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SanDisk® Introduces New All-Flash Reference Architectures and Enhanced Portfolio of Certified Flash Products for VMware Virtual SAN(TM) 6

BANGALORE, September 15, 2015 /PRNewswire/ --

    New Solution for Business Critical Applications and Databases Delivers 3 Million New
Orders Per Minute on All-Flash Virtual SAN 6[1] 

    SanDisk [http://www.sandisk.com ] Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK
[http://investor.sandisk.com/phoenix.zhtml?c=86495&p=irol-irhomemain ]), a global leader
in flash storage solutions, today unveiled three new reference architectures for VMWare
Virtual SAN(TM) 6 [http://www.vmware.com/products/virtual-san ] utilizing solid state
drives (SSD) and Fusion ioMemory(TM) PCIe application accelerators. When coupled with
VMware Virtual SAN 6, SanDisk's PCIe and SSD-based solutions allow customers to deploy
business critical applications, databases, virtual desktops and other IT workloads with
less effort, while gaining exceptional performance on VMware's hyper-converged and
cost-effective VMware Virtual SAN software-defined storage infrastructure.

    "SanDisk is addressing the challenges of latency and cost efficiency in the data
center with our all-flash VMware Virtual SAN reference architectures, which allow
customers to expand the workloads they can run on all-flash and hybrid-flash storage at
significantly lower costs," said John Scaramuzzo, senior vice president and general
manager, Enterprise Storage Solutions, SanDisk. "These new solutions are prime examples of
how SanDisk continues to collaborate with VMware. We look forward to working with our
mutual partners to help customers experience the significant benefits of the
flash-transformed, software-defined data center."

    By using SanDisk flash-based offerings with VMware solutions, customers are able to
consolidate IT footprint, while increasing application quality of service (QoS), deriving
huge benefits from server virtualization and virtual desktops. For example, SanDisk
customers have already been able to: increase support for concurrent users by 3X[2];
increase virtual desktop density by 4X[3]; reduce power and cooling by 16X[1]; and,
achieve 40X[4] faster report generation.

    Now with software-defined storage, according to Gartner, by 2017 one-third of
midmarket organizations will deploy VMware Virtual SAN for at least 30 percent of their
total storage capacity[5]. Businesses cannot afford for mission-critical applications to
be sluggish. These VMware validated reference architectures for business critical
applications, databases and desktop virtualization will allow customers to deploy with
confidence, while lowering storage TCO by up to 50 percent[6].

    "Flash is a key enabler for software-defined storage, allowing customers to get high
performance and reliability out of their IT infrastructure," said Charles Fan, senior vice
president and general manager, Storage and Availability, VMware. "Together, VMware and
SanDisk are making it easier for customers to accelerate the performance of their
applications and fully experience the benefits of software-defined storage."

    The new reference architectures utilizing SanDisk SATA, SAS and PCIe application
accelerator solutions with VMware Virtual SAN to be demonstrated at VMworld(R) 2015
include:

       
        - Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) Solution with All-Flash Virtual SAN  

    This new 4-node reference architecture utilizes SanDisk's 4TB Optimus MAX(TM) - the
industry's highest capacity SSD that is certified for Virtual SAN 6[7] - on a Lenovo
System x3650 M5 server platform. In a performance test conducted by SanDisk, Lenovo,
VMware, and Avago, all-flash 4-node configuration delivered 3.08 million New Orders per
Minute (NOPMs) and 14.1 million transactions per minute (TPMs) using eight virtual
machines executing Microsoft SQL Server Standard Edition. The HammerDB performance tuning
and benchmarking tool was used to run a 5000 Warehouse TPC-C like workload.[8]

       
        - VMware Horizon(R) Virtual Desktop and Applications Solution with All-Flash Virtual
          SAN  

    SanDisk co-led the development of this virtual desktop infrastructure reference
architecture
[http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/VMware-Horizon-View-And-All-Flash-Virtual-SAN-Reference-Architecture.pdf ]
utilizing SanDisk's Lightning(R) Gen. II SSDs and Dell R730 G13 servers.
This solution was tested to run 800 Horizon 6 Desktops on a starter 4-node cluster with
VMware, Avago and Brocade. The solution fuels VMware Horizon(R) 6 virtual desktops and
applications at a significantly lower TCO when compared to traditional HDD-based storage
solutions. Similarly, when tested, a starter 4-node configuration deployed 24 desktops per
minute in a boot storm situation, bringing up 850 desktops in 35 minutes. This is the
industry's first 800 virtual desktop solution running on an end-to-end 12G all-flash VSAN
Cluster.[9]

       
        - Horizon Virtual Desktop Solution with Hybrid VMware Virtual SAN  

    This is a reference architecture tested in conjunction with HP and VMware, utilizing
HP ProLiant DL360 Gen9 servers and SanDisk's high performance Fusion ioMemory PCIe
application accelerators for caching in a hybrid VMware Virtual SAN cluster. In a
performance test conducted using VMware Horizon 6.1, the View Planner benchmarking and
workload generator with a 3-node cluster, the solution delivered fast application
performance and response times to support the maximum number of virtual desktops with all
responses under the recommended performance thresholds[10].

    A video by SanDisk and VMware executives on these new solutions is available here
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUGb37zpXDY ]. Further details on these reference
architectures are also provided in a series of blogs by SanDisk
[http://itblog.sandisk.com/business-critical-on-vmware-virtual-san-extrapolating-48-million-nopm ]
, VMware
[https://blogs.vmware.com/euc/2015/08/vmware-horizon-view-sandisk-storage-virtual-san-all-flash-shared.html ]
and other partners'
[http://community.brocade.com/t5/Storage-Networks/Best-In-Class-Vendors-Partner-to-Build-A-Best-In-Class-VDI/ba-p/78993 ]
site. For more information on the role of flash in VMware
Virtual SAN environments, check out this webinar
[https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12587/166199?utm_campaign=user_weekly_my_brighttalk&utm_medium=email&utm_source=brighttalk-transact&utm_content=title&utm_keyword=upcoming ]
.
Additional details on SanDisk's solutions for virtualization and virtual desktop
infrastructures can be found on company's website
[http://www.sandisk.com/enterprise/ulltradimm-ssd ] or enterprise blog
[http://itblog.sandisk.com ]. For information on Fusion ioMemory PCIe application
accelerators, SanDisk Optimus MAX 4TB SSDs and SanDisk Lightning Gen. II 12 gb/s SAS SSD,
visit http://www.sandisk.com/enterprise/ [http://www.sandisk.com/enterprise ].

    SanDisk at VMworld 2015 

    To learn more and experience the power of the flash-accelerated, software-defined data
center, please visit SanDisk in booth #1920 during VMworld, taking place at the Moscone
Convention Center in San Francisco, August 30-September 3, 2015. You can join Serge Shats
for session STO5704
[https://vmworld2015.lanyonevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=5704 ] on "Using
Virtual Data Services for IO Acceleration in vSphere," taking place on Monday, August 31,
from 12:30 - 1:30 PM; panel session VAPP5737 with industry experts such as Tarkan Maner
and Rawlinson Rivera on Software Defined Storage, from 12:30 PM - 1:30 PM on Tuesday,
September 1; or our two Solution Exchange sessions on Wednesday, September 2: FlashSoft
1:50 - 2:10 PM and All Flash Virtual SAN from 3:20 PM - 3:40 PM; and session STO5157
[https://vmworld2015.lanyonevents.com/connect/sessionDetail.ww?SESSION_ID=5157 ] on
"Running Business Critical Applications with VMware All Flash Virtual SAN" on Thursday,
September 3 from 12:00PM to 1:00PM. SanDisk will also be showcasing its newest FlashSoft
software solution during Tech Field Day [http://techfieldday.com/event/evmwu15 ] Extra
with Stephen Foskett taking place on Tuesday afternoon from 3:30-4:30pm. SanDisk's
Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer and General Manager of Enterprise
Solutions, Sumit Sadana, will be speaking at Nexenta's OpenSDx Summit
[https://nexenta.com/opensdx2015 ] at 9:35 AM on Thursday, September 3. You can also see
SanDisk solutions at work in our technology partner booths including: VMware, Dell, HP,
Lenovo, Nexenta, CloudByte, Tegile, SIOS, Supermicro and Maxta. For more details on
SanDisk's presence and solutions for VMworld, visit:
http://www.sandisk.com/events/vmworld-us/ [http://www.sandisk.com/events/vmworld-us ].

    About SanDisk 

    SanDisk Corporation (NASDAQ: SNDK), a Fortune 500 and S&P 500 company, is a global
leader in flash storage solutions. For more than 27 years, SanDisk has expanded the
possibilities of storage, providing trusted and innovative products that have transformed
the electronics industry. Today, SanDisk's quality, state-of-the-art solutions are at the
heart of many of the world's largest data centers, and embedded in advanced smart phones,
tablets and PCs. SanDisk's consumer products are available at hundreds of thousands of
retail stores worldwide. For more information, visit http://www.sandisk.com.

    (c) 2015 SanDisk Corporation. All rights reserved. SanDisk, Fusion ioMemory, Optimus
MAX, Lightning, and others are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation in the United States and
other countries. VMware, Horizon and Virtual SAN are registered trademarks or trademarks
of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. Other brand names mentioned
herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective
holder(s). The use of the word "partner" or "partnership" does not imply a legal
partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.

    This news release contains references and links to third-party websites. SanDisk is
not responsible for and cannot control those websites.

    [2] TekSouth - USAF Data Warehouse Case
[http://www.sandisk.com/assets/case-studies/TekSouth_CS_Dell.pdf ] Study
[http://www.sandisk.com/assets/case-studies/TekSouth_CS_Dell.pdf ]

    [3] VMware Fast Track 2.0 Validated Reference Architecture: White Paper
[http://www.sandisk.com/assets/docs/esg-lab-validation-fusion-iovdi-reference-architecture.pdf ]

    [4] Quaker Maid Customer Case Study
[http://www.sandisk.com/assets/case-studies/QuakerMaid_CS_Lenovo.pdf ]

    [5] "Gartner Predicts 2015: Midmarket CIOs Must Shed IT Debt to Invest in Strategic
Initiatives,' Gartner Research, October 2014.  

    [6] VMware Virtual SAN 6.0 Data Sheet
[https://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/products/vsan/VMware_Virtual_SAN_Datasheet.pdf ]

    [7] Capacity verified using VMware HCL for Virtual SAN 6.

    [8] Performance results may vary according to system architecture, configurations and
applications.

    [9] VMware Horizon View and All Flash Virtual SAN Reference Architecture
[http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMware-Horizon-View-And-All-Flash-Virtual-SAN-Reference-Architecture.pdf ]
Document

    [10] Testing reference based on HP Solution Brief here
[http://h20195.www2.hp.com/V2/GetDocument.aspx?docname=4AA6-0949ENW&cc=us&lc=en ].

    [1] Based on performance tests conducted by SanDisk, Lenovo, VMware and Avago using
HammerDB and SQL Server Database. Performance results may vary according to system
architecture, configurations and applications. 

       
         
        Media Contact  
        Shane Jacob 
        shane@the-practice.net 
        91-9742259654 
        The PRactice 

     

SanDisk Corporation