Quantum F1000 1U, Lower-Priced Addition F-Series Family of NVMe Storage Appliances

39TB and 77TB versions with connectivity options 32Gb FC, or iSER/RDMA using 100GbE, deployed as part of StorNext scale out file storage cluster

Quantum Corp. announced the F1000, a lower-priced addition to the F-Series family of NVMe storage appliances. Leveraging software defined architecture introduced with the F2000, the F1000 exemplifies the company’s commitment to an accelerated pace of product innovation, offering fast streaming performance and response times at a lower entry price. The F-Series is used by studios, corporations, and government agencies to accelerate the capture, edit, and finishing of high-definition content, and speeds VFX and CGI render performance by 10x-100x, to develop augmented and virtual reality.

NVMe Tuned for Video and Image-Based Workloads

Unlike more general purpose NVMe storage arrays, the F-Series was designed for the video and image-based workloads critical to customers. This content can be high-definition video used for movie, TV, and sports production, marketing and advertising content, or image-based workloads that require high speed processing, such as the data from a satellite feed, a drone, a car used in the development of new automated driver assistance systems (ADAS), and more.

The company’s customers are deploying F-Series NVMe systems as part of the firm’s StorNext scale-out file storage cluster and leveraging the StorNext data management capabilities to move data between NVMe storage pools and other storage pools. Customers can take advantage of the performance boost NVMe provides for workloads that require it, while continuing to use lower-cost storage for data where performance is less critical.

Benefits of F-Series NVMe, at Lower Price

The firm’s customers are recognizing the benefits of F-Series NVMe appliance, to accelerate the workloads above, and also to move from FC networks to less expensive IP-based networks. However, many customers have voiced the need for a less expensive entry point into NVMe technology, which is what led to the development of the F1000.

The F1000 is a 1U NVMe storage server for performance, without the HA design of the F2000. Using a single-controller server and optimizing the F-Series software stack to run with less CPU, it offers the same fast streaming performance, and fast response times as the F2000, at a lower entry price. It offers performance that is 5x to 10x faster than an equivalent SAS SSD storage array at a similar price.

The F1000 is available in two capacity points: 39TB and 77TB. It offers the same connectivity options as the F2000: 32Gb FC, or iSER/RDMA using 100GbE, and is designed to be deployed as part of a StorNext scale out file storage cluster.

Software-Defined Architecture

The F1000 leverages the same software-defined block storage platform that was introduced with the F2000, which enabled the company to go from concept to completed design in less than 1 quarter. Its introduction illustrates the power of firm’s software-defined architecture.

Industry accolades for F-Series

• 2019 NAB Show product of the year awards
• 2019 ProductionHUB award of excellence
• 2019 TVB Europe best of show
• 2019 CSI Award – Best storage solution
• 2019 Digital Media World Awards, special merit – Post-production storage category

“Unstructured data is created in many ways as it enters its lifecycle,” said Amita Potnis, research director, infrastructure systems, IDC. “Quantum’s high-performance NVMe flash-based storage offering is well-suited to ultra-high-def content, high-resolution images, and other forms of video and video-like datasets. The F1000 shows great promise for addressing the requirements for ultra-fast reads and writes and parallel processing for a wide range of use cases.“

“NVMe increasingly serves as primary storage in many tiered media storage applications and, for some smaller facilities, SSD storage often comprises the bulk of their capacity,” noted Tom Coughlin, president, Coughlin Associates. “NVMe-based storage systems, such as the F-Series appliances from Quantum, allow modern studios to create high resolution content faster, render animation and VFX content quicker, enable new AI-based media tools, and free media creatives to spend their time mastering their content rather than fighting their equipment.“

“Our customers are hungry for the performance gains NVMe can bring to media and entertainment, government, and corporate IT workloads,” noted Noah Kadner, marketing director, FCPWorks. “The F1000 makes insanely fast NVMe storage available at a groundbreaking new entry point, which should be widely appealing.“

“The F1000 provides a low-priced entry point for customers seeking the performance advantages of NVMe but don’t require the HA capabilities of the F2000,” says Jamie Lerner, president and CEO, Quantum. “Our software-defined approach enabled us to deliver the F1000 at an ambitious pace, moving from concept to availability in under six months. This aggressive tempo of innovation ultimately enables our customers to be more agile in addressing their business challenges.“