KIOXIA Announces 2nd Generation 24G SAS SSD, With a Focus on Performance and Security

PM7 Series Leverages Latest BiCS FLASH™ Technology and Security Module Validated by the FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Program

December 8, 2022 update:  Revised the description of security features

SAN JOSE, CA, March 8, 2022 KIOXIA America, Inc. today announced that its PM7 Series of enterprise SAS SSDs is now available for customer evaluation.  KIOXIA was the first1 to bring 24G SAS to server and storage applications, and now the PM7 Series, its 2nd generation of 24G SAS SSDs, furthers the company’s position as a SAS market leader. Targeted at enterprise applications and use cases – including high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, caching layer, and financial trading and analysis – the new drives bring improved performance, reliability and security to enterprise servers and storage.  With an emphasis on security, the PM7 Series utilizes a security module which is validated by the FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Program, and currently under the test for FIPS 140-3 validation2.

Designed for modern IT infrastructures, 24G SAS (SAS-4) doubles effective bandwidth over 12Gb/s SAS (SAS-3). Featuring KIOXIA’s 5th generation BiCS FLASH™ 3D TLC flash memory, the PM7 Series delivers sequential read performance of up 4.2 Gigabytes (GB) per second (GB/s), 720K random read IOPS and up to 355K random write IOPS. The new KIOXIA drives are available in capacities up to 30.72 terabytes (TB), making them the industry’s highest capacity3 2.5”4 SAS SSD.

“SAS has proven itself as the tried and trusted storage technology for the enterprise storage market,” commented Don Jeanette, vice president of SSD research for Trend Focus. “As SAS continues strong shipments in 2022, KIOXIA’s 24G SAS SSD leadership will help them to maintain their market share in enterprise servers and storage.”

The PM7 Series builds upon KIOXIA’s history of high performance and reliability over seven generations of SAS drives, nearly doubling the performance of the KIOXIA 12Gb/s SAS SSDs and realizing up to 20% performance gains over its previous generation 24G SAS SSD.

Additional features include: 

  • Dual-port for high-availability.
  • Flash Die Failure Protection – a KIOXIA feature that allows for transparent disabling of a failing flash chip, while maintaining full reliability at the SSD level.
  • Endurances for a wide range of workloads; read-intensive (1 DWPD5) and mixed-use (3 DWPD).
  • Security options available; sanitize instant erase (SIE6), TCG Enterprise self-encrypting drive (SED7) and SED with an additional security option that utilizes a security module validated by the FIPS 140-2 Cryptographic Module Validation Program. FIPS 140-3 validation for the security module is also in process and is expected to be completed in 2022.


“As active members of the T10 and SCSI Trade Association industry groups that head up and define SAS development efforts, KIOXIA is proud to be leading the transition to 24G SAS,” said Neville Ichhaporia, vice president, SSD marketing and product management, KIOXIA America, Inc.   “Our SSD portfolio for the data center is the broadest in the industry8, and the addition of the PM7 Series is more proof of our commitment to drive innovation and development of the widely deployed and trusted SAS interface.”

For more information, please visit americas.kioxia.com, and follow the company on TwitterA new window will open. and LinkedInA new window will open..

About KIOXIA America, Inc.

KIOXIA America, Inc. is the U.S.-based subsidiary of KIOXIA Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid-state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough BiCS FLASH™ 3D technology, KIOXIA continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD and software solutions that enrich people's lives and expand society's horizons. The company's innovative 3D flash memory technology, BiCS FLASH, is shaping the future of storage in high-density applications, including advanced smartphones, PCs, SSDs, automotive, and data centers. For more information, please visit americas.kioxia.com.

Notes:

1: Source: KIOXIA Corporation, as of June 16, 2020. Based on a KIOXIA market survey of publicly available information.

2: FIPS: Federal Information Processing Standards.

3: Source: KIOXIA Corporation, as of February 9, 2022. Based on a KIOXIA market survey of publicly available information.

4: "2.5-inch" indicates the form factor of the SSD. It does not indicate the drive's physical size.

5: DWPD: Drive Write(s) Per Day. One full drive write per day means the drive can be written and re-written to full capacity once a day every day under the specified workload for the specified lifetime. Actual results may vary due to system configuration, usage and other factors.

6: SIE: Sanitize Instant Erase option supports Crypto Erase, which is a standardized feature defined by the technical committees (T10) of INCITS (the International Committee for Information Technology Standards).

7: SED: Self-Encrypting Drive option supports TCG Enterprise SSC.

8: Based on KIOXIA America survey of publicly available information as of August 2021.

Read and write speed may vary depending on various factors such as host devices, software (drivers, OS etc.), and read/write conditions.

IOPS: Input Output Per Second (or the number of I/O operations per second)

Sample drives are for evaluation. The specifications of sample drives may differ from production drive models.

All other company names, product names and service names may be trademarks of their respective companies.

Definition of capacity: KIOXIA Corporation defines a megabyte (MB) as 1,000,000 bytes, a gigabyte (GB) as 1,000,000,000 bytes and a terabyte (TB) as 1,000,000,000,000 bytes. A computer operating system, however, reports storage capacity using powers of 2 for the definition of 1Gb = 2^30 bits = 1,073,741,824 bits, 1GB = 2^30 bytes = 1,073,741,824 bytes and 1TB = 2^40 bytes = 1,099,511,627,776 bytes and therefore shows less storage capacity. Available storage capacity (including examples of various media files) will vary based on file size, formatting, settings, software and operating system, and/or pre-installed software applications, or media content. Actual formatted capacity may vary.

  • Information in this press release, including product pricing and specifications, content of services, and contact information is current and believed to be accurate on the date of the announcement, but is subject to change without prior notice. Technical and application information contained here is subject to the most recent applicable KIOXIA product specifications.