Nexsan Announces QLC-Powered E-Series 18F Storage Platform

Nexsan, part of the StorCentric family, released its new E-Series 18F (E18F) storage platform. The E18F leverages quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology that should allow for better performance than HDDs while providing a cost-effective flash method for workloads. Nexsan also announced that it was adding RoCE and private blockchain technology to its Assureon solution.

Nexsan, part of the StorCentric family, released its new E-Series 18F (E18F) storage platform. The E18F leverages quad-level cell (QLC) NAND technology that should allow for better performance than HDDs while providing a cost-effective flash method for workloads. Nexsan also announced that it was adding RoCE and private blockchain technology to its Assureon solution.

We’ve said quite a bit about QLC since it began shipping from major vendors in 2018. QLC has downsides but it can be primarily looked at as an HDD replacement. It comes with much better performance than HDD’s though not as much as traditional flash. It does however come in much more cost-effective than traditional flash. For those that are looking to move to all-flash arrays at a lower cost, QLC does look to be the answer at the moment.

Noting this, Nexsan’s E-Flex architecture is taking advantage of the technology. First, E-Flex enables customers to start with the footprint they need and grow over time up to several petabytes. The E18F leverages QLC for applications using real-time analytics and big data. The platform can also be used for AI and ML applications as well as content delivery.

E18F features include:

• High speed storage connectivity over Fibre Channel, iSCSI or SAS connectivity and seamless interoperability
• High availability, non-disruptive upgrades, snapshots and asynchronous replication across data centers using 10GE Ethernet.
• Key third-party integrations including Veeam, Commvault, VMware, Windows and Xen
• Active Drawer Technology allows drives to remain active when the drawer is open for hot-swap drive management

In other Nexsan news, the company upgraded its active data vault storage solution, Assureon, to version 8.3. Version 8.3 includes a private Blockchain that is said to protect and secure digital assets by storing data in an immutable data structure, utilizes cryptography to secure transactions and relies on an automated integrity audit at the redundant sites to maintain data integrity and transparency. This new Blockchain is combined with Assureon’s file fingerprinting and asset serialization process to provide maximum security for long-term data protection, retention, and compliance.

Nexsan has also added high performance and low latency RoCE (RDMA over Converged Ethernet) to Assureon. The company claims that customers will be better suited to hit regulatory compliance with this ultra-low latency connection.

Other benefits of Assureon 8.3 include:

• Virtual shortcuts that require zero disk space and reside purely in memory as reference points to physical files in the Assureon archive.
• A 40Gb/s ethernet connection that provides blazing fast data retrieval from the Assureon server.
  • Data is retrieved directly from user-space with minimal involvement of the operating system and CPU.
  • In addition, zero-copy applications can retrieve data from the Assureon archive without involving the network stack.
  • Security, traceability, immutability, and visibility of data with Assureon Private Blockchain technology.

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