Samsung announces the launch of a new enterprise-class SSD with ZNS technology

Samsung announced the launch of a new enterprise-class solid-state drive PM1731a that uses Zoned Namespace (ZNS) technology, which is a product based on the sixth generation of V-NAND. By using ZNS technology, it will maximize the available capacity and provide a longer service life in storage servers, data centers, and clouds.

Sangyeun Cho, senior vice president of the Memory Software Development Team at Samsung Electronics, said that the use of ZNS technology solid-state drives reflects Samsung’s commitment to launching differentiated storage solutions that can significantly improve the reliability and service life of server solid-state drives. At the same time, Samsung plans to apply QLC NAND flash memory technology to the next-generation products using ZNS technology to achieve higher storage performance and capacity thresholds in future enterprise systems.

Samsung said that ZNS technology allows data to be grouped according to usage and access frequency, and stored sequentially in a separate area within the solid-state drive. This avoids moving and rearranging data, can significantly reduce the number of write operations, and reduce the write amplification factor (WAF). In addition, solid-state drives will allocate a certain amount of space as reserved space to effectively manage and improve the performance of flash memory chips, while solid-state drives using ZNS technology do not need to do this, and can make their usable capacity larger.

In addition to ZNS technology, the PM1731a series is also equipped with dual ports. Samsung plans to start mass production of the PM1731a series in the second half of 2021, with a 2.5-inch form factor and two capacities of 2TB and 4TB.