Welcome back to Meet the Members, a blog series that showcases the innovation and collaboration of our member organizations. Each post features a different SNIA member and explores how they contribute to the advancement of the data storage industry.

Brett Geldman In this edition, we speak with Cameron T. Brett, Senior Director, Cloud & Enterprise Marketing and John Geldman, Director Industry Standards at KIOXIA America, Inc., about their company’s role in the storage ecosystem, their involvement in SNIA, and what excites them about the future of storage technology.

Q: Tell us a little about your company.
A: KIOXIA (formerly Toshiba) was the inventor of NAND flash memory back in 1987, and is a leading manufacturer of flash memory and SSDs. Based in Japan, we are one of the few companies in the world that manufacture flash memory. With a mission to uplift the world with memory, KIOXIA continues to pioneer innovative memory, SSD, and software solutions that enrich people’s lives.

Q: What inspired your company to join SNIA?
A: KIOXIA has been a longtime member of both SNIA and the STA (the SNIA SCSI Trade Association) for over 20 years. We joined SNIA to help shape the storage industry and ensure we are part of a robust, standards-based ecosystem. We joined the STA to promote the use and understanding of SAS technology, and to help define its roadmap.

Q: What have been the biggest benefits of SNIA membership?
A: We see the biggest benefits of membership as:

  • Helping to define industry standards with the leading storage and infrastructure companies

  • Finding new ways to solve complex problems

  • Participating in an industry authority for SSD form factors (SFF) and other SNIA Technical Work Groups (TWGs)

  • The ability to promote and market both SAS and SSD technology/products in partnership with other leading manufacturers

Q: What unique expertise does your company bring to SNIA and the broader storage industry?

A: As a manufacturer of both flash memory and SSDs, KIOXIA has deep knowledge of flash memory and how it benefits a wide range of applications. We bring this expertise to SNIA Communities and Technical Work Groups that define future standards and help shape the future of storage.

 

Q: Which SNIA Communities or Technical Work Groups are you involved in, and what value do they provide to your team?

A: KIOXIA is involved in multiple SNIA technical, marketing and leadership groups within SNIA. Cameron is a Co-chair of the SSD Special Interest Group (part of the Compute, Memory, and Storage Community), and the Chair of the STA Board. John is on the SNIA Board of Directors and sits on Board Committees, as well as SNIA StorageAI™, SSS, AI Data Workload, Storage Security, Green Storage, and SFF Communities and TWGs. James Borden is a Technical Council Advisor and a member of SSS (Solid State Storage), Computational Storage, Storage Security, Green Storage, and Compute, Memory, and Storage Communities. Fred Knight is on the SNIA Technical Council and represents KIOXIA on Computational Storage, SDXI (Smart Data Accelerator Interface), and Storage Security groups. Paul Suhler is in the SSS, Computational Storage, Storage Security, and STA Communities and TWGs.

Q: What SAS-based products or solutions does your company offer?
A: KIOXIA is the market leader and one of the first companies to develop SAS SSDs, bringing 12Gb/s SAS (value SAS) and 24G SAS (enterprise) offerings for general-purpose server and high-performance applications. KIOXIA is also a long-term contributor to the INCITS SCSI Committee. Readers can see KIOXIA’s SAS products here.