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Storage Networking World – Dallas, TX – 14 October 2008 – Wasabi today
announced that it has developed an OSD t10 compliant Object Based Storage platform in
support of next generation data storage applications. This standards-based solution
allows for data stored in files to be combined with descriptive “Tags” or other information
about the data (metadata) as one complete entity that can be managed over its entire life
cycle.
Wasabi’s new technology affords freedom from the boundaries of all current file system-
based approaches since it breaks from the limitations of sectors, blocks and inodes. This
makes it particularly suitable as the basis for next generation SSD based storage.
Since objects can be self-describing due to their integral metadata, intelligent storage
systems can be built that are capable of self-management and provide new application
specific functionality at the storage array level. This capability enables a broad array of
new features related to life cycle management of data, particularly in compliance, Web2.0
and archival requirements. "We applaud the announcement of OSD t10 compatible Object Based Storage from
Wasabi,” said Benjamin Woo, VP of Storage Research at IDC. “We have closely followed
Wasabi’s efforts over the last several months and we believe that their approach can
facilitate the inevitable transition to objects that needs to occur in order to provide value
from the data we store today." Wasabi is privately showing its new technology on a prototype OSD Controller in its
whisper suite at SNW this week. The prototype demo is a 1U platform containing 4 SSDs;
it has two 1GbE management ports and a 10GbE data port. For demonstration purposes
Wasabi is showing a Linux client running in a virtual machine on a MAC computer
connected to the target and transferring files such as pictures and documents over iSCSI
to the OSD target and converting the files to objects.
"With any new technology, whether it be Fibre Channel, iSCSI, SSDs or Objects, there is a
disruptive effect in the market and a requirement for broad eco-system participation in
moving to more advanced technology,” said Frank Logan, Wasabi’s President and CEO.
“Object-based storage is one of those breakthrough technologies that ushers in a sea
change to the market. It's likely the biggest change since the SCSI interface was ratified
in 1986. We believe our approach is unique in being first with a standards compliant
solution completely free of the limitations of legacy file systems yet compatible with
today's infrastructure and block drives."
Solid-state drives bring new benefits to the storage market. Since they are not bound by
the block architecture of the past, new methods of data layout that take advantage of the
performance characteristics while managing the wear properties efficiently are needed.
Wasabi’s Object Based technology is key to this because it allows for better media
dependent tuning.
Specific features include: 2^64 user objects in each of 2^64 partitions (2^128 objects total) means that each user can be connected to billions of personal objects (photos, movies, notes, etc.) and still not come close to tapping limits
2^32 attribute pages per object, each of which can accommodate 2^32 attributes (for a total of 2^64 attributes per object); each attribute value can be up to 64k in size
Tested scalability to over 10 billion objects on a single 20TB node facilitates data migration and intelligent management
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