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    Seagate Kinetic HDDs Eliminate Need for File Systems

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    Holographs, Liquid-State and DNA: The Future of Data Storage

    Seagate this week unveiled a hard disk drive that comes with object-based software that promises to reduce much of the complexity and overhead associated with managing data storage at scale.

    Ali Fenn, senior director of product line management for Seagate, says Seagate Kinetic HDDs eliminate the need for file systems by moving space management of the drive off the server and on to the drive itself. Seagate then exposes an open source application programming interface (API) that it previously offered to developers to allow them to directly access data stored on the Seagate Kinetic HDDs.

    The drives themselves also sport a native Ethernet interface that drives up the level of I/O performance by several orders of magnitude while driving a 50 percent reduction in the total cost of storing data, says Fenn.

    Most cloud service providers already make use of object-based storage systems to manage data at scale. But by applying object management capabilities to the drive themselves, Seagate is making it more feasible for enterprise IT organizations to begin moving away from file systems, especially as they begin  to embrace NoSQL databases based on a key/value architecture.

    Data Management

    At a time when IT organizations are struggling with managing more data than ever, any technology advances that reduce the overhead of managing storage while increasing performance will be welcomed.

    But given the number of legacy applications that still depend on file systems, it’s not likely that the average IT organization is going to be done with managing file systems any time soon.

    Mike Vizard
    Mike Vizard
    Michael Vizard is a seasoned IT journalist, with nearly 30 years of experience writing and editing about enterprise IT issues. He is a contributor to publications including Programmableweb, IT Business Edge, CIOinsight and UBM Tech. He formerly was editorial director for Ziff-Davis Enterprise, where he launched the company’s custom content division, and has also served as editor in chief for CRN and InfoWorld. He also has held editorial positions at PC Week, Computerworld and Digital Review.

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