Huawei has introduced a network-attached storage (NAS) array called OceanStor A800, designed to handle large-scale artificial intelligence (AI) workloads. The A800 is a high-performance NAS product that can be scaled up to exabyte-level clusters and can be integrated into a global single namespace using Huawei’s data management engine, Omni Dataverse. At the Innovative Data Infrastructure forum in Berlin, Huawei also announced the upcoming availability of a 128TB flash drive in two form factors. The products are aimed at addressing the demands of the “accelerated data awakening” era, with a focus on high-quality data for improved accuracy in AI processes. Huawei emphasized the importance of high-performance, scalable, resilient, and sustainable storage that is integrated into a comprehensive data fabric. The all-NVMe flash A800 offers a claimed throughput of 500GBps and 24 million input-output operations per second. It can use TLC and QLC drives and supports file access storage clusters within a global namespace. The A800 was developed to meet the specific requirements of customers in China with large AI workloads, including the need for high bandwidth and scalable storage. Additionally, Huawei announced its plans to release 128TB SSDs in two different formats, U.2 and Palm. Currently, the company’s drives have a maximum capacity of 60TB. Huawei’s investment in research and development (R&D) exceeds 20%, and the company holds 140,000 active patents globally. In terms of market share and sales, Huawei ranked joint-second among the top storage array makers in 2022, with a 9% market share and $2.88bn in sales. Their enterprise storage lines include OceanStor Dorado (NVMe and flash), OceanStor Pacific (flash and HDD), and OceanStor (flash and HDD, excluding NVMe) that cater to various workload profiles.
Huawei Introduces the Exabyte-Scale OceanStor A800 for AI Workloads
