Seagate has unveiled two new solid-state drives that the company says are suited for use in the data center. As reported by InformationWeek, the Pulsar.2 and Pulsar XT.2 are both 2.5-inch SSDs available in maximum capacities of up to 800GB and 400GB respectively. The Pulsar.2 sports both 6Gbps SAS and SATA interfaces, and uses cheaper MLC NAND flash; the Pulsar XT.2 runs off the 6Gbps SAS interface and uses SLC flash. In general, SLC-based NAND has 10 times the endurance of MLC-based NAND.

Eschewing popular SSD controllers from companies such as SandForce or Indilinx, Seagate has developed its own proprietary controller, updated with new error-correction code and wear-leveling software. The hard-disk maker claims that the Pulsar XT.2 can sustain 10 full drive writes per day, every day, over a period of three years. 

Perhaps Teresa Worth, senior product marketing manager for mission critical technology at Seagate sums up this extraordinary performance best. Of the Pulsar XT.2's performance, Worth noted: "Those numbers are higher than any application can drive to. Our hard drives don't even do that." Both drives are currently shipping to OEMs and should be available for sales in Q2.

For more on this story:
- check out this article at InformationWeek
- check out this article at Computerworld

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