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The ioSAN creates unlimited data storage opportunities for developers and the industry by extending the screaming performance of SSDs across the network: Fusion-io, a leading provider of enterprise solid-state technology and high-performance I/O solutions, unveiled its newest product, the ioSAN, the world’s first networked enterprise solid state drive (SSD), at DEMOfall. The ioSAN makes it possible to extend the raw power of the SSD across the network. The ioSAN can be deployed as networked, server-attached storage or integrated into networked storage infrastructure – fundamentally changing the way storage works for the enterprise. In addition, Fusion-io is inviting companies to join their developers’ program in the first quarter of 2009 in order to learn how best to utilize the solution to build the next generation of applications around this new standard in storage performance. The ioSAN combines ioMemory and Converged Enhanced Networking to bring the capabilities of a high-performance SAN into the silicon age, and down to a single component. Utilizing the same PCI-Express (PCIe) form factor as the company's first product – the direct-attached ioDrive enterprise SSD – the ioSAN functions as network-attached storage, making it possible for server-attached storage to communicate between systems over existing network architecture. As a result, the ioSAN allows anyone to use an off-the-shelf server to create a full-power storage area network (SAN), with multi-terabytes of low-cost tiered storage, high-performance enterprise flash and high-performance enterprise networking, even building systems that can do millions of IOPS and tens of gigabytes of sustained bandwidth, all at less than one millisecond of latency. Using a standards-based, memory-speed protocol over either 10GigE or 40GBps QDR Infiniband, the ioSAN shares ioMemory capacity between servers. With latencies of less than two microseconds, the ioSAN incorporates an integrated network interface that can dynamically alternate between 10Gb/s Ethernet or 40Gb/s quad data rate InfiniBand. The built-in network interface makes it easy to create networked storage across servers with increased performance and flexibility, and with zero footprint. This networked storage is extremely easy to integrate and manage within existing server infrastructure. The fusion of networked and multi-tiered storage offered by the ioSAN offers radical improvements in applications that need quick access to data, such as financial services applications and Web services or media editing, as well as more traditional, storage-related applications, such as replication, mirroring, ILM, failover and backup/restoration. “With this development, everything you thought you knew about SSD and storage networking is no longer true,” said David Flynn, CTO of Fusion-io. “The ioSAN fuses SSD with storage networking, combining the best of direct-attached and storage networking with the best of SSD and traditional storage. With this revolutionary advancement, Fusion-io has commoditized high-performance network storage in the same way that companies like NVIDIA and ATI commoditized high-performance graphics processing. Fantastic applications of this technology are now beginning to emerge.” “We’re delighted to have Fusion-io return to DEMO again this year,” said Chris Shipley, executive producer of DEMO. “Fusion-io’s NAND flash technologies represent the most imaginative solutions to the problems contemporary datacenters face in terms of performance, power consumption and upkeep costs.” Prior to general availability of the ioSAN, Fusion-io is inviting innovative and visionary companies to join them as they launch their third party development program at the beginning of next year. This program will be designed to help enable these companies to fully harness the power of the ioSAN in their next generation of high performance systems and application designs. For more information on joining this developer program, send email to ioSAN@fusionio.com. For more information on Fusion-io, visit its Web site