Hitachi, Intel sign pact to develop enterprise SSDs

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies and Intel are teaming up to develop solid-state drives for servers, workstations and storage systems.

The partnership will combine the expertise of Hitachi in enterprise disk drives with Intel's expertise in Nand technology and manufacturing, to deliver Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and Fibre Channel-equipped solid-state drives for the enterprise market, the companies said on Tuesday

The drives that will be developed are intended "to complement existing enterprise-class hard-disk drives [HDDs] and are intended for use in storage applications that require… high input/output operations per second [IOPS] performance and power efficiency", the companies said.

The deal is exclusive, and the jointly developed systems will use Hitachi Global Storage Technologies' experience in drive firmware, qualification and system integration. Intel will also provide technology and manufacturing capabilities.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies said it will continue to provide OEM customers with enterprise storage products, including traditional hard-disk drives and the forthcoming solid-state drives. Intel will continue to develop, market and sell its own product lines of Sata SSDs.

Randy Wilhelm, general manger of Intel's Nand Solutions Group, said in a statement that "Intel and Hitachi Global Storage Technologies share a common objective in delivering SAS/FC products based on solid-state technology that will help enterprise customers meet the skyrocketing demands for performance while reducing space, power and cooling costs".

No details or specifications were released for any drives that may be developed by the two companies. Hitachi sells high-capacity storage drives, and delivered its first 3.5-inch, 1TB drive in January 2007.