Intel’s push for petabyte SSDs requires a new kind of drive

There aren’t many ways to make data center storage exciting, but mentioning a drive that could hold up to one petabyte (1,000 terabytes) comes close. Intel is making the case to swap out old disk-based drives in data centers with SSDs, and as part of that it’s showing off a new “Ruler” form factor. Instead of molding to the 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch size of traditional drives or just the dimensions of a PCIe slot, its long skinny shape fits into a standard rack mounted server. As TechGage notes, with regular 10TB hard drives, slapping together a petabyte’s worth would fill up a 100-bay 4U server. The new Ruler drives aren’t available yet, but Intel claims it will offer them with both its Optane and 3D NAND SSDs in the “near future.”