Intel has unveiled the first product to use its 3D XPoint memory technology. The DC P4800X is an Optane SSD, and will be focused on the data centre market.
The company's 3D XPoint technology (pronounced 'crosspoint') was first unveiled in July 2015, and is supposedly up to 1,000 times faster than current NAND architectures. This is due to its transistor-free checkerboard structure. Memory cells are individually addressable, which allows for small read/write sizes and therefore faster performance.
The P4800X is supposedly five to eight times quicker than competing SSDs at low queue depths and according to Intel, it's "ideal for critical applications with aggressive latency requirements", and will be well-suited to machine learning and data analytics applications.
Intel also claims that when used with MySQL, the P4800X can process up to 10 times more transactions per second with the same quality of service, with up to 91% lower cost per transaction.
"The Intel Optane SSD DC P4800X is the first product to combine the attributes of memory and storage," the company said. "With an industry-leading combination of high throughput, low latency, high QoS and ultra-high endurance, this innovative solution is optimised to break through data access bottlenecks by providing a new data storage tier."
The P4800X will initially be available in AIC form factor at a capacity of 375GB, albeit in limited quantities. Higher-capacity versions, as well as U.2 form factors, will be available later on in the year.
Picture courtesy of Intel
