Western Digital announced that SoftBank Corp. has adopted the SanDisk InfiniFlash all-flash storage platform for its software-defined storage solution.
 
Previously, SoftBank was running an in-house traditional storage system merging hard disk drives (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD) for some of its applications. Today, SoftBank has created a new software-defined, multi-petabyte in-house system using the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform as its core storage engine for real-time data transaction applications, allowing the installation of software in general-purpose servers.

This allowed SoftBank to integrate operations of complex systems, eliminate silos, and vendor-specific tasks, which has led to higher efficiency. With scalability and high density, the new system is capable to handle a rising volume of data and has made it possible to decrease the number of racks by 75% and power consumption by up to 83% within the data centre, compared to traditional dedicated storage. SoftBank chose the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform after considering compatibility with other SDS solutions and costs through a proof-of-concept process. This system is set up by PS Solutions Corp.
 
The SanDisk InfiniFlash platform affords a storage up to 512TB of recording density in one 3-rack-unit (3U) platform and delivers both the economics of HDD-based storage and performance of flash memory storage to support the needs of mid- to massive-scale environments. With a less-than $1-per-gigabyte price point without compression and deduplication, it delivers unprecedented scale and performance for flash technology in combination with software-defined storage, bringing significant innovation compared to the traditional, proprietary storage market. The SanDisk InfiniFlash platform can be linked to up to eight servers, enabling computing and storage to be added individually while also delivering the reliability and high performance of flash. This helps the company significantly save on capital expenditures and operational costs in the data centre.
 
The director of System Infrastructure, Softbank Corp, Yasuyuki Kato said “At the time, we looked into ways of leveraging flash technology in our new in-house platform to optimize the cost and efficiency of our data center operation.” He then noted, “We have then decided to implement the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform. This is the first super-large-capacity flash storage platform that the SanDisk brand launched for data centers, based on its rich experience and knowhow in flash development and production. In addition to high-speed I/O capability, it delivers higher density compared to traditional flash-based platforms, which means it does not need to take as much floor space in data centers as in the past, while still being able to scale processing from a few petabytes to hundreds of petabytes of data. Under our IT strategy to support further business growth, SoftBank will build highly competitive IT systems ranging from big data to enterprise systems by using the advanced flash technology of the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform.”