These drives represent the third generation of E1.S SSDs from KIOXIA and comply with PCIe 5.0 (32 GT/s x 4) and NVMe 2.0 specifications, supporting the Open Compute Project (OCP) Datacentre NVMe SSD v2.5 specification.

Designed for cloud and hyperscale environments, the KIOXIA XD8 Series addresses the increasing demand for higher performance, enhanced efficiency, and greater scalability in data centers. These new drives empower cloud providers and hyperscalers to optimize their infrastructure, delivering superior performance while maintaining operational efficiency.

“Microsoft Azure’s architects are leading-edge data centers to deliver high levels of performance, quality of service, and reliability to our customers,” said Pablo Ziperovich, GM of Azure Memory & Storage Centre of Excellence (AMS CoE) at Microsoft Corporation. “We leverage new technologies and standards for SSDs, such as PCIe 5.0 and the E1. S form factor, and support the OCP Datacentre NVMe SSD specification V2.5.  These latest SSDs, including KIOXIA’s XD8 drives, provide the high density, lower power consumption, high performance, and serviceability required by Microsoft data centers.”

KIOXIA XD8 Series highlights include:

-Additional NVMe support, including NVM Express Management Interface (NVMe-MI) v1.2c

-Sequential read performance of up to 12,500 MB/s (a 73% improvement over the previous generation)

-Sequential write performance of up to 5,800 MB/s (a 20% improvement)

-Random read performance of 2,300 K Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS) (a 48% improvement)

-Random write performance of up to 250 K IOPS (a 25% improvement)

-EDSFF E1. S with 9.5mm, 15mm, and 25mm heat sink options

-KIOXIA-designed SSD controller, BiCS FLASH 3D flash memory, and firmware

-Non-SED and TCG Opal SSC SED options

-Full end-to-end data protection and power loss protection

“The KIOXIA XD8 Series is designed to provide outstanding performance and thermal management, meeting the requirements of contemporary cloud and hyperscale environments,” remarked Paul Rowan, VP & CMO of the Memory and SSD Business Units at KIOXIA Europe GmbH.

“As a proactive participant in the development of the new EDSFF E1 and E3 form factors, KIOXIA is dedicated to collaborating with leading server and storage system developers to fully exploit the capabilities of flash memory, NVMe, and PCIe technologies. Our ongoing innovation in this field ensures that the industry is well-equipped to address both present and future challenges.”