Micron Technology, Inc. has announced a new encryption-enhanced solid state drive (SSD) for read-centric data center workloads, accelerating the transition from legacy hard disk drives (HDDs) to higher-performance flash-based storage. The M510DC combines a suite of firmware data protection features with the market's first true TCG Enterprise-level data encryption for SSDs-a capability that is of paramount importance to the highly scrutinized medical, banking and government industries.

The M510DC SATA SSD provides a balance of performance, security, enterprise reliability, power and cost. The M510DC SSD is an ideal solution for improving application load times for content delivery networks (CDNs) and enhancing response times to enable quicker decisions in big data analytics. While early enterprise SSD deployments focused on high-endurance drives, data from Greg Wong, founder and principal analyst at Forward Insights, reveals that two-thirds of today's newly optimized data center SSD purchases require one drive fill per day or less. These market changes create a distinct opportunity for customers to focus on a cost-optimized SSD like the M510DC.

Deploying SSDs rather than traditional hard disk drives helps optimize workload response times around many of today's business-critical, read-centric deployments such as CDNs, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) deployments and business intelligence/decision support systems using database management. In the past, the cost of SSDs has inhibited users from budgeting for and adopting SSDs, but the improved value, performance and reliability of Micron's M510DC SSD opens the door for wider use.

Early adopters of the M510DC have seen immediate return on investment (ROI) after deploying Micron's M510DC SSD. The M510DC excelled in decreasing radiologist image load times from 15 seconds to virtually instantaneously for the MedVet Medical & Cancer Centers for Pets. The increase in productivity for radiologists is projected to save time and improve MedVet's revenue and bottom line by hundreds of thousands of dollars over the life of the M510DC server deployment. Clayton Bank and Trust, a company which already uses SSDs, is turning to the M510DC for an estimated 75 percent cost savings per drive. Clayton Bank and Trust selected the M510DC for the cost-efficient performance and enterprise features that it offers over existing consumer-based SSDs-a stop-gap flash solution IT managers have traditionally used to improve application performance. "Features that are standard now, weren't before. You'd have to cherry-pick your features from the different vendors. Now, Micron has all of the features we need in a single solution-and at the highest level," said Mark Miller, IT Manager at Clayton Bank and Trust.

The M510DC is built with Micron's 16nm NAND technology using targeted enterprise-ready firmware. The drive features Micron's eXtended Performance and Enhanced Reliability Technology (XPERT) architecture, which delivers proprietary enhancements that greatly improve performance, drive life and integrity. Using a third-generation proven architecture, called PLUS, the drive also delivers full power-loss protection, ensuring that all data is protected in the event of a sudden power loss. The M510DC introduces new TCG Enterprise encryption to protect data at rest, and ensure simplified drive management. The drive is complementary to Micron's existing M500DC SSD, creating new options for SATA customers by allowing them to tailor drive selection to their workload requirements.

"Data center architectures are increasingly deploying flash technology to realize nimble results, but have withheld adoption due to cost. The M510DC meets this rising data center segment demand, delivering enterprise-class stability and endurance at a cost that makes hard drives practically obsolete for certain applications," said Darren Thomas, vice president of storage at Micron.