OCZ Announces Beta Program for New ZD-XL SQL Accelerator

OCZ Storage Solutions Announces Beta Program for Next ZD-XL SQL Accelerator Release

Invitation to Participate in the ZD-XL SQL Accelerator 1.5 Beta Program Supporting New Microsoft SQL Server 2014 Capabilities

SAN JOSE, CA April 10, 2014 – OCZ Storage Solutions a Toshiba Group Company and leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced that it has initiated a beta test program for the next release of ZD-XL SQL Accelerator and invites enterprise SSD customers and SQL Server database administrators (DBAs) to participate. DBAs looking to accelerate SQL Server workloads via SSD flash or flash caching, and have production SQL Server data to run on the new ZD-XL SQL Accelerator platform are especially sought for this beta testing program.

Those interested in becoming a ZD-XL SQL Accelerator 1.5 beta tester are invited to complete the online application form

The next generation ZD-XL continues to provide optimized and efficient flash acceleration for SQL Server environments through its tight integration of innovative hardware and software elements. It supports SQL Server 2008 R2 and 2012 versions, as well as the new 2014 version released April 1st by Microsoft that builds on the key features delivered in previous SQL Server versions, improving storage performance, availability and manageability. ZD-XL 1.5 enables DBAs to unleash the full power of SQL Server 2014 features, such as flash Buffer Pool Extension (BPE) support, that enables database pages to be accessed faster by loading them directly from flash.

Additional features of ZD-XL SQL Accelerator 1.5, in support of SQL Server 2014, include:
VMware ESXi and Microsoft Hyper-V hypervisor support that enable flash resources to be deployed exactly to the needs of virtual machines (VMs) running SQL Server workloads
Remote flash services that enable support for blade and rack servers
Tight integration with SQL Server management that enable acceleration at a per database level versus having to accelerate all of the databases files in the SQL Server instance
Advanced analysis and cache warm-up engine that assures the right data is on flash when it is needed by SQL Server

About ZD-XL SQL Accelerator
ZD-XL SQL Accelerator leverages OCZs industry-proven PCIe SSD hardware and application-tuned software to deliver low latency flash that resolves potential SQL Server bottleneck issues enabling the flash to be deployed as a local flash volume, a flash cache for HDD volumes, or as a combination of both. It provides a potent blend of fast flash performance, a unique cache mechanism that makes advanced and statistically-optimized decisions, a dynamic cache warm-up scheduler that enables workloads to be placed on flash cache in advance of demanding and critical jobs, and a wizard-based GUI that enables DBAs to setup caching policies that optimize performance based on SQL Server workloads. This plug-and-play solution is designed for immediate use and complete High Availability (HA) via Microsoft AlwaysOn Technology so not only can SQL Server environments function at the speed of flash, but in the event of planned or unplanned downtime, can continue operations from a stopping point, retaining all of its data as if no downtime had occurred.

About OCZ Storage Solutions
OCZ Storage Solutions a Toshiba Group Company is a leading provider of high performance client and enterprise solid-state storage products and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Toshiba Corporation. Offering a complete spectrum of solid-state drives (SSDs), OCZ Storage Solutions leverages proprietary technology to provide SSDs in a variety of form factors and interfaces to address a wide range of applications. Having internally developed firmware and controllers, virtualization, cache and acceleration software, and endurance extending and data reliability technologies, the Company delivers vertically integrated solutions enabling transformational approaches to how digital data is captured, stored, accessed, analyzed and leveraged by customers. More information is available at www.ocz.com.