KIOXIA’s KumoScale Software Brings Faster NVMe-oF Storage to Containers

New Features for Kubernetes Deployments Highlighted at KubeCon

SAN JOSE, Calif., November 17, 2020 – KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory America, Inc.) has introduced a broad new set of capabilities in its KumoScale™ storage software.  The new features bring the rich functionality and durability of networked storage to applications managed by the Kubernetes® framework, while delivering the exceptional performance of NVMe® flash. KumoScale software can now serve as a container host, providing managed NVMe volumes to storage applications such as distributed file systems and object stores, running locally on KumoScale storage nodes.  Additionally, these new capabilities and applications, along with other KumoScale control-plane services, are deployed and managed via a Kubernetes “micro-cluster”. This results in a flexible infrastructure that can serve block, file, and object storage simultaneously to Kubernetes, OpenStack®, and bare metal clients. KIOXIA will demonstrate KumoScale software’s new Kubernetes storage features at the virtual KubeCon + CloudNativeCon North America 2020 from November 17-20.

“Data center customers using the Kubernetes framework for infrastructure management don’t want to compromise storage performance in their cloud deployments, and we are committed to helping them maximize flash and compute resources,” said Joel Dedrick, vice president and general manager, networked storage software, KIOXIA America, Inc. “With support for the Kubernetes framework, KumoScale software accelerates performance and improves utilization of NVMe-oF storage well beyond the usual container storage solutions. KumoScale features enrich Kubernetes storage technology with one of the most robust NVMe flash as a service solutions available today.”

Designed to dramatically improve the performance of client, server and storage systems, the NVMe-oF™ specification is driving new performance levels for cloud and enterprise applications. KumoScale software’s features integrated with the Kubernetes framework take full advantage of the faster connections offered by NVMe-oF, enabling cloud deployments to serve more users per storage node – and improving operational costs.   For example, KumoScale software-enabled storage recently demonstrated 20X faster read and write latencies, and 6X faster IOPS compared to Ceph.

KumoScale software feature enhancements for the Kubernetes framework include:

  • The newly released KumoScale CSI Driver supports low latency core storage functions, data resiliency, snapshots, thin provisioning and live pod migration. KumoScale volumes simply appear to host containers as fast local NVMe drives.  The driver is available in the Cloud-native Computing Foundation repository.
  • The KumoScale Management Cluster manages dozens or hundreds of storage nodes and continuously monitors and manages all of the services required for KumoScale software operation.  These control services are containerized, and installed and managed by a private Kubernetes “micro-cluster”.
  • Multi-tenant Virtual Clusters servicing multiple compute clusters supporting Kubernetes, OpenStack, and/or bare-metal can consume storage concurrently from a single physical KumoScale cluster. The KumoScale provisioner exposes a virtual cluster to each compute cluster, maintaining isolation and storage quotas for each cluster while enabling the storage pool to achieve high resource utilization.
  • 3rd-party Application Hosting for Kubernetes Services enables KumoScale storage nodes to serve as a platform to host container-based storage interfaces, like file and object storage, that can take advantage of native NVMe performance.  The KumoScale Management Cluster automatically installs and monitors these additional storage services.
     

In parallel with the release of these new features, KIOXIA is offering a free 2 week trial of KumoScale software, hosted on KIOXIA cloud infrastructure. For more information on how to sign up for the trial visit: https://kumoscale.kioxia.com/en/technical-information/remote-access-poc-guide.

KIOXIA is a leading provider of NVMe SSDs, technology and data center software. For more information, please visit kumoscale.kioxia.com.

About KumoScale
KumoScale™ software is a leading high-performance block storage software suite for on-premise clouds. Combining the speed and responsiveness of born-in-the-cloud software with the staying power of one of the world's largest flash memory makers, KumoScale software uses NVMe-oF™ technology to enable flash as a service.

About KIOXIA America, Inc.
KIOXIA America, Inc. (formerly Toshiba Memory 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 cutting-edge memory solutions and services 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 KIOXIA.com.

Notes:
KUBERNETES is a registered trademark of the Linux Foundation in the United States and other countries, and is used pursuant to a license from the Linux Foundation

PCI Express and PCIe are registered trademarks of PCI-SIG

OpenStack is a registered trademark of OpenStack Foundation

NVM Express and NVMe are registered trademarks of NVM Express, Inc.

NVMe-oF and NVMe-MI are trademarks of NVM Express, Inc.

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

  • 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.