 6550 ION delivered 147% higher performance for Nvidia Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage, and 30% higher 4KB transfer rate in the Unet3D deep learning IO test.
Micron will offer the 6550 ION in E3.S, U.2 and E1.L formats. 20 E3.S drives in a 1U server rack will provide a total of 44.2 petabytes of data, improving storage density by 67%. Additionally, the manufacturer promises 42% better durability compared to other 60TB SSDs from the market.
The Micron 6550 ION SSD is now available to try. The manufacturer has not revealed the price, but it can be assumed that a 60TB PCIe Gen 5 drive will not be cheap. Additionally, it is also unlikely that Micron will sell the 6550 ION to regular consumers. If you need a high-capacity SSD for your computer, the best options are currently limited to 8TB models, such as the WD_Black SN850X or the more affordable SATA-based Samsung 870 QVO.
