White Paper

WHITE PAPER Placing Data Center Storage Technology at the Tactical Edge mrcy.com 6 Flash-Based and Universal Storage RDS ensures low latency and speed via use of fast consumer- grade flash memory known as QLC (quad-level cell) for storage. As compared to HDDs, this dense and nonmoving commercial flash reduces power consumption by 66% and processing power use by 25%. The low-latency QLC flash memory in the D-Box is also networked to multiple nonvolatile memory express (NVMe) connections in the Switch Box, with each supporting sustainable high- performance speeds of up to 40 GB/s read and 5 GB/s write. The VAST Data software used in RDS was designed from the ground up to use QLC flash memory and to provide a single-tier flash cloud known as universal storage to users. This approach means all data and the entire storage architecture itself are contained across one single file system. This universal storage approach, combined with the fast NVMe connections, makes all stored data quickly accessible and also eliminates the need for RAID backup. RDS software also lessens the amount of physical storage needed with similarity-based data reduction algorithms that compress and de-duplicate data from 2x to 10x, depending on the type of data. For example, with just a 3:1 compression ratio, end users can store 1.7 petabytes of data on just 676 terabytes of raw flash storage. VAST software also assigns algorithmic signatures to all data for later accessing — using a similar concept behind a popular cellphone app that assigns signatures to song data and allows users to identify tracks — to further ensure quick access to data. Upgradable, Maintenance and Reliable Design With a modular and disaggregated design, RDS end users can scale up processing power (C-Boxes), flash storage (D-Boxes) or NVMe switches (Switch Boxes) independently and as needed to meet their mission's unique requirements. A front-loadable design allows users to upgrade to more advanced storage and processing hardware as it becomes available, and to pull and replace any malfunctioning parts. Built-in redundancy in both the hardware design and the VAST software also ensures no information is lost when flash rulers are replaced. Instead, the RDS system will rebuild the data on the new rulers. VAST software also uses erasure codes to protect data from drive failures. This is accomplished by writing data across multiple drives so that if one drive fails, it can be rebuilt into the remaining free space of the storage system or onto a replacement drive. To help avoid such failures, software-driven write cycles extend the useful life of the QLC flash to 10-plus years. IN A FLASH: THE RISE OF VAST DATA Since its first shipments in 2018, VAST Data has established itself as the fastest-selling storage infrastructure company in history. This success is due to a new approach to storage called universal storage that the company developed and pioneered. The concept uses all-flash storage and revolutionary algorithms to provide exabyte levels of data that is accessible at the speed of flash memory. This solution is being deployed into data centers around the world and across industries, rapidly eliminating the economic arguments for data tiering using disk storage. Vast Federal, a VAST Data subsidiary focused on modernizing government agency data, is also providing a simple and scalable all-flash cloud to numerous U.S. government organizations, including the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, NASA, Department of Health and Human Services and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The company 's development partnership on the RDS system combines the power of the VAST universal storage platform with Mercury System's proven rugged servers to deliver a scalable, readily accessible and reliable flash cloud to the edge of defense.

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