Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. and Western Digital announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for a unique collaboration to standardize and accelerate the adoption of next-generation data placement, processing, and fabrics (D2PF) storage technologies. The companies will initially concentrate their efforts on aligning their efforts and developing a robust ecosystem for Zoned Storage solutions. These steps will allow the industry to focus on a plethora of applications that will ultimately create more value for customers.
This is the first time that Samsung and Western Digital have collaborated to create widespread alignment and raise awareness for critical storage technologies. The partnership, which focuses on enterprise and cloud applications, is expected to spark a variety of collaborations around technology standardization and software development for D2PF technologies such as Zoned Storage. End users can be confident that these emerging storage technologies will be supported by multiple device vendors as well as vertically integrated hardware and software companies as a result of this collaboration.
“Storage is the essential foundation for how people and businesses consume and use data. To enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas, we must innovate, collaborate and keep pace as an industry in bringing new standards and architectures to life,” said Rob Soderbery, EVP and GM, Flash Business Unit at Western Digital. “In order for a technology ecosystem to be successful, overall frameworks and general solution models must come together so they do not suffer from fragmentation, which delays adoption and adds unnecessary complexity for software stack developers.”
Soderbery added, “For years Western Digital has been laying the foundation for the Zoned Storage ecosystem by contributing to the Linux kernel and open-source software community. We are excited to bring these contributions to this joint initiative with Samsung in facilitating wider adoption of Zoned Storage for users and application developers.”
“This collaboration is a testament to our relentless effort to exceed customers’ needs now and in the future, and holds special meaning in how we anticipate it will actively grow into a larger basis of engagement for Zoned Storage standardization,” said Jinman Han, Corporate EVP, Head of Memory Sales & Marketing at Samsung Electronics. “Our collaborative efforts will embrace hardware and software ecosystems to ensure that as many customers as possible can reap the benefits of this highly important technology.”
The two companies have already launched a Zoned Storage initiative, which includes ZNS (Zoned Namespaces) SSDs and SMR (Shingled Magnetic Recording) HDDs. Samsung and Western Digital will define high-level models and frameworks for next-generation Zoned Storage technologies through organizations such as SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) and the Linux Foundation. They established the Zoned Storage TWG (Technical Work Group) with the goal of enabling open and scalable data center architectures, and it was approved by SNIA in December 2021. Already, the group has defined and specified common use cases for Zoned Storage devices, as well as host/device architecture and programming models.
In addition, this collaboration is expected to serve as a starting point to expand zone-based (e.g. ZNS, SMR) device interfaces, as well as future-generation, high-capacity storage devices with enhanced data placement and processing technologies. At a later stage, these initiatives will be expanded to include other emerging D2PF technologies such as computational storage and storage fabrics including NVMe™ over Fabrics (NVMe-oF).
