IBM FlashSystem

RamSan-520 first RamSan branded solid state disk from Texas Memory Systems

The IBM FlashSystem architecture was originally developed by Texas Memory Systems (TMS) as their RamSan product line. TMS was a small private company founded in 1978 and based in Houston, Texas that supplied solid-state drive products to the market longer than any other company.[5] The TMS RamSan line of enterprise solid state storage products was first launched in the early 2000s with the RamSan-520,[6] and over seven RamSan technology generations were released through 2012, when TMS was acquired by IBM.[7] As RamSan technology evolved, TMS adapted the systems to different storage media (DRAM, single-level cell flash memory, and multi-level cell flash memory) and external storage area network interfaces (Fibre Channel and InfiniBand), but the core system design principles remained relatively constant: custom hardware with a shared internal network to maximize speed, particularly latency.[5] The last RamSan products available were the RamSan-710, RamSan-810, RamSan-720, and RamSan-820 systems, which were replaced directly with corresponding IBM FlashSystem products in 2013.[8]

IBM FlashSystem products were first made generally available on April 11, 2013, in conjunction with the announcement of a US$1 billion investment in flash optimization research and development.[9] At the Flash Ahead event, IBM emphasized the economic "tipping point" that flash had reached versus traditional storage devices for high-performance applications.[10]

On January 16, 2014, IBM announced the FlashSystem 840 product, which was the first FlashSystem designed entirely by IBM post-acquisition of TMS. The key enhancements of the new generation were RAS enhancements, higher capacities, higher performance, new 16 Gbit Fibre Channel and 10 Gbit Fibre Channel over Ethernet interfaces, and a new management GUI. IBM also announced the FlashSystem Enterprise Performance Solution, which added software features and functions to the 840, including real-time compression, replication, and snapshots.[11]

IBM refreshed the product line on February 19, 2015 by announcing the FlashSystem 900 model AE2, a direct replacement for the FlashSystem 840, and the FlashSystem V9000 which combined a FlashSystem 900 model AE2 enclosure with a pair of San Volume Controllers. The V9000 brought software-defined storage into the FlashSystem brand for the first time, all managed under one management domain, also called a single-pane-of-glass. Both of these products relied on Micron Technology's MLC flash chip technology[12]

The product line was expanded on April 27, 2016 when IBM announced two new products, the FlashSystem A9000 and A9000R model 415. Both of these products included features specifically designed for cloud environments. They incorporated pattern removal, data de-duplication, and real-time compression combined with the IBM FlashCore technology to deliver consistent low latency performance. The A9000 was a fully configured solution, while the A9000R enabled a grid architecture and the ability to scale to petabytes of storage.[13] These products relied on Spectrum Accelerate (formerly XIV) running on dedicated grid controllers to perform the software defined storage functions coupled with FlashSystem 900 storage enclosures. The A9000 included the ability to migrate from XIV Gen3 systems.[14]

IBM announced an update to the FlashSystem 900 on October 23, 2017, with new models AE3 and UF3. This marks the first time that the FlashSystem brand offered a consumption model UF3 for the product line whereby a customer would only pay for what they used.[15] The update tripled the capacity of the array and added at-line-speed hardware user data compression. The MicroLatency flash modules were updated to 32-layer 3D TLC NAND flash from Micron. Rather than the compression feature slowing down data access as usually happens with software based compression, the 900 continued to advertise 1.2 million I/O operations per second (IOPs) due to the hardware compression implementation and hardware only data path. The compression engines were implemented in each flash module and, with the capability to have up to 12 modules per enclosure, a fully loaded enclosure therefore would have a total of 12 hardware compression engines.[16]

The very next day on October 24, 2017 IBM announced an update to the FlashSystem A9000 with the new model 425. This new model would incorporate the previously-announced FlashSystem 900 model AE3, but retain the same grid controllers as the 415 model.[17] With two generations of FlashSystem A9000 now in the market, the 415 model and the 425 model, IBM on February 27, 2018 announced the end of marketing for the XIV storage systems models 214 and 314, commonly known as "XIV Gen3". They listed the replacement product as the A9000 model 425. This announcement marked the end of the XIV Storage System brand with the FlashSystem brand taking its place.[4]

With the announcement of the FlashSystem 9100 on July 10, 2018, the product line added a new enclosure that was designed with NVM Express (NVMe) from end-to-end. The 9100 was the first FlashSystem product which combined the Spectrum Virtualize software stack with the IBM Flash Core Module technology in a single enclosure. To achieve this, IBM redesigned the proprietary custom form-factor MicroLatency Flash Modules with FlashCore technology into a standard 2 1/2 inch form-factor NVMe SSD.[18] The included Flash Core Modules were available in 4.8TB, 9.6TB, and 19.2TB capacities with up to 5:1 compression.[19]

On February 12, 2020, IBM announced an expansion of the FlashSystem line to include the FlashSystem 7200, FlashSystem 9200, and FlashSystem 9200R.[20]. Additionally, IBM announced the FlashSystem 5010, 5030, and 5100 which are re-branded Storwize storage enclosures. [21]. With this announcement, IBM retired the Storwize brand and simplified the distributed storage portfolio underneath the FlashSystems brand. The Storwize V5000 and V5100 are replaced by the FlashSystem 5000 and 5100 respectively. The FlashSystem 900 and Storwize V7000 are replaced by the FlashSystem 7200. The FlashSystem V9000 and 9100 are replaced by the FlashSystem 9200. The FlashSystem A9000R is replaced by the FlashSystem 9200R.[3] With this announcement, the FlashSystem product line will no longer include enclosures with end-to-end hardware only data path technology from the Texas Memory Systems (RamSan) acquisition nor will it include enclosures running Spectrum Accelerate software from the (XIV) acquisition, however, the product still retains the IBM FlashCore based flash modules developed at TMS[22][23]