Amplidata 'Big Data' storage appliance reduces energy draw

The technology offers 30 terabytes of capacity in a 1U form factor, which is 50 percent larger than the capacity of Amplidata's previous offering.

But the biggest advantage could come in the form of power savings: Amplidata has designed the AS30 module so that it uses 2.2 watts per terabyte when idle and 3.3 watts per terabyte under load. That is roughly 30 percent less power than other comparable storage devices used for handling unstructured data in media and entertainment applications. To put it in terms that most people would understand: the appliance uses about the same power as a 60-watt light bulb, according to the compamy.

Amplidata figures that its AS30 system is about 70 percent more energy efficient than traditional RAID systems. Said Amplidata CEO Wim De Wispelaere:

"With the AmpliStor XT controllers, we are now able to provide near-linear scaling of throughput at multi-gigabytes per second -- speed that allows even Big Data payloads to be processed at blazing speed. And these low-power AS30 nodes enable data centers to deploy petabytes of storage capacity per rack given the power delivery limitations within the data center."

The AS30 module is priced starting at about 60 centers per gigabyte.