Seagate ST973401SS 2.5-Inch Disc Drives: Key to Cutting Data Center Costs (159 - Page 3

Note that the savings provided by SFF 2.5-inch storage solutions aren't limited to large enterprises that own or lease dedicated data centers; mid-size companies that employ co-location services can also realize significant cost savings. For example, common applications such as data warehousing, e-mail and CRM can easily demand several terabytes or more of storage. Deploying 10 Tbytes of capacity consumes approximately 60U of co-location rack space (utilizing 3.5-inch, 36-Gbyte, 10K-RPM drives). To achieve this same capacity using SFF 2.5-inch, 36-Gbyte drives would require roughly 22U of space. With typical monthly co-location fees running anywhere from $150/U to $500/U, the savings from SFF deployment could immediately translate into $5,700 to $19,000 per month. Cost savings are clearly a consolidation priority, but optimal storage consolidation also demands that performance needs be met both today and tomorrow, enabling enterprises to keep pace as markets expand and business opportunities grow. This ability is particularly key as online, transactional storage continues to play an ever-increasing role in the real-time enterprise. SFF 2.5-inch enterprise disc drives are uniquely suited to meet the dual objectives of performance and space-efficiency. These compact drives are 70 percent smaller than 3.5-inch units, enabling them to deliver 130 to 150 percent greater system performance in the same footprint (IOPS/U) and boost data center ROI. To look at it another way, 2U storage arrays equipped with 2.5-inch enterprise drives provide: • 70 percent more IOPS (2U box vs. 3U box) • 33 percent reduction in rack space (2U vs. 3U) • 155 percent more IOPS (on IOPS/U basis compared to 3U) Furthermore, 2.5-inch drives use 40 percent less power and thus run cooler and require less airflow; this enables greater storage density and data center space efficiency. Here again SAS proves to be an optimal complement to SFF 2.5-inch disc drives, as the greater drive counts found in high-density storage solutions are easily handled by the exceptional scalability of SAS (128 devices per edge expander and over 16,000 devices in a single SAS domain). In addition, the 2.5-inch drive's compact chassis delivers benefits that go beyond higher drive counts. It also improves airflow within 1U spaces, allowing servers to use faster processors that consume more power and generate more heat. Finally, SFF 2.5-inch drives reduce TCO with superior reliability and longer service life; their 1.4 million hour MTBF is approximately 15 percent greater than prior-generation 3.5-inch, 10K-RPM drives. As the following table illustrates, SFF 2.5-inch enterprise disc drives boost data center performance and efficiency across a broad range of storage applications: Data Center Economies of SFF 2.5-Inch Enterprise Drives Storage Application SFF 2.5-Inch Solution 2U Rack-Optimized Storage Array 25 2.5-inch enterprise drives Conventional 3.5-Inch Solution 14 3.5-inch enterprise drives Results 2.5-inch drives give over 185% greater performance in same footprint Rack Server 1U-six (6) 2.5-inch enterprise drives 2U-six (6) 3.5-inch enterprise drives 2.5-inch drive enables full RAID 5 functionality in 1U space, delivering 150% greater performance than 3.5-inch/2U server while saving 50% on rack space costs Blade Server One 2.5-inch enterprise drive Two 2.5-inch notebook-class drives 2.5-inch enterprise drive gives blade server (mirrored) enterprise-class reliability, 150% higher IOPS in same footprint *Based on $1000/sq. ft. estimated data center cost (Source: IDC) Table 1 For most enterprises, greater capacity will always be a goal. This is hardly surprising, given that IDC projects worldwide data growth at approximately 50 percent per year over the next several years. Here again SFF 2.5-inch drives prove their value, for as capacity grows and more data must be accessed, drive I/O must increase simply to maintain current effective performance (IOPS/GB). Substituting higher-capacity 3.5-inch drives (in order to keep drive footprint constant) will actually drop IOPS/GB. By contrast, SFF 2.5-inch drives can maintain (or even increase) IOPS/GB at higher capacities because more drives will fit into a given chassis size than 3.5-inch units. More drives per GB = more actuators accessing the same amount of data, yielding higher IOPS/GB. 3