This incredibly fast storage solution from Fusion-io is made for servers, but could easily be repurposed for home use, if you’re interested in spending a few grand on the setup. The idea is actually very simple: it’s a NAND storage array that connects via PCIe. In most computers your PCIe slots are taken up by graphics cards, since they’re the only pieces of hardware that need the kind of throughput provided by that interface. Well, servers don’t need video cards and a PCIe interface allows for some seriously high bandwidth hard drive access.
Tweaktown, bless their hearts, compared the thing to a single $600 high-performance Intel SSD and to a 8-platter RAID array of 15,000RPM Seagate HDDs. The results of the test confirmed that the ioDrive is the fastest option by a mile — it set a new record in one of their storage speed testing suites, beating the previous record by a good 30 percent. While the single SSD performed well under some conditions, the read speed was way better on the ioDrive and read access time was reduced to a hundredth of a millisecond in some cases. Hot damn!
Of course, this crazy thing isn’t for everyday use; the hardware is designed for servers that need the lowest possible lag time combined with the largest amount of storage available. The ioDrive comes in flavors up to 320GB, but that’ll set you back nearly 15 grand. However, for businesses and services where speed is all-important, any price is worth that extra bump in performance.
wait until the guys at google get their hands on fully developed versions of this. im sure we’re gonna see even bigger things happen. 500mb write, 700mb read a second??? Christ!
Fusion ioDrive the best! Thank you for this product!
If FusionIO wants their product to reach critical mass, they need to do something better with price, otherwise Intel and the likes will pass them up. Do they actually think other companies are sitting idle? Once a big company like Intel makes this type of technology into a mass produced product, then good-bye FusionIO. They better look at history of high-tech storage / memory and consider the economic climate we are in today instead of focusing on immediate large profit margin and think long term. Who the heck handles their long term strategic planning? Do you guys want to make a quick buck for a year or two or do you want to dominate and expand for years. You can still make money and GROW if he price point was better.
Check. Check. And double-check. You are correct on every count, Lindley, and we’re working on it. Keep your eye on us in the next two years, and I suspect you’ll see all your suggestions will be carried out. We are here to expand and dominate, and dominate we will.
I think I just made a mess in my shorts. Gawd I want one of these so badly. Actually I want a few of them for the server room AND one for home.
Update: yep, just checked, made a mess in my shorts. Small wonder.