The IBM Flash Adapter F3200 Enterprise Value for System x® are designed for the application of solid-state storage to webscale and cloud data centers. Delivering high speed, low latency, and high efficiency, this new line of flash adapters brings scalable and optimized performance to distributed scale-out architectures at low cost. These adapters are designed primarily for cost-efficient high volume servers and computing appliances to maximize compute efficiency while providing the added benefits of lower power and cooling costs, low management impact, and smaller storage footprints.

Based on the standard PCIe architecture coupled with silicon-based NAND clustering storage technology, the Flash Adapters Enterprise Value are optimized for System x rack servers. These scalable designs include cost-effective Multi-Level Cell (MLC) technology in standard PCIe form factors.

These adapters use NAND flash memory as the basic building block of solid-state storage and contain no moving parts, so they are less sensitive to issues associated with vibration, noise, and mechanical failure. These adapters are built as block devices on a PCIe bus with advanced wear-leveling, ECC, and chip-level redundancy providing unparalleled reliability and efficiency.

The IBM Flash Adapters Enterprise Value for System x can deliver fast and scalable performance at low latency required for webscale and cloud environments. The following typical applications require ultra-high I/O performance:

• Large scale transaction processing
• Cloud computing
• Content distribution
• On-demand streaming
• Data warehousing
• Business intelligence and analytics
• Decision support

Technology features

• Up to 3.2 TB of solid-state storage in an industry-standard PCIe form factor.
• High-density design with cost-effective MLC NAND technology reduces storage footprint.
• Functions as a PCIe storage and controller device. The operating system sees a block device.

Performance features

• High-speed, low latency, consistent, and scalable I/O performance
• Access latency can be as low as 19 ?s
• Up to 1.5 GBps of sustained sequential throughput
• Up to 144,000 random read IOPS and up to 535,000 random write IOPS using 512 bytes data blocks
• Integrates with host processor as a memory tier for direct parallel access to flash

Reliability features

• Advanced wear leveling
• ECC protection
• Adaptive Flashback redundancy for RAID-like chip protection with self-healing capabilities

Monitoring and management features

• Power consumption
• Thermal information
• Flash wear-out

Note: These adapters cannot be used as bootable devices.