Seagate unveiled the Lyve Drive Mobile System series of integrated and modular data storage drives, carriers and receivers for multi-stage workflow processes at CES 2020.
The aim is to capture data as it is generated and then transfer it to data centre facilities. Target applications include the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicle development and video production. Physical data transfer is needed where networking is too slow or costly.
Jeff Fochtman, Seagate’s marketing VP, issued a quote: “Today’s data management tools are too costly and inefficient for businesses… [Lyve Drive] is Seagate’s first step toward a unified data experience, which will turn data’s possibilities into tangible growth for the world’s most critical industries.”
The range comprises ten products;
Lyve Drive Cards – removable CFexpress format flash cards with up to 1TB capacity and an NVMe PCIe 3.0 interface. These are intended for video cameras and other endpoint data generating sources.
Lyve Drive Card Reader – portable reader for the CFexpress cards.
Lyve Drive Cartridge – portable single drive with U.2 interface.
Lyve Drive Cartridge Shipper – for shipping the Cartridge.
Lyve Drive Shuttle – a file copy and transfer device based around a 16TB disk or lower capacity SSD. It has a touchscreen e-ink interface and can be used without a host PC/notebook to capture data. There is also a network interface.
Lyve Drive Modular Array – a 4-bay array which can receive up to four disk drives or SSDs and transported in a carrier device.
Lyve Drive Mobile Array – a sealed 6-bay array the same physical size as the Mobile array. A demo version contains six 18TB Exos HAMR drives, which are not yet available.
Lyve Drive Array Shipper – container for shipping Lyve Drive arrays.
Lyve Drive Cartridge and Array Mounts for deploying Cartridges or Arrays in data generating locations.
Lyve Drive Rackmount Receiver – a 4U data ingestion hub which can receive two Lyve Drive arrays so their data can be ingested into data centre processes.
The Lyve Drive brochure does a good job of explaining how Seagate sees the various modular products interacting in use cases like video production.
As yet there is no pricing or availability information for the Lyve Drive products. Blocks & Files expects these products to roll out over the next few months. The publication of a Lyve Drive Shuttle data sheet suggests the range will roll out quite soon.
