Alibaba Launches Dual-mode SSD to Optimize Hyper-scale Infrastructure

Singapore, March 19, 2018 – Alibaba has announced today the launch
of a new system that aims to optimize the storage performance of hyper-scale
infrastructure in addressing increasing demands from usage of artificial
intelligence (AI) and cloud computing.

A Dual-mode SSD (Solid State Drive), a storage
device which supports both Open-Channel Mode and native NVMe mode, has been
developed by the Alibaba Infrastructure Services team, and an optimal
software/hardware integrated solution based on the Dual-mode SSD is currently
being deployed to Alibaba’s internal servers. It is expected this novel storage
system will lead to a 75% reduction in read latency and enhance the overall
storage performance of data centers by as many as five times.

“The increasing proliferation of AI and
cloud computing has led to more sophisticated demands in data centers, while
traditional storage systems face severe limitation in meeting such demands.
Against this background, Alibaba has pioneered the research and development of
a new storage system, the Dual-mode SSD infrastructure. This underscores our
commitment to driving the innovation and optimization of technology
infrastructure in a new AI and cloud era,” said Shu Li, Senior Staff
Engineer at Alibaba Infrastructure Services.

“By creating and sharing the Dual-mode
SSD specification, we are also working with different manufacturers on related
firmware and hardware products, leading to the fast development of SSD-centered
infrastructure and ecosystems,” Li added.