Samsung’s second-generation smart SSDs reduce CPU usage by 97%

A few years ago, Samsung introduced the first smart SSD, a very interesting product that was created thanks to the cooperation with Xilinx, which, as many of our readers know, was recently bought by AMD. Said storage unit had a Xilinx FPGA solution in charge of performing compression and decompression tasks, performing processing tasks independently. It has nothing to do with DirectStorage because that technology offloads the work to the GPU.

There is no doubt that this smart SSD turned out to be a very interesting solution, so it is not surprising that Samsung decided to introduce a second generation model. This model maintains the same approach as the original and is equipped with a ARM-based Xilinx Versal Adaptive SoC, which means it can perform operations and data processing independently. This is key because it minimizes data transfer between the CPU, GPU and memory, reducing database query processing time by 50% and power consumption by 70% compared to conventional SSDs.

The inclusion of this SoC and the use of specialized software also help reduce CPU usage by up to 97%, with all that this entails in terms of efficiency and freeing up resources. This is possible because, as we assumed at the beginning of the article, this intelligent SSD can process data directly, so you don’t have to constantly resort to the CPU and/or GPU. This also avoids bottlenecks in certain tasks, such as moving data between storage devices and the CPU.

All of this ultimately translates into higher performance, higher efficiency, lower resource consumption and optimal operation. This smart SSD is specially designed for the professional sector, in fact it will perform its best in environments where you work with artificial intelligence, deep learning, 5G and other tasks that require the processing of large amounts of data. However, it is also interesting for the average user because it is an advancement that could reach the general consumer market.

We don’t have any details on the release date or price of this Samsung 2nd Gen Smart SSD, but we can be sure that it will not be economical, which is understandable given its features and the advanced technology it integrates. Sina Soltani, Corporate Vice President of Sales, AECG, Data Center and Communications Group, AMD, commented on this new storage device:

“Samsung’s second-generation SmartSSD is powered by AMD’s adaptive Xilinx Versal SoC and enables higher CPU usage efficiency and significantly reduce energy consumption by efficiently integrating compute and storage functions in data centers. As data-intensive applications continue to grow, Samsung’s second-generation SmartSSD will deliver the superior performance and efficiency needed for this expanding market.”