Electronics company Samsung has recently announced its brand-new storage product called the PM1731a, as per the news update posted on its website. Its solution is a solid-state drive, equipped with Zoned Namespace (ZNS) technology.
To be used on storage servers, data centers, and cloud environments, the new ZNS SSDs are expected to better organize and protect stored data.
The ZNS technology enables data grouping depending on how they are used and accessed, then they are arranged and stored in the drive-in independent zones. The system also takes into account the frequency of usage and access.
This process eliminates the need to move and rearrange where data is placed, so the company expects a reduction in the number of write and rewrite operations on ZNS SSDs. This minimizes its write amplification factor (WAF) or the number of actual writes performed by the drive-in view of initial instructions by the system
It is important to note that the frequency of reads and writes is a major factor in the lifespan of these storage systems. The reduced occurrence of rewrites is expected to prolong the life of Samsung’s storage solution.
The Samsung blog explained that the goal is to have a WAF that is closer to one in order to achieve better efficiency and a longer lifespan.
Samsung promises to provide a WAF that is close to one through ZNS. In comparison, typical SSDs offer WAF values between three and four, giving the ZNS SSD an efficiency and lifespan up to four times more than other solutions.
“Samsung’s ZNS SSD reflects our commitment to introducing differentiated storage solutions that can substantially enhance the reliability and lifetime of server SSDs,” according to Sangyeun Cho, Samsung Electronics senior vice president of the Memory Software Development Team.
“We plan to leverage quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology in our next-generation ZNS drives to enable higher thresholds for storage performance and capacity in the enterprise systems of tomorrow,” he added.
The PM1731a has a dimension of 2.5 inches and is equipped with Samsung’s dual-port controller and its 6th Generation TLC V-NAND memory. It is available in 2TB and 4TB volumes.
Samsung is the second storage solution maker to produce an SSD equipped with ZNS. The first is Western Digital which announced its product in November 2020 with the Ultrastar DC ZN540 ZNS NVMe SSD.
Meanwhile, the Korean company will mass-produce the PM1731a by the second half of 2021.
