6 minute read
Storage is at the Center of the Data Revolution
by RTC Media
By John Reardon, Editorial Director – RTC Media
As it has become clear that the demands of the large datasets needed to support the future of our defense systems will outstrip the communications pathways. The need for storage at the edge that brings data center performance and yet meets the rigors of being deployed is a must. To affirm that action is not delayed, or impaired through latency issues advances in density, power consumption, intelligence, and security are paramount. Whether it is through distributed compute, computational storage, or composable storage solutions the need to advance storage is being attacked from many angles.
The need to Protect Data at Rest or DAR has become a hotbed area of focus. The needs in these areas are most often addressed by cryptographic schemes comprised of encryption, critical Security parameter generation, and management algorithms. For defense applications that require the most stringent security certificate (NSA Type 1), the security parameters such as the cryptographic key are not publicly known. It is widely believed that the use of transparent and open tools will be the norm for creating security rather than those built by the storage companies themselves. This goal to use Commercial off-the-Shelf (COTS)
should aid in lowering the costs and shorting time to market. This method uses a layered approach that will be configured using layer-specific Capabilities Packages that are validated with an NSA/ NIAP Common Criteria certificate. This will be both a software and hardware layer of encryption. Developed by NIST, the Cryptographic Module Validation Program defines the requirement and validates the modules to affirm they meet the FIPS 140-2 specification. This process of validation takes several years, but yet when it is completed it will be accepted by various agencies for Data at Rest protection.
Driving storage to the edge
As for many applications, data must be screened in real-time as close to the source as possible. From the sensor-to-the-shooter, delays of transmitting large data sets over long distances are just impractical. The ability to achieve real-time analytics at the front can improve operations execution by reducing security threats and response times. The bottleneck of network latency is a challenge and by providing this ability at the edge the system provides compute capabilities that aggregate and analyze data in real-time to deliver immediate and actionable results as close to the theater of operations as possible.
Intelligence
Machine Learning and AI have changed the focus to memory-centric applications. As these are rapidly becoming part of every application, focusing on accelerators and algorithms has become a prime concern. An accelerator is designed for a specific application where 3D flash and specific instructions sets reduce the time it takes to process a large data set. These accelerators are examples of how specialized chips are being used to support the CPUs for greater efficiencies.
Studies have shown up to a 10-times or more improvement in energy and processing speed when comparing standard CPU designs. As the applications using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence are skyrocketing the investments being made in research are opening many new opportunities in accelerator designs.
The only way to go is up
“If I cannot scale X or Y”,
said Luca Fasoli, VP of memory product solutions at Western Digital,
This vision for 3D NAND has open the door to a dynamic increase in the speed and density of future generations of storage arrays for both the data center and the edge. By bringing forth this third dimension within the flash, the ability to place high-capacity storage at the edge has addressed many of the concerns associated with the connected battlefield. But as always, these successes come with new challenges.
By employing the latest in flash technologies as well as moving away from legacy hard drive interfaces such as SATA and SAS, companies like Phoenix International has been able to take advantage of the speed and parallelism to release the latest in TCG compliant AES-256 and FIPS140-2 validated solutions that also support military data elimination. By adopting NVM Express to accelerate the performance of PCIe SSDs, it opens greater potential. Driven by a strong consortium with an eye for the future, manufactures have a broad environment supported across multiple operating systems.
Composable Storage
The use of one’s resources is imperative in getting the most out of your solution. Composable infrastructure leverages your entire investment to affirm that disaggregated resources are interconnected over intelligent fabrics. This is achieved through solutions from companies called LIQID. LIQID is used by many hardware providers, as a powerful management software
Memkor BLACK Series SSDs are designed for applications that require an extreme level of ruggedization. Leveraging Memkor Orange and Blue Series SSD capabilities, and combining with the innovative mechanical design, Memkor Black Series SSDs provide exceptional resilience to the most challenging shock and vibration levels well beyond those required by the most stringent cases of the MIL-STD-810F/G standard. With the capacity ranging from 32GB to 1024GB using either MLC NAND or the highest quality SLC NAND, as well as features such as Data Elimination, the Black Series considerably expands deployment flexibility of the Memkor family of SSDs.
All newest generation Memkor BLACK Series SATA models support either TCG Opal or ATA command-based encryption management with FIPS 197 validated encryption engine. Select 256-1024GB models are FIPS 140-2 Level 2 validated. Contact Memkor for more details.
The XPort6175 from Extreme
Engineering supports two rugged or commercial 2.5 in. Solid-State Drives (SSDs) in a single 1.0 in. 3U VPX slot. It provides system integrators quick and easy access to the latest high-density SSD options in a rugged, compact COTS package. The XPort6175’s design mitigates life cycle issues that plague other flash-based storage solutions.
The XPort6175 supports an x2 PCI Express Gen2 interface to the backplane for flexible system connectivity options. Standard configurations of up to 4 TB are available. The XPort6175 supports several predefined configurations utilizing both commercial- grade and rugged SSDs. tool that dynamically composes physical storage arrays into a pool of bare-metal resources. LIQID dynamically assembles precise bare-metal server configurations for each HPC job, made up from a pool of GPU, Storage or other compute resources. Upon completion, the resources are returned to the pool and are made automatically available for redeployment.
The continued push towards higher density and flash from vendors like Western Digital is combined with others to meet the escalating demands that we face. Hardware vendors continue the drive to offer solutions that set them apart from others. This can be seen in the use of accelerators that meet specific applicational needs. Over the past decade, computing has broken out of its boxy confines to employ CPUs and GPUs with a more application-specific focus. The DPU has become the 3rd member of this team. Widely based on Arm Architecture and tightly coupled to other SoC components, the DPU is a high-performance network interface capable of parsing, processing, and transferring data at line rates. Thought as an offload engine, DPU’s are defining the next generation of SmartNICs.
Citadel
FIPS-certified self-encrypting SSDs, powered by CipherDrive™ from Digistor, is the only low-cost SSDs to integrate pre-tested multifactor authentication, pre-boot authentication (PBA), and hardware encryption. This enables CSfC DAR security solutions to be built with standard laptops, desktops, and tactical servers.
