SanDisk's FlashSoft Software Validated to Provide Enhanced Performance

SanDisk (News - Alert) Corporation’s FlashSoft software has been validated by NetApp as compatible with NetApp Data ONTAP enterprise storage and data management technologies.

FlashSoft uses innovative caching technology to deliver the performance of enterprise flash with no disruption to applications, servers, or storage. FlashSoft works with a vendor's enterprise solid -state technology, and supports all storage architectures.

FlashSoft software is installed within the server operating system, where it identifies the frequently accessed data ("hot data") to be cached on solid state device. FlashSoft runs transparently within the server, accelerating I/O for selected data volumes.

The innovative design of the FlashSoft caching engine requires minimal system resources to deliver I/O acceleration and the persistent cache resumes acceleration immediately upon server restart.

“We’re pleased to have been selected by NetApp as one of the first partners whose software is fully tested and validated for the NetApp platform,” said Tom Shea, vice president and general manager, software solutions, SanDisk, in a statement.

Shea said that the NetApp and FlashSoft joint solution adds new, high performance capabilities to reliable storage and data management for enterprise customers and extends the value of NetApp to the server.

Officials with SanDisk Corporation said that with VMware vSphere, FlashSoft extends the performance of NetApp unified storage by enabling SSDs to function as a cache for frequently accessed data.

“Including SanDisk’s FlashSoft software in NetApp’s Interoperability Matrix will allow our customers to enhance the performance of their servers by deploying a tested and validated solution,” said Tim Russell, vice president, data lifecycle ecosystem group, NetApp. “We manage our customers’ most important asset – their data. With our compatible server caching partners, we know that they can target performance enhancement to specific servers and virtual machines.”

With FlashSoft, NetApp customers will be able to confidently run key applications in virtual environments; improve application performance by three to five times or more; target performance enhancement to specific servers and virtual machines and reduce I/O overhead on storage systems to balance utilization of server and storage resources among other things.