Facebook’s newest JBOF can be yours for Christmas

Wiwynn to sling 60-drive PCIe-packing monster

Taiwanese server-maker Wiwynn will bring Facebook’s latest JBOF (just a bunch of flash) devices to all comers by Christmas.

The ST7110-30P is a 2U machine that can house 60 solid-state disks or 30 NVMe drives. Facebook’s packed it full of PCIe interfaces – 16 version 3.0 ports to be precise – because that’s how the device talks to the host that drives it.

The machine is an Open Compute Project design that Wiwynn is hustling to market as fast as it can. Speed and capacity are the watchwords here. With Intel and Samsung SSDs cracking the 15TB mark, a 2U unit packing 60 offers impressive density. PCIe should help with speed, at least between storage and host.

The unit beheld by The Register contained just 30 SSDs but was scarcely warm to the touch, although of course the red circuit board indicates the machine we saw was a prototype.

Wiwynn’s European distributor, Circle B, told us the machine is already attracting interest from carriers, cloud operators and the likes of online gaming houses. ®

https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/06/01/facebooks_newest_jbof_can_be_yours_for_christmas/