SoftBank adopts Western Digital SanDisk InfiniFlash Platform to address massive capacity demand

Western Digital Corporation, a storage technology and solutions company, 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 combining hard disk drives (HDD) and solid state drives (SSD) for some of its applications. SoftBank has built 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, enabling the installation of software in general-purpose servers.

This has allowed SoftBank to integrate operations of complex systems, solve the problem of silos, and eliminate vendor-specific tasks, which has led to higher efficiency. With its scalability and high density, the new system is able to handle a soaring volume of data and has made it possible to reduce the number of racks by 75% and power consumption by up to 83% within the data center, compared to traditional dedicated storage. SoftBank selected the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform after considering compatibility with diverse software-defined storage solutions and costs through a proof-of–concept process. This system is deployed by PS Solutions Corp. a leading provider of IT solutions and IT outsourcing.

The SanDisk InfiniFlash platform offers 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, 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 connected to up to eight servers, allowing computing and storage to be added separately while also delivering the reliability and high performance of flash. This helps the company significantly save on capital expenses and operational costs in the data center.

“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,” said Yasuyuki Kato, director, System Infrastructure, IT System Infrastructure, SoftBank Corp. “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.”

“We are delighted for SoftBank’s deployment of the SanDisk InfiniFlash platform,” said Gary Lyng, senior director of marketing for Western Digital’s Data Center Systems Business Unit. “While devices begin to feature artificial intelligence and we are fully entering the connected era of IoT, it is becoming essential to leverage the huge volume of data that is generated at a higher scale than ever. We are excited to support SoftBank’s business growth by delivering more value with our flash technology for the high-speed processing of large volumes of data. With a portfolio of platforms and systems that leverage the breadth of our industry-leading flash and disk technologies, Western Digital enables customers to harness the power of their data as it grows in volume, velocity, variety and value.”