Supermicro and Samsung will jointly promote the new server aggressively because of its specific customization for the new Samsung SSDs.
The Supermicro SSG-1029P-NMR36L
San Jose-based ODM Supermicro Computer has announced that they are now shipping a new all-flash NVMe storage server, the SSG-1029P-NMR36L, which is specifically optimized for Samsung’s new NF1 form factor SSDs. Designed for high-capacity network storage apps where latency is an issue, it features over ten million IOPS of performance and over half a petabyte of flash storage.
“This is a high-bandwidth, high-IO offering, for use cases where capacity is the focal point, and where they need a very fast Data Lake,” said Paul McLeod, product director in charge of storage systems at Supermicro. “We have been very successful in getting into those environments with our all-flash products. This one is a brand-new storage server, which is purpose-built for this particular architecture.”
The new all-flash server is a 36-drive 1U system. It supports dual Intel Xeon Scalable processors up to 205 watts [up to 56 cores] and 24 DIMMs for up to 3TB of system memory, which allows it to deliver ten million IOPS of performance and 20GB per second of end-to-end network throughput. The hot-swappable drives can house up to 576TB of all-flash storage.
“One of the nice features is its power efficiency,” McLeod pointed out. “It has very similar performance as the 25 watt but actually uses between 12-15 watts. It’s the next generation, and Samsung is ahead of the curve in this respect.”
The customized approach with this model is part and parcel of Supermicro’s larger strategy of differentiating itself in the market.
“We have always been competitive on price, but our primary differentiation being that we are cheaper isn’t really accurate today,” McLeod said. “Our channel is very opportunity-driven, and with us, they know that they have a Swiss Army Knife that fits all over in a very competitive environment. While Dell and HPE might have 10 plus offerings each for a certain kind of product, we might have 100. We have every different flavour imaginable. Our designs are all building block designs – motherboard, where we started, power, chassis – all designed so we can populate and depopulate easily. What we offer the channel is the ability to get a custom system and offer it as a normal price because we can use the building blocks we already have in place, and can cost down because of that.”
SuperMicro and Samsung will collaborate heavily in promoting the new offering, which should increase its attractiveness to channel partners.
“We are doing joint marketing and tech tours and events together,” McLeod said. “It’s a system that Samsung can promote as a great one for their form factor, and there are some very application-specific cloud vendors who are very close to Samsung who will love this. It’s not an OEM offering though. It’s a partner offering, so much of this will go through our channel.”
Supermicro’s channel strategy has evolved over time.
“We used to be exclusively a channel company, and now are about 50 per cent channel business,” McLeod indicated. That’s because as we expanded our business with large enterprises and with the hyperscalers, they demanded to be dealt with direct, and to receive white glove service from us. Still, we work with pretty much every major distributor and every major reseller.”
The new 1U server is available now.
