Fueling the next wave of AI innovation, Western Digital has introduced a six-stage AI Data Cycle framework that defines the optimal storage mix for AI workloads at scale. This framework will help customers plan and develop advanced storage infrastructures to maximize their AI investments, improve efficiency, and reduce the total cost of ownership (TCO) of their AI workflows.
“The new Ultrastar DC SN861 SSD is Western Digital’s first enterprise-class PCIe Gen 5.0 solution with industry-leading random read performance and projected best-in-class power efficiency for AI workloads.”
Rob Soderbery, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Western Digital’s Flash Business Unit
Western Digital has strategically aligned its Flash and HDD product and technology roadmaps to the storage requirements of each critical stage of the cycle, and introduced a new industry-leading, high-performance PCIe Gen5 SSD to support AI training and inference; a high-capacity 64TB SSD for fast AI data lakes; and the world’s highest capacity ePMR, UltraSMR 32TB HDD for cost-effective storage at scale.
“Data is the fuel of AI. As AI technologies become embedded across virtually every industry sector, storage has become an increasingly important and dynamic component of the AI technology stack. The new AI Data Cycle framework will equip our customers to build a storage infrastructure that impacts the performance, scalability, and the deployment of AI applications, underscoring our commitment to deliver unparalleled value to our customers,” said Rob Soderbery, Executive Vice President and General Manager of Western Digital’s Flash Business Unit.
The new Ultrastar DC SN861 SSD is Western Digital’s first enterprise-class PCIe Gen 5.0 solution with industry-leading random read performance and projected best-in-class power efficiency for AI workloads. With capacities up to 16TB, it delivers up to 3x random read performance increase versus the previous generation with ultra-low latency and incredible responsiveness for large language model (LLM) training, inferencing and AI service deployment. In addition, the low power profile delivers higher IOPS/Watt, reducing overall TCO. The increased PCIe Gen5 bandwidth addresses the growing needs of the AI market for high-speed accelerated computing combined with low latency to serve compute-intensive environments of AI.
Built for mission-critical workloads, the Ultrastar DC SN861 provides a rich feature set, including NVMe® 2.0 and OCP 2.0 support, 1 and 3 DWPD, and a 5-year limited warranty1. The Ultrastar DC SN861 E1.S is now sampling. The U.2 will begin sampling this month and will begin volume shipments in CQ3’24. More details on E1.S and E3.S form factors will follow later this year. Complementing the Ultrastar DC SN861, is the expanded Ultrastar DC SN655 enterprise-class SSD range designed for storage-intensive applications. These new DC SN655 variants are now sampling. More details about the drives will be released later this year when volume shipments begin.
