SNIA Developer Conference September 15-17, 2025 | Santa Clara, CA
HDD Innovation for Hyperscale: CDLs, SMR, Depop and SCSI Advancements in Linux
Abstract
Hyperscale storage demands are pushing HDD technologies to new levels of sophistication and industry collaboration. This technical session brings together Damien Le Moal (Western Digital) and Rick Kutcipal (Broadcom, STA Board) to deliver a joint update on emerging and maturing HDD features designed to meet hyperscaler requirements. Topics will include the latest developments in Command Duration Limits (CDLs), drive depopulation (depop), and Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR), as well as the state of SCSI protocol support in Linux. Attendees will gain insight into vendor collaboration (WDC, Toshiba, Seagate) and host-side enablement via Broadcom's HBA and initiator work. With Linux kernel support now production-ready for many of these features, this talk highlights what’s available today, what’s next, and how developers can best take advantage.
Learning Objectives
Understand the role of CDLs, SMR, and Depop in enabling higher efficiency and reliability in hyperscale HDD deployments. Explore recent contributions to Linux and SCSI standards that improve support for zoned and capacity-optimized devices. Learn how Broadcom and drive vendors are working together to standardize and implement these features. Identify best practices and architectural considerations for integrating advanced HDD features into modern storage stacks.
