The prototype of a PCIe 5.0 SSD with 14 GB/s that was demonstrated last fall is now going into series production. With the CM7 series, Kioxia is introducing enterprise SSDs that almost exhaust the new interface. However, this only applies to one of the two formats.
Kioxia had a pre-production version of the successor to the CM6 series with PCIe 4.0 at the China Flash Market Summit (CFMS 2021) last year demonstrated Sept. Up to 14 GB/s were achieved for sequential read and 2.5 million IOPS for random write.
Market launch for the Kioxia CM7 with PCIe 5.0*
Now the official market launch of the CM7 Series that is accordingly advertised with up to 14 GB/s via PCIe 5.0 x4. However, the manufacturer still owes a detailed data sheet with further performance data for all models.
At least the form factors are clear: The classic format with a width of 2.5 inches and a height of 15 mm as well as a U.2/U.3 connection provides the highest storage capacity of 30.72 TB. In the E3.S variant of the new Enterprise & Data center storage form factor (EDSFF) is only offered a maximum of 15.36 TB. The manufacturer does without a 30 cm long E1.L version.
*The only U.3 version is PCIe 4.0< /h2>
However, a footnote in the press release reveals a significant limitation in the choice of format. Only the E3.S version uses the new PCIe 5.0 interface for 14 GB/s. The 2.5-inch version, on the other hand, is limited to PCIe 4.0, which halves the maximum throughput rate.
At 2, 5-inch U.3 connectivity, transfer speed is limited to PCIe Gen4.
Kioxia
Two durability classes
The CM7 series is also divided into models with different durability guarantees. The maximum storage capacity of 30.72 TB is available for the models with 1 Drive Write Per Day (DWPD), which are intended for applications with high read and low write traffic. If more is to be written (mixed workload), there are variants with 3 DWPD, but they only offer a maximum of 12.8 TB of usable storage space in favor of a higher proportion of reserve storage.
Kioxia describes the key features of the CM7 series as follows:
- EDSFF-E3.S and 2.5″ form factor with 15mm height (U.2 and U.3)
- Complies with NVMe 2.0 and PCIe 5.0 specifications and supports SFF-TA-1001/U.3 functionality
- SFF-TA-1001 or U.3*-capable in connection with systems, supporting Universal Backplane Management
- Read-intensive (1 DWPD) capacities up to 30.72 TB**
- Mixed-use (3 DWPD) capacities up to 12.80 TB
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- Dual-port design for applications with high availability
- Flash Failure Protection ensures full reliability in the event of a chip failure
- Support for the latest functions – Single Root I/O Virtualization (SR-IOV), Controller Memory Buffer (CMB), Multi-stream write capability
* For 2.5-inch U.3 connectivity is transfer speed is limited to PCIe Gen4.
**Maximum capacity in E3.S is 15.36 TB.
From now on, the CM7 series “Sent to selected customers”, according to the Kioxia press release . As usual, prices are not publicly communicated in the enterprise area.