Toshiba Memory America First to Deliver Value SAS SSDs Targeting SATA Applications

SAN JOSE, June 19, 2018 – Today Toshiba Memory America, Inc. (TMA), the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, unveiled a new, game-changing category of SAS SSDs expected to replace SATA SSDs in server applications. The RM5 12Gbit/s value SAS (vSAS) series features capacity, performance, reliability, manageability and data security advantages – at a price that obsoletes SATA SSDs.

A homogeneous SAS environment has long been the gold standard for enterprise server and storage systems. With vertical integration expertise in flash technology, firmware and controller design, Toshiba leveraged its leading position as the world’s leading¹ SAS SSD line optimizing RM5 to close the cost gap with SATA – and usher in a new class of SSD. SATA simply cannot compete with SAS, falling well short in terms of performance, robustness, and encryption options.

Designed with affordability and server applications in mind, Toshiba’s RM5 vSAS series seeks to provide a cost-effective and much higher performing solution to overcome the bottlenecks that are inherent with SATA today. Where SATA drives often use SAS expanders to scale out, RM5 enables the use of native SAS from end-to-end, eliminating the need for protocol translation to SATA. Customers can now take full advantage of SAS’s richer feature set and realize up to 4x performance throughput superiority over SATA.

“Servers that use SATA currently represent the majority of the market, and our RM5 series is designed to replace SATA SSDs,” noted Jeremy Werner, VP Marketing and Product Planning for TMA. “This is important, as the roadmap for SATA ends with the current 6Gb/s generation. With the introduction of this new class of drives, we are not only filling the void that the end of SATA has created but also offering our customers better TCO, increased performance and superior reliability."

Commenting on the introduction of the RM5, “With no planned roadmap extension beyond 6Gb/s SATA, data centers will increasingly look for alternative interface technologies for storage devices used in future servers and storage arrays,” according to Jeff Janukowicz, research vice president at IDC.  “Value SAS is a viable option to replace the SATA interface on storage devices as it offers better performance, more robust features and higher reliability.”

Featuring Toshiba’s BiCS FLASH™ TLC (3-bit-per-cell) 3D flash memory, the RM5 series will initially be available in capacities up to 7.68TB² with a single 12Gb/s port, SFF-8639 connector and in a 2.5” form factor

Toshiba Memory America will be present at this year’s HPE Discover at booth #196 and conduct several speaking sessions. Topics include “U.3 Universal Drive Bays for NVMe/SAS/SATA Drives,” presented by HPE and Broadcom, and “Life After SATA” that features the new value SAS solid-state drive, and will be co-presented by HPE. Demonstrations will include Toshiba’s PX05S workload study on an HPE ProLiant DL380 Gen10 server, and U.3 showing SAS, SATA and NVMe drives in the same drive bay with Toshiba PX05S and presented by HPE and Broadcom.

For more information, please visit www.Toshiba.com/TMA.

About Toshiba Memory America, Inc.
Toshiba Memory America, Inc. (TMA) is the U.S.-based subsidiary of Toshiba Memory Corporation, a leading worldwide supplier of flash memory and solid state drives (SSDs). From the invention of flash memory to today’s breakthrough 96-layer BiCS FLASH™ 3D technology, Toshiba continues to lead innovation and move the industry forward. For more information on TMA, please visit www.toshiba.com/tma and follow the company on LinkedIn, Twitter (@Toshiba_Memory) and Facebook.