Intel launches new 'ruler' form factor for petabyte SSDs

INTEL HAS UNVEILED a brand new form factor for solid state disc drives (SSDs).

Intel Optane's new "ruler" format will allow up to a petabyte of storage on a single 1U server rack.

Although new formats are emerging all the time, this one seems particularly timely, coming as it does at a time when we have far exceeded the need for an SSD to take up even a standard 2.5-inch space, most of which is air.

By using 3D-NAND, the ruler crams in even more data and will provide more stability with less chance of catastrophic failure with data loss.

The company has promised that the Ruler will have more bandwidth, IOPS and lower latency than SAS.

Bill Leszinske, vice president of Intel's Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group (NSG), swooned: "We are in the midst of an era of major data centre transformation, driven by Intel. These new ruler form factor SSDs and dual port SSDs are the latest in a long line of innovations we've brought to market to make storing and accessing data easier and faster, while delivering more value to customers.