SANBlaze Announces Dual Port NVMe Drive Test Capability for Their SBExpress Platform

SANBlaze is a leader in innovative storage emulation and validation, and they are announcing the launch of the Dual Port NVMe Drive Test Platform.  This unique appliance enables connection of dual port 2.5” NVMe drives to a host system, which makes a simple to use test and development platform for drive vendors.  This allows for engineering debugging, validation and quality assurance for small scale lots of drives.  Also featured is Quarch™ functionality, which enables signal glitching, hot-swap support and power draw measurement on the dual port devices being tested.

Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) is a standards-based protocol supporting PCI Express (PCIe) solid state storage access that dramatically improves performance via a streamlined command set and reduced latency.  It also provides for enhanced  security and end-to-end data protection.

According to Rick Walsh, SANBlaze’s Vice President of Sales and Marketing, “In continuing our leadership role in NVMe innovation and flash array SSD storage, SANBlaze is excited to introduce a Dual Port NVMe SSD drive test tool that validates dual port performance, critical redundancy and multi path failover, for mission-critical and high availability SSD flash array SAN applications.  We are continuing our commitment to offering “Best in Class” test tools that continue to be critical to the validation test efforts of our customers.”

Combining SANBlaze testing software with the NVMe test backplane permits developers of NVMe storage devices to perform reliable quality assurance on their product by running test scenarios in the lab before their product is released.  This allows development teams to do tradeoff analyses comparing various combinations of power versus performance, as well as with firmware and hardware enhancement or changes.  SANBlaze’s NVMe test platform can also be utilized with developers’ own host systems via the USB control port to induce errors and ensure their own storage system’s reliability.  By utilizing SANBlazes NVMe host initiator, a variety of testing scenarios can be run, including I/O performance, error injection, automated hot plug testing, and NVMe conformance testing.

SANBlaze’s SBExpress is a complete turnkey NVMe 2.5” SSD Validation Test System.  From development to design validation to testing and QA, it features a comprehensive set of functions that are applicable to all aspects of a storage device’s lifecycle. Engineers are able to drive NVMe SSDs with a wide range of configurable attributes, creating a flexible, scalable tool that can simulate real disk and memory access environments and potential issues.  Development, qualification and certification testing can be highly automated, reducing overall testing time and rapidly bringing errors and non-conformance to the surface.

The SBExpress hardware also provides full power management under software control, with continuous current, voltage and power draw measurement of each device under testing.  Adding the optional Quarch™ riser allows for signal glitching on all PCIe signals, and Quarch integration with SANBlaze’s VirtualLUN™ software allows for glitching, PCIe lane failure, and drive removal operations (both controlled and surprise) to occur during testing.

For more information, you can view the SANBLaze Dual Port NVMe Drive Test Platform and SBExpress product page here.