Toshiba has announced three new SSD models aimed at datacenter deployments. The new CD5, XD5, and HK6-DC use SATA 2.5 U.2, M.2 22110, and 2.5″ SATA connectors, respectively.
All three models use different Toshiba controllers, but emphasize write/read speed and endurance. They also lack some of the features of high-end SSDs, but still include full data protection with full power loss protection. As for flash memory, they will contain Toshiba's BiCS3 3D TLC NAND Flash.
Toshiba sees datacenter SSDs and enterprise SSDs as separate product lines, with the latter being more suited to mission-critical servers and featuring better specifications, offering better performance. Datacenter SSDs are aimed at uses such as cloud computing, where the performance or endurance of a single drive is less of a concern because the workload is spread across hundreds of SSDs per rack.
The CD5 is a 2.5" U.2 NVMe SSD with a PCIe 3.1 x4 connection. It uses the same controller as Toshiba's CM5 Enterprise SSD, but lacks features such as Controller Buffer (CMB) and SR-IOV virtualization support. Capacities will range from 960Gb to 7.68Tb and power consumption from 6 to 14 Watts.
The XD5 is an M.2 22110 NVMe SSD, with an additional 80mm length compared to classic M.2 SSDs, thus giving up to 4TB of capacity in a module plus capacitors for power loss protection. Its controller is older in design compared to the other two as is its interface. Its capacities will be 1.92TB and 3.84 with consumption from 2.5 to 7 Watts.
The HK6-DC is the company's new SATA SSD, and this one with a different controller and nothing special compared to the rest of its category. Its read speed is 550Mb/s (the company did not announce the write speed) and the capacities will range from 960GB - 3.84TB with consumption from 0.6 - 5.0 Watt.
Their release is expected in the second quarter of the year.
