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Infinidat arrays shift from Intel to AMD in new G4 line
Infinidat's G4 storage line highlights a shift in architecture and customer focus. It's also adding a controller upgrade program as well as new data protection and cloud options.
Infinidat is refreshing its flagship storage array line, which includes a shift from an Intel to an AMD architecture. The new line also introduces a smaller form factor array for edge and colocations.
The Infinidat G4 line, the vendor's newest generation of storage arrays, comes with twice the performance of the current generation offered by InfiniBox and InfiniBox SSA II, according to the company. The G4 also introduces a controller-in-place upgrade program, InfiniVerse Mobius, which can extend the life of the array.
Infinidat's InfiniBox has traditionally competed in the same market as other large storage appliances such as Dell PowerMax and Hitachi VSP. But the G4 shows how the vendor is expanding its reach beyond primary datacenter space, according to Camberley Bates, an analyst at Futurum Group.
"The InfiniBox SSA G4 is targeted at secondary and colocation data centers with its 155 terabyte box," she said.
Along with a new generation of arrays, the storage vendor is expanding its public cloud storage software by extending its InfuzeOS Cloud Edition beyond AWS to Microsoft Azure. It is also updating its InfiniVerse cloud management software and bolstering its InfiniSafe data protection software with new automation and detection capabilities, including detection capabilities for VMware environments.
New arrays
The Infinidat G4 arrays are new and built from the ground up. They include InfiniBox G4, a fully populated hybrid storage array that combines HDDs and SSDs. The InfiniBox SSA G4 all-flash array is partially populated, enabling customers to scale up as needed, and includes the *smaller F1400T model, which requires and 155 terabytes usable capacity to start with the same features and SLA guarantees of the larger model.
A notable change in the G4 generation is Infinidat's use of AMD processors with added all-flash PCIe 5.0 architecture rather than Intel processors. The latest version of InfuzeOS is backward compatible, letting users replicate their data from an older InfiniBox to the current one.
Shifting from Intel to AMD is a significant undertaking, Bates said.
"You have to build the entire thing to know what the cost is going to be … and how the software works," she said.
But, Bates added, customers tend to focus on SLAs rather than the technology running under the hood.
"What's in it for customers has to do with performance and the price coming down, which AMD has been pretty aggressive with," Bates said.
Infinidat's performance primarily comes from its Neural Cache, which uses deep learning for intelligent data placement to improve cache read efficiency and is still in use with the G4 line. But Simon Robinson, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, said he was surprised to see the company adopt a new architecture.
"They must see a benefit to such a strategic shift to AMD," Robinson said.
Infinidat in the cloud
The vendor is expanding InfiniVerse, its management and reporting software for cloud storage, to now include new subscription services for procurement and utilization of its storage as a service. The updated InfiniVerse gives users a cloud-like experience to manage and monitor Infinidat storage on premises and in the cloud.
Infinidat InfuzeOS now supports Microsoft Azure building off its previous cloud support for AWS.
The expansion of InfuzeOS provides more cloud choice for customers, particularly for recovery and backup, and Infinidat is setting itself apart with cloud-to-cloud replication, according to Robinson.
"Users can do a snapshot in AWS and then replicate it to Azure," he said. "This is a belt-and-suspenders kind of copy in different clouds for additional resiliency."
Infinidat has introduced a controller upgrade program, InfiniVerse Mobius, that allows for controller-in-place upgrades, giving customers the option to extend the lifecycle of the array and increase performance.
Controller upgrade programs are becoming table stakes in storage, but they are just beginning to emerge in in high-end block storage, Robinson said.
"These players don't have equivalents of that program at the high end yet," he said.
VMware and data protection
Finally, Infinidat made improvements to its Infinisafe data protection technology, including a new Automated Cyber Protection that integrates with security information and event management and security orchestration, automation and response cybersecurity software. If the cybersecurity software detects an intrusion, the new capability in InfiniSafe automatically triggers a snapshot, reducing the threat window.
InfiniSafe Cyber Detection has been extended to the company's purpose-built backup appliance, InfiniGuard. The threat detection software will now scan the backup appliance for threats and will be available in the second half of 2024, according to the company. The detection capabilities have also been extended to VMware environments.
"VMware still dominates the space in terms of all the servers out there," Bates said.
Companies that use VMware tend to be large enterprises, mirroring Infinidat's customer pool, and the intrusion detection adds another layer of defense for those environments, Robinson said.
"If they see some kind of malicious activity, they can kick off a snapshot presumably before the bad actors can get in," he said.
*This article initially described the array as "entry level." It has been updated along with additional details to more accurately describe the array.
Adam Armstrong is a TechTarget Editorial news writer covering file and block storage hardware and private clouds. He previously worked at StorageReview.com.
