Unpacking Kaminario’s K2: How Three Hot Storage Technologies Drive Performance

Earlier analyses of acquired storage startups highlighted three hot storage technologies—SSD/NVMe/AFA core, hybrid‑cloud storage via proprietary devices or virtual software, and unique machine‑learning/AI operations. Using Kaminario as a case study, the article explores how these trends manifest in real products.

K2 Gen6 Architecture and Specs

Kaminario’s K2 Gen6 features two active‑active K‑Blocks, each supporting up to four 24‑drive enclosures with 4 TB 3D TLC flash, scaling to 1 PB per block and delivering roughly double the performance of the previous generation. The array offers block access via Fibre Channel and iSCSI, with inline deduplication and compression.

Performance per K‑Block reaches 30 TB–1 PB, 370 K IOPS and 6.2 GB/s; four blocks deliver 120 TB–4 PB, 1.5 M IOPS and 25 GB/s, with latency capped at 0.35 ms. The system supports non‑destructive expansion into existing Gen5 arrays and 32 Gbps Fibre Channel.

Software‑Defined Features

DataShrink optimizes space through deduplication, compression, and thin provisioning. DataProtect provides snapshots, replication, K‑RAID (dual parity tolerating three SSD failures), and encryption. DataConnect enables integration with VMware vSphere, Microsoft VSS, Cisco UCS Director, and OpenStack Cinder.

K2.N NVMe AFA Product

The K2.N NVMe AFA inherits the VisionOS stack and offers a 100 % front‑and‑back NVMe all‑flash array. It uses two node types: c.node (control) built on Supermicro X11 servers, and m.node (storage) based on AIC HA202I‑PH dual‑node servers. Nodes connect via NVMe/F over 25/50 GbE RoCE, while retaining FC and iSCSI support and supporting mixed networking.

Flex Feature and Virtual Private Array (VPA)

K2.N introduces Flex, enabling Virtual Private Arrays (VPA) that allow dynamic creation and adjustment of storage resources. A VPA consists of 1U C.nodes and 3U NVMe‑equipped M.nodes; capacity appears as local storage while being shared across the array, with real‑time monitoring and allocation managed by Flex.

Cloud Analytics and Business Assurance

Kaminario Clarity is a cloud‑based predictive analytics platform that aggregates data from 150 million storage points via a call‑home feature, delivering optimization recommendations. ForeSight provides six business‑level guarantees and predictability for customers.

Market Context and Competitors

Among NVMe all‑flash offerings, Pure Storage’s FlashArray//X integrates NVMe modules on storage blades, Tegile’s IntelliFlash N5000 uses PCIe, and Dell EMC’s DSSD (now discontinued) employed a custom NVMe mesh. NVMe flash remains a major trend, while hybrid‑cloud storage solutions such as NetApp Data Fabric, EMC CloudPool, and CloudArray are not yet supported by Kaminario, though Clarity could enable cloud‑based operations.

Kaminario also incorporates machine‑learning and AIOps capabilities for storage recommendations, noting that competitors Pure Storage and Nimble are ahead in this space.