Storage manufacturer Seagate has unveiled the latest 18TB-capacity entry in its Exos family of data centre hard drives aimed at enterprise customers.
Exos X18 is a fifth-generation helium-based 3.5in enterprise drive that runs at 7200 RPM, and has been designed specifically for use in hyper-scale data centres. The latest generation currently available is the Exos X18 line of hard drives which vary in capacity between 10TB and 16TB.
With enterprise data expected to balloon over the coming years, Seagate has designed this drive specifically in mind to meet data storage challenges businesses may face as a result. The capacity to scale efficiently, in particular, is a quality Seagate hopes will become one of its major selling points.
“Seagate’s Exos X18 hard drives and upgraded Exos AP controllers enable enterprises to effectively tackle challenges associated with the exponential rise in data volumes by increasing system capacity and reducing deployment complexity,” said Ken Claffey, Seagate’s vice president and general manager of enterprise data solutions.
“With the ever-increasing demand from enterprise data centers for greater storage capacity and efficiency, Seagate offers the industry's leading density and configurability with ease of deployment for data lakes and private storage clouds.”
The Exos X18 also supports enterprise NAS system storage demands by allowing for fast data transfers, lower power and weight against comparable drives, Seagate claims. The drive also features increased random reads/write (IOPS) versus previous generations, with 512e and 4KN formatting.
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This is in addition to the company offering built-in data protection capabilities through its Seagate Secure platform that provides many new features, including a pathway to retirement once drives reach end-of-life.
Seagate has also embedded the Exos X18 into its newly launched Exos application platform (AP) 2U12, which is said to combine high-capacity storage and computational functionality onto a single platform.
This system combines servers and storage in a compact and dense system, which is pitched at businesses of all sizes, regardless of their demands. The platform offers a new controller, in addition to a flexible enclosure, enterprise-grade firmware, data protection tools and automatic tiering.
The Exos X18 is available now in the US, priced at $562. It's currently unclear when the drive will be available in the UK.
