Enterprise products originally used only SLC (single-level cell) flash, the most long-lasting and expensive kind. Now they sometimes use so-called enterprise MLC flash, which is cheaper than SLC but still less dense and more expensive than what Skyera plans to use. Cheap consumer flash only lasts for 1,000 to 3,000 write operations by itself, so Skyera created its own controllers and its own RAID system to extend its life to the 100,000-300,000 writes that enterprises expect.

In addition to building its own controller, Skyera developed its own RAID technology to be able to rebuild the stored data if any bits are lost. It can perform the equivalent of a typical RAID 6 system with only one-third as many writes, further reducing the amount of wear on the flash, Barbagallo said. For high performance, Skyera also performs compression and deduplication in hardware, Barbagallo said.

The built-in Ethernet switch has 40 Gigabit Ethernet ports and three 10-Gigabit Ethernet ports, so enterprises can connect it directly to servers or to a data center network. Inside the unit, the switch communicates with the flash components via a proprietary interface that can carry data fast enough to feed the Ethernet ports, Barbagallo said.

The Skyhawk is built in a 1U form factor, filling one standard unit of data-center rack space. It can store 44TB of data without compression or deduplication, for a price of $131,000, Barbagallo said. Compression and deduplication will cost about 20 percent more, he said.

Skyera is based in San Jose, California, and has about 50 employees, including key players who came from flash controller pioneer SandForce. It will show off the Skyhawk platform at the Flash Memory Summit next week in Santa Clara, California, and expects to finish early-access testing and make the product generally available early next year.