Micron Unveils Micron 9550 SSD: Fastest Data Center SSD

Micron Unveils Groundbreaking 9550 SSD, Setting New Industry Standard

Micron has made a groundbreaking announcement with the launch of its Micron 9550 SSD, positioning it as the fastest data center SSD currently available in the market. Boasting an impressive range of capacities from 3.2TB to 30.72TB, this new drive is set to support PCIe Gen5 server designs, providing superior performance. It stands out with sequential reads reaching 14.0 GB/s and sequential writes at 10.0 GB/s, outpacing its competitors by as much as 67%.

Designed for AI workloads, the Micron 9550 SSD features 3,300 KIOPS in random reads and 400 KIOPS in random writes, making it an ideal solution for large language models and graph neural networks. Moreover, it claims to exhibit exceptional energy efficiency, consuming up to 81% less SSD energy per 1TB transferred with Nvidia Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage. This remarkable efficiency extends to reducing energy usage by up to 35% in MLPerf benchmarks.

The SSD is currently undergoing global sampling and integrates Micron’s controller, NAND, DRAM, and firmware. It is packed with advanced security features such as self-encrypting drive capabilities and compliance with SPDM 1.2. Alvaro Toledo, the vice president and general manager of Micron’s Data Center Storage group, emphasized the drive's power efficiency and performance, remarking that it sets a new benchmark for AI storage solutions.

Key Takeaways

• Micron introduces the world's fastest data center SSD, the 9550 NVMe.
• The Micron 9550 SSD offers up to 14.0 GB/s sequential reads and 10.0 GB/s writes.
• It supports PCIe Gen5, outperforming competitors by up to 67%.
• The SSD is tailored for AI workloads with 3,300 KIOPS random reads and 400 KIOPS writes.
• Micron 9550 reduces SSD energy usage by up to 81% per 1TB transferred with Nvidia Magnum IO.

Analysis

Micron's 95550 SSD launch has the potential to revolutionize the data center storage market, posing a significant challenge to competitors like Kioxia and Samsung. The heightened speed and efficiency are particularly advantageous for AI and large-scale data operations, foreseeably altering market dynamics in favor of performance-centric solutions. In the short term, this launch could propel Micron's market share and revenue, with long-term implications extending to widespread innovations in storage technology and energy efficiency, influencing global server design and data management strategies.

Did You Know?

• PCIe Gen5:
  • Explanation: PCIe (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express) Gen5 marks the fifth generation of the PCIe standard, a high-speed serial computer expansion bus standard. With data transfer rates up to 32 GT/s (gigatransfers per second), PCIe Gen5 facilitates faster communication between components like SSDs and CPUs, crucial for addressing the high-speed data demands of modern applications, including AI and data analytics.
• KIOPS:
  • Explanation: KIOPS, denoting thousands of Input/Output Operations Per Second, measures the performance of storage devices in terms of read and write operations. The high KIOPS values of the Micron 9550 SSD (3,300 KIOPS for random reads and 400 KIOPS for random writes) underscore its efficient handling of a large number of small, random I/O operations, critical for applications such as AI and large-scale databases.
• Nvidia Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage:
  • Explanation: Nvidia Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage optimizes data transfer between storage devices and GPUs, bypassing the CPU to reduce latency and enhance throughput. This technology, beneficial for data-intensive applications like AI, deep learning, and high-performance computing, enables a direct data path from storage to GPU, leading to faster data processing and reduced system load for more efficient computational tasks.