- Micron describes its new SSD as a “game-changer” in the industry
- The launch marks the first SSD with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface
- The 6550 ION combines performance with energy efficiency
Micron recently unveiled the 6550 ION SSD, marking the launch of the industry’s first 60TB storage device with a PCIe 5.0 x4 interface.
In an announcement, the company revealed that the new SSD is specifically intended for processing large applications, AI training and inference workloads.
Alvaro Toledo, vice president and general manager of Micron’s data center storage group, said at the time that the drive features extreme performance and capacity in addition to industry-leading energy efficiency, calling it “a game-changer for high-capacity storage solutions to address the insatiable capacity and power requirements of AI workloads.”
Micron has been very vocal about the capabilities of the new ION SSD, so here’s everything you need to know about the 6550 ION SSD.
Under the hood of the 6550 ION SSD
As Toledo mentions, the new drive has an E3.S form factor, meaning it offers best-in-class storage density and features 232 active layers. According to Micron, this significantly reduces rack storage needs by up to 67%.
The 6550 also offers users read and write speeds of 12 GB/s, despite running on just 20 watts of power. This, the company noted, makes it 20% more energy efficient than comparable drives currently available on the market.
Micron said users will have the option to run the drive at 25 watts, but this will only be used by a small portion of customers.
Compared to competing 60TB drives, the company also highlighted a number of key benefits, including:
- 179% faster sequential reads and 179% higher read bandwidth per watt
- 80% improved random readings and 99% higher read IOPS per watt
- 150% faster sequential write and 213% higher write bandwidth per watt
With energy efficiency being a major talking point with the new SSD, the company revealed that it is also relying on Active State Power Management (ASPM), meaning the 6550 ION consumes just 4 watts in low-power modes. Micron added that the drive also offers a 20% improved idle efficiency compared to others on the market.
Performance built for AI workloads
A key aspect of the 6550 ION, according to Micron, is its ability to run AI workloads.
The drive delivers 147% higher performance for NVIDIA® Magnum IO GPUDirect Storage (GDS) compared to competing models, while also offering 104% better energy efficiency in this regard.
Likewise, with a 30% increase in efficiency in deep learning Unet3D testing and a 151% improvement in AI model checkpointing turnaround times, the SSD offers enterprises a powerful piece of hardware tailor-made for AI era.