Western Digital Introduces FlashSoft 4 Software for VMware vSphere 6

Western Digital® Corporation (NASDAQ: WDC), a global storage technology and solutions leader, today announced two new virtualization solutions designed to significantly improve virtual machine performance and density in VMware® vSphere® environments. These include the availability of the new FlashSoft® 4 software for VMware vSphere 6, and the introduction of the Flash Virtualization® System, a new flash-based hardware and software solution. FlashSoft 4 leverages a Western Digital and VMware VAIO co-design partnership for vSphere 6.

“The two-year co-design between Western Digital and VMware has helped to advance storage solutions for VMware customers,” said Ravi Swaminathan, vice president and general manager of the Data Center Solutions Business Unit at Western Digital Corporation. “These new product innovations resulted from the deep ongoing engagement between our companies and are expected to greatly enhance virtual machine performance. We look forward to expanding possibilities of the new architecture to continue delivering high-value solutions for our customers.”

FlashSoft 4 software is based on an architecture that uses the new VMware vSphere APIs for IO Filtering (VAIO), providing the highest level of usability and performance with vSphere 6. FlashSoft 4 is the first host-based caching software to achieve VMware Ready™ certification for guaranteed compatibility, reliability and support. It also introduces support for VMware-supported datastores, virtual disk acceleration, improved performance and stability, and integrated management through the vSphere web client GUI.

The new Flash Virtualization System builds on the benefits of the latest FlashSoft software by pairing it with SanDisk ION Accelerator™ software and Fusion ioMemory™ PCIe solid-state accelerators in a flash-provisioned server capable of delivering over a million IOPS to accelerate storage I/O across the VMware environment. Without disrupting current server and storage infrastructure, the easy-to-deploy solution offers cluster-wide flash acceleration in existing VMware environments. The cost-effective solution also enables customers to get more performance and efficiency from existing storage and compute infrastructure, resulting in significant hardware and software savings.

“The VAIO framework represents the next generation of integration for third party data services integration in vSphere environments, enabling leading software solutions providers to align with VMware’s vision for the software defined data center,” said Yanbing Li, senior vice president and general manager, Storage and availability Business Unit, VMware. “Western Digital’s support as a design partner for VAIO and the introduction of their new FlashSoft software illustrates the important role that our partners play in delivering on the promise of the software-defined data center.”

“The FlashSoft 4 software for vSphere 6 using the VAIO API is in-line with Dell’s vision for the software-defined data center. Using server-tier flash technology with FlashSoft host-based caching software is an innovative and cost effective way to increase application performance in virtual environments,” said Ravi Pendekanti, vice president, Server Platform Development, Dell Inc. “We are excited to see VMware’s support for host-based caching through the VAIO program, and VMware Ready certification will give customers the confidence to broadly adopt and deploy this innovative solution.”

Pricing and Availability

FlashSoft 4 is immediately available as a solution bundle consisting of FlashSoft software and SanDisk® SAS, SATA, or Fusion ioMemory PCIe solid-state devices, with MSRP starting at $3600 to $5900 depending on the device. The software is offered through Western Digital, OEMs and reseller partners, including Dell, HPE, Lenovo and HDS, as well as select channel partners.

The Flash Virtualization System is also immediately available with MSRP starting at $75,000 (12.8TB, 8-node cluster configuration).