Samsung Electronics, the world leader in advanced memory technology, today announced that it has successfully developed a second generation of its pioneering SmartSSD.

The new proprietary computational storage incorporates data processing functionality within a high-performance SSD. Unlike existing SSDs, Samsung’s SmartSSD can process data directly, thereby minimizing data transfers between the CPU, GPU and RAM. This technology can avoid the bottlenecks that often occur when moving data between storage devices and CPUs, resulting in markedly improved system performance and much higher energy efficiency.

The SmartSSD is playing an increasingly important role, especially with the growth of next-generation technologies such as AI, machine learning and 5G/6G, which require large amounts of data processing.

Leveraging software and intellectual property (IP) developed by customers, along with in-built Arm cores, Samsung’s second-generation SmartSSD enables much more efficient data processing. Compared to conventional data center solid-state drives, processing time for scan-heavy database queries can be slashed by over 50%, energy consumption by up to 70% and CPU utilization by up to 97%.

Since its development in 2020 through the joint efforts of Samsung and AMD, the first-generation SmartSSD is being supplied to global IT companies including video communications platform providers. The first-generation SmartSSD was recognized as an Innovation Awards Honoree at CES 2021 for its outstanding performance and energy efficiency.

“Commercialization of the first-generation SmartSSD, in collaboration with AMD, established that the computational storage market has great potential,” said Jin-Hyeok Choi, Executive Vice President and Head of Memory Solution Product & Development at Samsung Electronics. “With the upgraded processing functionality of the second-generation SmartSSD, Samsung will be able to easily address increasing customer needs in the database and video transcoding sectors, as we expand the boundaries of the next-generation storage market.”

“Powered by Xilinx Versal Adaptive SoCs from AMD, second-generation Samsung SmartSSDs enable improved CPU efficiency and greatly reduced energy consumption by efficiently integrating the computing and storage functions in data centers,” said Sina Soltani, Corporate Vice President of Sales, AECG, Data Center and Communication Group at AMD. “As data-intensive applications continue to grow, second-generation Samsung SmartSSDs will deliver the superior performance and efficiency required for this expanding market.”

Samsung Electronics is leading efforts to standardize SmartSSD technology through close collaboration with the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and with NVM Express, while seeking to expand the boundaries of SmartSSD devices through technological validation for a wide variety of applications.

Samsung Electronics and Western Digital (Nasdaq: WDC) today announced that they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a unique collaboration to standardize and drive broad adoption of next-generation data placement, processing and fabrics (D2PF) storage technologies. The companies will initially focus on aligning their efforts and creating a vigorous ecosystem for Zoned Storage solutions. These steps will enable the industry to focus on countless applications that ultimately create greater value for customers.

This marks the first time that both Samsung and Western Digital have come together as technology leaders to create widespread alignment and stimulate awareness for important storage technologies. Focusing on enterprise and cloud applications, the partnership is expected to spur a range of collaborations around technology standardization and software development for D2PF technologies like Zoned Storage. With this collaboration, end-users can have confidence that these emerging storage technologies will have support from multiple device vendors as well as from vertically integrated hardware and software companies.

“Storage is the essential foundation for how people and businesses consume and use data. To enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas, we must innovate, collaborate and keep pace as an industry in bringing new standards and architectures to life,” said Rob Soderbery, EVP and GM, Flash Business Unit at Western Digital. “In order for a technology ecosystem to be successful, overall frameworks and general solution models must come together so they do not suffer from fragmentation, which delays adoption and adds unnecessary complexity for software stack developers.”

Soderbery added, “For years Western Digital has been laying the foundation for the Zoned Storage ecosystem by contributing to the Linux kernel and open-source software community. We are excited to bring these contributions to this joint initiative with Samsung in facilitating wider adoption of Zoned Storage for users and application developers.”

“This collaboration is a testament to our relentless effort to exceed customers’ needs now and in the future, and holds special meaning in how we anticipate it will actively grow into a larger basis of engagement for Zoned Storage standardization,” said Jinman Han, Corporate EVP, Head of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Our collaborative efforts will embrace hardware and software ecosystems to ensure that as many customers as possible can reap the benefits of this highly important technology.”

The two companies have already kickstarted an initiative around Zoned Storage devices, including ZNS (Zoned Namespaces) SSDs and SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) HDDs. Through organizations such as SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) and the Linux Foundation, Samsung and Western Digital will define high-level models and frameworks for next-generation Zoned Storage technologies. With a commitment to enable open and scalable data center architectures, they have founded the Zoned Storage TWG (Technical Work Group), which was approved by SNIA in December 2021. The group is already defining and specifying common use cases for Zoned Storage devices, as well as host/device architecture and programming models.

In addition, this collaboration is expected to serve as a starting point to expand zone-based (e.g. ZNS, SMR) device interfaces, as well as future-generation, high-capacity storage devices with enhanced data placement and processing technologies. At a later stage, these initiatives will be expanded to include other emerging D2PF technologies such as computational storage and storage fabrics including NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF).

About Western Digital

Western Digital creates environments for data to thrive. As a leader in data infrastructure, the company is driving the innovation needed to help customers capture, preserve, access and transform an ever-increasing diversity of data. Everywhere data lives, from advanced data centers to mobile sensors to personal devices, our industry-leading solutions deliver the possibilities of data. Western Digital data-centric solutions are comprised of the Western Digital®, SanDisk® and WD® brands.

For more information about Zoned Storage, please visit ZonedStorage.io.