Infinidat is using AMD processors for its latest InfiniBox G4 for the first time to increase performance and cut power consumption, and is adding a new controller upgrade program, a new consumption-based pricing model, and integration of its data protection capabilities with third-party cybersecurity software.

High-performance storage technology developer Infinidat has expanded its portfolio with its new InfiniBox G4 family of arrays that feature double the performance of its predecessors and a new entry-level configuration aimed at expanding its potential market.

Infinidat, which was an early pioneer in adding cybersecurity to its storage technology, also expanded its cyber protection and cloud capabilities while adding a new controller upgrade program to extend the life of its storage systems, and introduced a consumption-based program for its InfiniVerse data platform.

“We are dramatically upgrading our array platforms with twice the performance and delivering a whole set of hybrid multicloud and cybersecurity software for storage for enterprise,” said Eric Herzog, chief marketing officer for Waltham, Mass.-based Infinidat.

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The new Infinidat InfiniBox G4 is the company’s first array to be based on AMD processors rather than their traditional Intel CPUs, Herzog said. It features the same active-active software-defined architecture of its predecessors, which Herzog said accounts for their 100-percent availability.

The switch to using AMD processors is key to the InfiniBox G4’s increased performance, Herzog said.

“It allows us more efficiency from a CPU perspective,” he said. “There are 31 percent more cores in a single chip, so we have a single socket instead of two. And you get the power efficiency which everyone’s been talking about.”

Also new with the InfiniBox G4 family is the small footprint InfiniBox SSA G4 F1400T model, the company’s first array that can be installed in a customer’s existing data center racks or at a colocation facility, Herzog said.

The InfiniBox SSA G4 F1400T features all the InfiniBox SSA capabilities, but with a starting capacity of 155 TBs of all-flash storage in a 14U rack space, he said.

“This new F1400T is pretty incredible,” he said. “It is a high-end array. It has all the features and functions of our larger arrays, except it’s now down to a 155-terabyte starting capacity, which lowers the price point. We will sell it in a rack if you want it, but it’ll work in any industry-standard rack. A lot of customers have unused rack space already in their data center. So this can slide right in.”

Infinidat expects the InfiniBox SSA G4 F1400T to go into small data centers, colocation centers, and edge data centers, Herzog said.

Also new is a controller upgrade program, InfiniVerse Mobius, which Herzog said ensures the Infinidat SSA arrays can be upgraded to the latest capabilities and performance without the need to exchange the storage.

“Our controller upgrade program is unique for the high-end,” he said. “It’s common in the midrange. When you do a controller-based upgrade, you don’t have to replace the storage in the future, just the controller. So when the G5 comes out, if you opt for this program, you just swap the controllers but keep the hard drives and flash. It’s optional, so it’s an upsell for the partner.”

Infinidat also expanded its InfiniVerse Platform, which provides a secure cloud-based platform for storage, with new consumption-based pricing. InfiniVerse is features AI-based analytics to ensure performance and scalability, Herzog said.

“We’re turning it into an infrastructure consumption services model,” he said. “This includes cyber resilience, data services, data management and monitoring, lifecycle management, and consumption. The idea is to simplify and improve productivity by automating a whole bunch of stuff that’s already in InfiniVerse.”

Infinidat also wants to bring its InfuzeOS to the hybrid cloud by introducing InfuzeOS Cloud Edition for Azure, which expands its technology beyond its current focus on Amazon Web Services clouds, Herzog said.

“InfuzeOS is our full version of the operating system running in the cloud,” he said. “We already have it for Amazon, and now we’re adding Microsoft Azure. It’s the exact same everything: InfiniSafe, InfiniRAID, all our management, everything is the same. But we don’t control the infrastructure. Microsoft and Amazon do. We have recommended configurations we tell partners to recommend to their end users. But from an end user perspective, it’s the identical software.”

Also new from Infinidat is automated cyber protection, Herzog said.

“Using our reference architecture guide and API’s, you can interface to cybersecurity software,” he said. “We do cybersecurity on the storage side, but now we talk with Splunk, Microsoft Sentinel, IBM’s QRadar.”

This is important as part of an overall security system, Herzog said.

“First of all, you’re now integrating storage into your cybersecurity comprehensive strategy using these kinds of software,” he said. “Second, we do immutable snapshots for InfiniSafe already. A business may be using Microsoft Sentinel and doing snapshots twice a day. You just finished a snapshot, and 10 minutes later Sentinel suspects an attack. Do you want to wait for 11 more hours before you take another snapshot when supposedly the cybersecurity software site is saying there’s an attack happening or something’s wrong? Basically, we integrate, we get the notification from the cybersecurity software, and act. We’re now incorporating storage into a more comprehensive data center-wide cybersecurity strategy.”

The new Infinidat G4 offerings will help reach customers the technology previously couldn’t, said Bob Elliott, vice president of storage sales at Mainline Information Systems, a Tallahassee, Fla.-based solution provider and Infinidat Premier-level channel partner.

The fact that the G4 now comes in a smaller rack-mountable footprint will enable Mainline to talk to a different clientele, Elliott told CRN.

“I have one customer that Infinidat would have been perfect for,” he said. “They have about 100 small closet-like data centers. Unfortunately, because of its larger footprint in the past, Infinidat was not a player. We had to have something rack-mountable. Well, guess what? Now I have it.”

Infinidat has packed a lot into its G4, Elliott said.

“They’ve got updates to InfuzeOS,” he said. “They’ve got updates to speeds and feeds. All of it’s good. But the one thing that stands out to me is the G4 will enable me to take an industry-leading product and put it into environments where it wasn’t a fit before.”

In general, Infinidat has developed a strong offering by paying attention to what customers want and need, Elliott said.

“Customers want to hit the ‘easy’ button,” he said. “Infinidat makes it easy to manage. It’s easy to buy because of multiple options. It’s easy to upgrade because it has the best capacity on demand model in the industry. They make it easy to upgrade, they make it easy to manage, and make it easy across the board. And the company continues to take this base and improve it. They’ve made it faster, they’ve made it bigger, they’ve made it smaller, which is really key to me. I’m now going to have opportunities to sell Infinidat into smaller accounts, smaller spaces, so that they can get the benefit of getting the easy button with Infinidat. And Infinidat has started to blur the line between resiliency and security, which is awesome. Customers have been asking for this.”