infoTECH Feature

October 31, 2014

Skyera's skyHawk FS Packs Hefty Flash Storage

It's been one of the biggest issues of personal preference since Coke took on Pepsi: hard drives or solid state drives? While the hard drive camp has a good point in that hard drives offer up huge amounts of storage for a minimum of expense, the solid state drive camp's focus on reliability and speed has its own points to consider. But even solid state these days is starting to really drive up the capacity, as seen in Skyera's new skyHawk FS, which fits a hefty slug of flash storage in one surprisingly handy package.

The skyHawk FS is described as being about the same size as a pizza box, which is far from big, though certainly not as small as might be desired. But contained within said pizza box is a hefty dollop of storage: a 1U storage system that now contains fully 136 terabytes of raw flash. This is actually a substantial step up from previous releases, as two years ago, Skyera managed to get only 44 terabytes—if 44 can ever really be considered only—and followed that up the next year by putting 72 terabytes in the same sized box. Now, it's up to 136, and that's posing some clear opportunities for businesses that turn to Skyera for flash storage options.

Since the Skyera skyHawk system is as small as it is, according to Skyera's CEO Frankie Roohparvar, it can provide significant value to the enterprise user that's concerned about how to handle the need for storing material and the like. The size of the Skyera system allows it to use less power as well, which means the whole thing can provide some significant storage capability while at the same time offering up terrific savings in operational expense (OPEX (News - Alert)). The Skyera system uses both storage area network (SAN) and network attached storage (NAS) in the same platform to provide the most versatility in the field. Since the device itself weighs just 25 pounds—which is admittedly quite a bit for most any piece of computer hardware—it's reasonably portable as well.

Additionally, it can offer up that storage with very low latency, meaning that searches and queries on the system can proceed rapidly, which in turn improves employee efficiency as well as said employees don't have to wait near so long to get the information needed to carry on with a work day. The skyHawk FS offers up bandwidth speeds up to 2.4G bps, and allows for up to 400,000 input / output operations per second (IOPS) with latencies around the one microsecond—about one one-millionth of a second—range.

It even supports both Internet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) and network file system interfaces, improving versatility all the more. Just to top it off, the skyHawk FS comes with Skyera's own Storage Operating System (SeOS), which provides a number of tools in its own right for accessing and protecting data.

The skyHawk FS system's biggest selling point may well be its sheer versatility. Able to provide value in a series of different use cases, there are few places where a skyHawk FS can't be put to work in some way. While the discussion between hard drive and solid state users will likely carry on for some time, flash storage makers like Skyera will likely continue to put out solid entrants into the field.




Edited by Alisen Downey
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