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Sixth generation all-flash array, powered by VisionOS software platform, delivers 5x capacity increase, 2x performance increase with seamless path to ongoing innovation

NEEDHAM, Mass., Feb. 8, 2017 – Kaminario, a leading all-flash storage company, today announced the availability of its sixth generation (Gen6) K2 all-flash array, delivering multi-petabyte scale storage with the performance and agility to meet the needs of an on-demand world. Kaminario K2 Gen6 is powered by VisionOSTM, a software platform that optimizes best-of-breed commodity hardware resources. K2 is built for delivering applications on highly scalable private clouds or as-a-service infrastructures.

K2’s unique scale-up and scale-out architecture covers both dimensions of scale – capacity and performance. The array can linearly grow the number of CPU cores and independently grow solid-state capacity – breaking the limits of rigid architectures. Advances in compression technology enable K2 Gen6 customers to realize industry leading capacity and efficiency backed by enhancements to the ForeSightTM Storage Assurance program – the industry’s most comprehensive investment protection program.

“This latest platform is another milestone for Kaminario and sets us on a path to rapidly expand our competitive edge in the market,” said Dani Golan, founder and CEO, Kaminario. “The combination of increasing performance and capacity efficiency, with the ability to seamlessly scale-out from previous generations of K2, give our customers the agility they need to compete in the modern, always-on world.”

Product Highlights:

Kaminario K2 Gen6, Petabyte-scale All-flash Storage

K2 Gen6 delivers multi-petabyte scalability within a shared data reduction space. The K2 is comprised of modular K-Blocks that include an active-active controller pair and between one and four drive shelves that each accommodate 24 SSDs. Leveraging 4TB 3D TLC drives, a single Gen6 K-Block scales-up to 1PB of effective capacity, a 5x increase over a Gen5 K-Block. With a true scale-out design, volumes are accessed from all active-active controllers. Adopting Intel Broadwell CPUs, the K2 Gen6 delivers a 2x performance increase over the previous generation. Kaminario customers will be able to add Gen6 modules to existing Gen5 implementations non-disruptively.

1 K-Block Configuration – 30TB to 1PB of effective capacity with 370K IOPS, 6.2GB/s of throughput and 0.35ms latency

2 K-Block Configuration – 60TB to 2PB of effective capacity with 740K IOPS, 12.4GB/s of throughput and 0.35ms latency

3 K-Block Configuration – 90TB to 3PB of effective capacity with 1.1M IOPS, 6GB/s of throughput and 0.35ms latency

4 K-Block Configuration – 120TB to 4PB of effective capacity with 1.5M IOPS, 25GB/s of throughput and 0.35ms latency

Transforming All-flash Economics with Best-in-Class Data Reduction

In addition to improvements in physical capacity and density, K2 Gen6 incorporates an innovative implementation of standard compression algorithms that optimize use of hardware resources. The improvement in compression efficiency delivers more than 25 percent improvement in overall data reduction for most use cases – letting customers get more effective capacity from the array. Kaminario passes this value on to customers with a guaranteed data reduction ratio of 4:1. If customers are not able to achieve 4:1 reduction during the life of the array, Kaminario provides additional capacity at no extra charge.

Kaminario VisionOS: Software-defined All-flash Architecture and Data Services Framework

K2 Gen6 is powered by VisionOS, Kaminario’s core software-defined architecture and framework for delivering advanced data services. VisionOS represents the culmination of over eight years of all-flash innovation, delivering unique capabilities that include Kaminario’s ability to scale-up and scale-out, to deliver high performance in complex workload environments, to optimize the use of hardware resources and to deliver industry leading capacity efficiency.

Tomorrow-ready Storage Framework Accelerates Adoption of New Hardware Innovation

Kaminario’s software-defined approach enables rapid adoption of the latest storage, networking and processor hardware. K2 Gen6 incorporates a tomorrow-ready framework that delivers a seamless path to adopting new hardware innovation as it becomes enterprise ready. Tomorrow-ready features include:

• FC Gen6 32Gbit-ready: K2 Gen6 uses 16Gbit Fibre Channel Gen6 adapters that can be upgraded to 32Gbit with a simple transceiver swap.
• Storage Class Memory (SCM)-ready: K2 Gen6 controllers offer front-loading, hot-swappable PCIe and NVMe slots for SCM devices such as Intel 3D Xpoint.
• NVDIMM-ready: VisionOS is built to leverage next-gen high performance innovative storage class memory modules like NVDIMM that can sustain power failures without losing data.

Additionally, Kaminario continues to lead the industry in rethinking storage array architecture, while ensuring investment protection through a seamless upgrade path for existing customers.

“Kaminario’s technology philosophy is to focus on software-defined innovation while working with leading technology providers to deliver the most capable all-flash array platform in the market,” said Doron Tal, chief architect, Kaminario. “With hardware technologies like NVMe and NVMe Fabrics rapidly emerging, we will be positioned to lead the industry, introducing enterprise-ready solutions and leveraging the most modern hardware technologies available.”

Supporting Quotes

“Kaminario’s scale-up and scale-out approach is designed to deliver the agility and scalability that modern on-demand infrastructures require,” said Ernie Satterthwait, CIO, Scentsy. “We count on Kaminario to support the consistently high user experience our customers expect.”

“Kaminario has been at the forefront of the all-flash industry for the past few years,” said Ashby Lincoln, president and CEO, VeriStor Systems. “Like us, they are innovation leaders and are always among the first to adopt the newest flash technology which is important in this fast-moving market. In addition, their flexible scalability model and business assurance programs give our mutual customers incredible predictability around performance and cost.”

“Kaminario K2 Gen6 promises to challenge the all-flash status quo with its significant upgrades to the signature, already-impressive Kaminario scale-up and scale-out architecture,” said Mark Peters, practice director and senior analyst, ESG. “Kaminario’s approach not only – and expectedly – delivers the stellar performance needed for modern applications, but also crucially – and less expectedly – adds the kind of scalability and agility that’s a prerequisite to support cloud-scale data centers.”

“We are thrilled that Kaminario has chosen to standardize on Emulex Gen6 Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters (HBAs) by Broadcom for the sixth generation of the K2 all-flash array,” said Brian Reed, vice president, Emulex Connectivity Division, Broadcom. “K2 Gen6 leverages the latest innovations in hardware design, including the multi-threaded, multi-core architecture of Emulex HBA’s that deliver best-in-class performance, enabling Kaminario’s customers to accelerate workloads by up to 3X compared to previous generations of HBAs.”

“Kaminario leverages Supermicro server technology to deliver maximum performance and efficiency in both scale-up and scale-out configurations,” said Don Clegg, vice president of marketing and business development, Supermicro. “This building block approach provides the required hardware pillars for the introduction of Gen6 performance, efficiency, reliability and future-ready innovations. Kaminario K2 all-flash array utilizes front-loading, hot-swappable PCIe and NVMe slots for SCM devices, NVMe SSDs and more. These features accelerate the storage’s metadata handling, offload tasks from the CPU, or any other innovation the future will bring.”

“Brocade and Kaminario are redefining storage performance with the K2 all-flash array, a Gen6-ready storage platform,” said Jack Rondoni, senior vice president of storage networking, Brocade. “Data center modernization starts with Gen6 Fibre Channel in order to adapt to ever-evolving storage requirements. Brocade Gen6 Fibre Channel provides the enhanced reliability, breakthrough performance and business agility required for the all-flash data center.”