EMC has unveiled storage systems that integrate flash memory-based solid state drives (SSDs) into its hardware, rather than disk drives.

EMC cited the reduced power used by SSDs and the increase in performance as a reason to deploy these systems. “[SSDs] can store a terabyte of data using 38 percent less energy than traditional mechanical disks," the firm said. In a transaction per second comparison, EMC pointed out that the reduction in power usage would be around 98 percent.

The first system to incorporate SSDs will be the Symmetrix DMX-4 system.

EMC has also enhanced its DMX-4 platform with Virtual Provisioning and new management features. Virtual Provisioning, the vendor’s name for so-called thin provisioning, is a feature which industry experts have said has so far been lacking in EMC's feature set and which has been present in some competitors’ portfolios for well over two years.

Thin provisioning allows storage kit to appear to give users or applications more space than has been allocated, and then to actually provide that space on a “just in time” basis.

EMC support for the latest 1TB serial ATA (SATA) II disks was also announced this week, as well as enhanced Symmetrix remote data facility (SRDF) replication software allowing data mirroring from the primary data centre to two remote sites.

The new SSDs will be available this quarter, in 73GB and 146GB versions on the DMX-4 platform, as will support for the 1TB SATA II disks.