fusionio Archives

September 10, 2013December 4, 2019

Cisco buys Whiptail continuing the SSD storage I/O flash cash cache dash

Storage I/O trends

Cisco buys Whiptail continuing the Storage storage I/O flash cash cache dash

Congratulations to Virident for being bought today for $645 Million USD by Western Digital (WD). Virident a nand flash PCIe card startup vendor has been around for several years and in the last year or two has gain more industry awareness as a competitor to FusionIO among others.

There is a nand flash solid state devices (SSD) cash-dash occurring, not to mention fast cache dances that is occurring the IT and data infrastructure (e.g. storage and IO) sector specifically.

Why the nand flash SSD cash dash and cache dance?

Yesterday hard disk drive (HDD) vendor Western Digital (WD) bought Virident a nand flash PCIe Solid State Device (SSD) card vendor for $650M, and today networking and server vendor Cisco bought Whiptail a SSD based storage system startup for a little over $400M. Here is an industry trends perspective post that I did yesterday on WD and Virident.

Obviously this begs a couple of questions, some of which I raised in my post yesterday about WD, Virident, Seagate, FusionIO and others.

Questions include

Does this mean Cisco is getting ready to take on EMC, NetApp, HDS and its other storage partners who leverage the Cisco UCS server?

IMHO at least near term no more than they have in the past, nor any more than EMCs partnership with Lenovo indicates a shift in what is done with vBlocks. On the other hand, some partners or customers may be as nervous as a long-tailed cat next to a rocking chair (Google it if you don’t know what it means ;).

Is Cisco going to continue to offer Whiptail SSD storage solutions on a standalone basis, or pull them in as part of solutions similar to what it has done on other acquisitions?

Storage I/O trends

IMHO this is one of the most fundamental questions and despite the press release and statements about this being a UCS focus, a clear sign of proof for Cisco is how they reign in (if they go that route) Whiptail from being sold as a general storage solution (with SSD) as opposed to being part of a solution bundle.

How will Cisco manage its relationship in a coopitition manner cooperating with the likes of EMC in the joint VCE initiative along with FlexPod partner NetApp among others? Again time will tell.

Also while most of the discussions about NetApp have been around the UCS based FlexPod business, there is the other side of the discussion which is what about NetApp E Series storage including the SSD based EF540 that competes with Whiptail (among others).

Many people may not realize how much DAS storage including fast SAS, high-capacity SAS and SATA or PCIe SSD cards Cisco sells as part of UCS solutions that are not vBlock, FlexPod or other partner systems.

NetApp and Cisco have partnerships that go beyond the FlexPod (UCS and ONTAP based FAS) so will be interesting to see what happens in that space (if anything). This is where Cisco and their UCS acquiring Whiptail is not that different from IBM buying TMS to complement their servers (and storage) while also partnering with other suppliers, same holds true for server vendors Dell, HP, IBM and Oracle among others.

Can Cisco articulate and convince their partners, customers, prospects and others that the whiptail acquisition is more about direct attached storage
(DAS) which includes both internal dedicated and external shared device?

Keep in mind that DAS does not have to mean Dumb A$$ Storage as some might have you believe.

Then there are the more popular questions of who is going to get bought next, what will NetApp, Dell, Seagate, Huawei and a few others do?

Oh, btw, funny how have not seen any of the pubs mention that Whiptail CEO Dan Crain is a former Brocadian (e.g. former Brocade CTO) who happens to be a Cisco competitor, just saying.

Congratulations to Dan and his crew and enjoy life at Cisco.

Stay tuned as the fall 2013 nand flash SSD cache dash and cash dance activities are well underway.

Ok, nuff said (for now).

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)

September 9, 2013January 30, 2020

WD buys nand flash SSD storage I/O cache vendor Virident

Storage I/O trends

WD buys nand flash SSD storage I/O cache vendor Virident

There is a nand flash solid state devices (SSD) cash dash occurring, not to mention fast cache dances that is occurring the IT and data infrastructure (e.g. storage and IO) sector specifically.

Why the nand flash SSD cash dash and cache dance?

Here is a piece that I did today over at InfoStor on a related theme that sets the basis of why the nand flash-based SSD market is popular for storage and as a cache. Hence there is a flash cash dash and by some dance for increased storage I/O performance.

Like the hard disk drive (HDD) industry before it which despite what some pundits and profits have declared (for years if not decades) as being dead (it is still alive), there were many startups, shutdowns, mergers and acquisitions along with some transformations. Granted solid-state memories is part of the presence and future being deployed in new and different ways.

The same thing has occurred in the nand flash-based SSD sector with LSI acquiring SANDforce, SANdisk picking up Pliant and Flashsoft among others. Then there is Western Digital (WD) that recently has danced with their cash as they dash to buy up all things flash including Stec (drives & PCIe cards), Velobit (cache software), Virident (PCIe cards), along with Arkeia (backup) and an investment in Skyera.

Storage I/O trends

What about industry trends and market dynamics?

Meanwhile there have been some other changes with former industry darling and highflying stock post IPO FusionIO hitting as market reality and sudden CEO departure a few months ago. However after a few months of their stock being pummeled, today it bounced back perhaps as people now speculate who will buy FusionIO with WD picking up Virident. Note that one of Viridents OEM customers is EMC for their PCIe flash card XtremSF as are Micron and LSI.

Meanwhile Stec, also now own by WD was also EMCs original flash SSD drive supplier or what they refer to as a EFDs (Electronic Flash Devices), not to mention having also supplied HDDs to them (also keep in mind WD bought HGST a year or so back).

There are some early signs as well as their stock price jumping today which was probably oversold. Perhaps people are now speculating that maybe Seagate who had been an investor in Virident which was bought by WD for $645 million today might be in the market for somebody else? Alternatively, that perhaps WD didn’t see the value in a FusionIO, or willing to make big flash cache cash grabs dash of that size? Also note Seagate won a $630 million (and the next appeal was recently upheld) infringement lawsuit vs. WD (here and here).

Does that mean FusionIO could become Seagate’s target or that of NetApp, Oracle or somebody else with the cash and willingness to dash, grab a chunk of the nand flash, and cache market?

Likewise, there are the software I/O and caching tool vendors some of which are tied to VMware and virtual servers vs. others that are more flexible that are gaining popularity. What about the systems or solution appliances play, could that be in the hunt for a Seagate?

Anything is possible however IMHO that would be a risky move, one that many at Seagate probably still remember from their experiment with Xiotech, not to mention stepping on the toes of their major OEM customer partners.

Storage I/O trends

Thus I would expect Seagate if they do anything would be more along the lines of a component type suppler meaning a FusionIO (yes they have Nexgen, however that could be easily dealt with), OCZ, perhaps even a LSI or Micron however some of those start to get rather expensive for a quick flash cache grab for some stock and cash.

Also, keep in mind that FusionIO in addition to having their PCIe flash cards also have the ioturbine software-caching tool that if you are not familiar with, IBM recently made an announcement of their Flash Cache Storage Accelerator (FCSA) that has an affiliation to guess who?

Closing comments (for now)

Some of the systems or solutions players will survive, perhaps even being acquired as XtremIO was by EMC, or file for IPO like Violin, or express their wish to IPO and or be bought such as all the others (e.g. Skyera, Whiptail, Pure, Solidfire, Cloudbyte, Nimbus, Nimble, Nutanix, Tegile, Kaminario, Greenbyte, and Simplivity among others).

Here’s the thing, those who really do know what is going to happen are not and probably cannot say, and those who are talking what will happen are like the rest of us, just speculating or providing perspectives or stirring the pot among other things.

So who will be next in the flash cache ssd cash dash dance?

Ok, nuff said (for now).

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)

March 5, 2013January 29, 2020

XtremIO, XtremSW and XtremSF EMC flash ssd portfolio redefined

EMC (@EMCflash) today announced some new, enhanced, renamed and a rebrand flash solid-state device (SSD) storage portfolio around theme of XtremIO. XtremIO was the startup company with a new all flash SSD storage array that EMC announced they were buying in May 2012. Since that announcement, Project “X” has been used when referring to the product now known as XtremIO (e.g. all flash new storage array).

Synopsis of announcement

Product rollout and selective availability of the new all flash SSD array XtremIO
Rename server-side PCIe ssd flash cards from VFCache to XtremSF
New XtremSF models including enhanced multi-level cell (eMLC) with larger capacities
Rename VFCache caching software to XtremSW (enables cache mode vs. target mode)

What was previously announced:

Buying the company XtremeIO
Productizing the new all flash array as part of Project “X”
It would formally announce the new product in 2013 (which is now)
VFCache and later enhancements during 2012.

Storage I/O industry trends and perspectives

Overall, I give an Atta boy and Atta girl to the EMC crew for a Product Defined Announcement (PDA) extending their flash portfolio to complement their different customers and prospects various environment needs. Now let us sit back and watch EMC, NetApp and others step up their flash dance moves to see who will out flash the others in the eXtreme flash games, including software defined storage, software defined data centers, software defined flash, and software defined cache.

Related items about nand flash and metrics related themes:

EMC Chucks Blog
SSD and Real Estate: Location, Location, Location matters
SSD Is in Your Future: Where, When & With What Are the Questions
SSD, flash and DRAM, DejaVu or something new?

Read more about XtremIO, XtremSF, XtremSW and flash related items here in part II of this post.

Ok, nuff said (for now).

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press) and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier)
twitter @storageio

November 14, 2012November 26, 2023

SSD past, present and future with Jim Handy

Now also available via

This is a new episode in the continuing StorageIO industry trends and perspectives pod cast series (you can view more episodes or shows along with other audio and video content here) as well as listening via iTunes or via your preferred means using this RSS feed (https://storageio.com/StorageIO_Podcast.xml)

In this episode, I talk with SSD nand flash and DRAM chip analyst Jim Handy of Objective Analysis at the LSI AIS (Accelerating Innovation Summit) 2012 in San Jose. Our conversation includes SSD past, present and future, market and industry trends, who are doing what and things to keep an eye and ear, open for along with server, storage and memory convergence.

Click here (right-click to download MP3 file) or on the microphone image to listen to the conversation with Jim and myself.

Also available via

Watch (and listen) for more StorageIO industry trends and perspectives audio blog posts pod casts and other upcoming events. Also be sure to heck out other related pod casts, videos, posts, tips and industry commentary at StorageIO.com and StorageIOblog.com.

Enjoy this episode SSD Past, Present and Future with Jim Handy.

Ok, nuff said.

Cheers gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

November 12, 2012November 26, 2023

Have SSDs been unsuccessful with storage arrays (with poll)?

Storage I/O Industry Trends and Perspectives

I hear people talking about how Solid State Devices (SSDs) have not been successful with or for vendors of storage arrays, particular legacy storage systems. Some people have also asserted that large storage arrays are dead at the hands of new purpose-built SSD appliances or storage systems (read more here).

As a reference, legacy storage systems include those from EMC (VMAX and VNX), IBM (DS8000, DCS3700, XIV, and V7000), and NetApp FAS along with those from Dell, Fujitsu, HDS, HP, NEC and Oracle among others.

Granted EMC have launched new SSD based solutions in addition to buying startup eXtremeIO (aka Project X), and IBM bought SSD industry veteran TMS. IMHO, neither of those actions by either vendor signals an early retirement for their legacy storage solutions, instead opening up new markets giving customers more options for addressing data center and IO performance challenges. Keep in mind that the best IO is the one that you do not have to do with the second best being the least impact to applications in a cost-effective way.

Sometimes I even hear people citing or using some other person or source to attribute or make their assertions sound authoritative. You know the game, according to XYZ or, ABC said blah blah blah blah. Of course if you say or repeat something often enough, or hear it again and again, it can become self-convincing (e.g. industry adoption vs. customer deployments). Likewise depending on how many degrees of separation exists between you and the information you get, the more that it can change from what it originally was.

So what about it, has SSD not been successful for legacy storage system vendors and is the only place that SSD has had success is with startups or non-array based solutions?

While there have been some storage systems (arrays and appliances) that may not perform up to their claimed capabilities due to various internal architecture or implementation bottlenecks. For the most part the large vendors including EMC, HP, HDS, IBM, NetApp and Oracle have done very well shipping SSD drives in their solutions. Likewise some of the clean sheet new design based startup systems, as well as some of the startups with hybrid solutions combing HDDs and SSDs have done well while others are still emerging.

This could also be an example where myth becomes reality based on industry adoption vs. customer deployment. What this means is that the myth is that it is the startups that are having success vs. the legacy vendors from an industry adoption conversation standpoint and thus believed by some.

On the other hand, the myth is that vendors such as EMC or NetApp have not had success with their arrays and SSD yet their customer deployments prove otherwise. There is also a myth that only PCIe based SSD can be of value and that drive based SSDs are not worth using which I have a good idea where that myth comes from.

IMHO it is a depends, however safe to say from what I have seen directly that there are some vendors of storage arrays, including so-called legacy systems that have had very good success with SSD. Likewise have seen where some startups have done ok with their new clean sheet designs, including EMC (Project X). Oh, at least for now I am not a believer that with the all SSD based project “X” over at EMC that the venerable VMAX formerly known as DMX and its predecessors Symmetric have finally hit the end of the line. Rather they will be positioned and play to different markets for some time yet.

Over at IBM I don’t think the DS8000 or XIV or V7000 and SVC folks are winding things down now that they bought SSD vendor TMS who has SSD appliances and PCIe cards. Rest assured there have been success by PCIe flash card vendors both as targets (FusionIO) and cache or hybrid cache and target systems such as those from Intel, LSI, Micron, and TMS (now IBM) among others. Oh, and if you have not noticed, check out what Qlogic, Emulex and some of the other traditional HBA vendors have done with and around SSD caching.

So where does the FUD that storage systems have not had success with SSD come from?

I suspect from those who would rather not see or hear about those who have had success taking away attention from them or their markets. In other words, using Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt (FUD) or some community peer pressure, there is a belief by some that if you hear enough times that something is dead or not of a benefit; you will look at the alternatives.

Care to guess what the preferred alternative is for some? If you guessed a PCIe card or SSD based appliance from your favorite startup that would be a fair assumption.

On the other hand, my educated guess (ok, its much more informed than a guess ;) ) is that if you ask a vendor such as EMC or NetApp they would disagree, while at the same time articulate benefits of different approaches and tools. Likewise, my educated guess is that if you ask some others, they will say mixed things and of course if you talk with the pure plays, take a wild yet educated guess what they will say.

Here is my point.

The SSD market, including DRAM, nand flash (SLC or MLC or any other xLC), emerging PCM or future mram among other technologies and packaging options is still in its relative infancy. Yes, I know there have been significant industry adoption and many early customer deployments, however talking with IT organizations of all size as well as with vendors and vars, customer deployment of SSD is far from reaching its full potential meaning a bright future.

Simply putting an SSD, card or drive into a solution does not guarantee results.

Likewise having a new architecture does not guarantee things will be faster.

Fast storage systems need fast devices (HDD, HHDD and SSDs) along with fast interfaces to connect with fast servers. Put a fast HDD, HHDD or SSD into a storage system that has bottlenecks (hardware, software, architectural design) and you may not see the full potential of the technology. Likewise put fast ports or interfaces on a storage system that has fast devices however also a bottleneck in its controller has or system architecture and you will not realize the full potential of that solution.

This is not unique to legacy or traditional storage systems, arrays or appliances as it is also the case with new clean sheet designs.

There are many new solutions that are or should be as fast as their touted marketing stories present, however just because something looks impressive in a YouTube video or slide deck or WebEx does not mean it will be fast in your environment. Some of these new design SSD based solutions will displace some legacy storage systems or arrays while many others will find new opportunities. Similar to how previous generation SSD storage appliances found roles complementing traditional storage systems, so to will many of these new generation of products.

What this all means is to navigate your way through the various marketing and architecture debates, benchmarks battles, claims and counter claims to understand what fits your needs and requires.

What say you?

Ok, nuff said

Cheers
Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

August 19, 2012October 17, 2024

IBM buys flash solid state device (SSD) industry veteran TMS

How much flash (or DRAM) based Solid State Device (SSD) do you want or need?

IBM recently took a flash step announcing it wants and needs more SSD capabilities in different packaging and functionality capabilities to meet the demands and opportunities of customers, business partners and prospects by acquiring Texas Memory Systems (TMS).

IBM buys SSD flash vendor TMS

Unlike most of the current generation of SSD vendors besides those actually making the dies (chips or semiconductors) or SSD drives that are startups or relatively new, TMS is the industry veteran. Where most of the current SSD vendors experiences (as companies) is measured in months or at best years, TMS has seen several generations and SSD adoption cycles during its multi-decade existence.

What this means is that TMS has been around during past dynamic random access memory (DRAM) based SSD cycles or eras, as well as being an early adopter and player in the current nand flash SSD era or cycle.

Granted, some in the industry do not consider the previous DRAM based generation of products as being SSD, and vice versa, some DRAM era SSD aficionados do not consider nand flash as being real SSD. Needless to say that there are many faces or facets to SSD ranging in media (DRAM, and nand flash among others) along with packaging for different use cases and functionality.

IBM along with some other vendors recognize that the best type of IO is the one that you do not have to do. However reality is that some type of Input Output (IO) operations need to be done with computer systems. Hence the second best type of IO is the one that can be done with the least impact to applications in a cost-effective way to meet specific service level objectives (SLO) requirements. This includes leveraging main memory or DRAM as cache or buffers along with server-based PCIe SSD flash cards as cache or target devices, along with internal SSD drives, as well as external SSD drives and SSD drives and flash cards in traditional storage systems or appliances as well as purpose-built SSD storage systems.

While TMS does not build the real nand flash single level cell (SLC) or multi-level cell (MLC) SSD drives (like those built by Intel, Micron, Samsung, SANdisk, Seagate, STEC and Western Digital (WD) among others), TMS does incorporate nand flash chips or components that are also used by others who also make nand flash PCIe cards and storage systems.

IMHO this is a good move for both TMS and IBM, both of whom have been StorageIO clients in the past (here, here and here) that was a disclosure btw ;) as it gives TMS, their partners and customers a clear path and large organization able to invest in the technologies and solutions on a go forward basis. In other words, TMS who had looked to be bought gets certainty about their future as do they clients.

IBM who has used SSD based components such as PCIe flash SSD cards and SSD based drives from various suppliers gets a PCIe SSD card of their own, along with purpose-built mature SSD storage systems that have lineages to both DRAM and nand flash-based experiences. Thus IBM controls some of their own SSD intellectual property (e.g. IP) for PCIe cards that can go in theory into their servers, as well as storage systems and appliances that use Intel based (e.g. xSeries from IBM) and IBM Power processor based servers as a platform such. For example DS8000 (Power processor), and Intel based XIV, SONAS, V7000, SVC, ProtecTier and Pursystems (some are Power based).

In addition IBM also gets a field proven purpose-built all SSD storage system to compete with those from startups (Kaminario, Purestorage, Solidfire, Violin and Whiptail among others), as well as those being announced from competitors such as EMC (e.g. project X and project thunder) in addition to SSD drives that can go into servers and storage systems.

The question should not be if SSD is in your future, rather where will you be using it, in the server or a storage system, as a cache or a target, as a PCIe target or cache card or as a drive or as a storage system. This also means the question of how much SSD do you need along with what type (flash or DRAM), for what applications and how configured among other topics.

What this means is that there are many locations and places where SSD fits, one type of product or model does not fit or meet all requirements and thus IBM with their acquisition of TMS, along with presumed partnership with other SSD based components will be able to offer a diverse SSD portfolio.

The industry trend is for vendors such as Cisco, Dell, EMC, IBM, HP, NetApp, Oracle and others all of whom are either physical server and storage vendors, or in the case of EMC, virtual servers partnered with Cisco (vBlock and VCE) and Lenovo for physical servers.

Thus it only makes sense for those vendors to offer diverse SSD product and solution offerings to meet different customer and application needs vs. having a single solution that users adapt to. In other words, if all you have is a hammer, everything needs to look like a nail, however if you have a tool box of various technologies, then it comes down to being able to leverage including articulating what to use when, where, why and how for different situations.

I think this is a good move for both IBM and TMS. Now lets watch how IBM and TMS can go beyond the press release, slide decks and webex briefings covering why it is a good move to justify their acquisition and plans, moving forward and to see the results of what is actually accomplished near and long-term.

Read added industry trends and perspective commentary about IBM buying TMS here and here, as well as check out these related posts and content:

How much SSD do you need vs. want?
What is the best kind of IO? The one you do not have to do
Is SSD dead? No, however some vendors might be
Has SSD put Hard Disk Drives (HDDs) On Endangered Species List?
Why SSD based arrays and storage appliances can be a good idea (Part I)
EMC VFCache respinning SSD and intelligent caching (Part I)
SSD options for Virtual (and Physical) Environments: Part I Spinning up to speed on SSD
Speaking of speeding up business with SSD storage
Is SSD dead? No, however some vendors might be
Part I: PureSystems, something old, something new, something from big blue
The Many Faces of Solid State Devices/Disks (SSD)
SSD and Green IT moving beyond green washing

Meanwhile, congratulations to both IBM and TMS, ok, nuff said (for now).

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

May 17, 2012November 26, 2023

Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD?

Storage I/O trends

An industry trends and perspective.

Are large storage arrays dead at the hands of SSD? Short answer NO not yet.
There is still a place for traditional storage arrays or appliances particular those with extensive features, functionality and reliability availability serviceability (RAS). In other words, there is still a place for large (and small) storage arrays or appliances including those with SSDs.

Is there a place for newer flash SSD storage systems, appliances and architectures? Yes
Similar to how there is a place for traditional midrange storage arrays or appliances have found their roles vs. traditional higher end so-called enterprise arrays. Think as an example EMC CLARiiON/VNX or HP EVA/P6000 or HDS AMS/HUS or NetApp FAS or IBM DS5000 or IBM V7000 among others vs. EMC Symmetrix/DMX/VMAX or HP P10000/3Par or HDS VSP/USP or IBM DS8000. In addition to traditional enterprise or high-end storage systems and midrange also known as modular, there are also specialized appliances or targets such as for backup/restore and archiving. Also do not forget the IO performance SSD appliances like those from TMS among others that have been around for a while.

Is the role of large storage systems changing or evolving? Yes
Given their scale and ability to do large amounts of work in a dense footprint, for some the role of these systems is still mission critical tier 1 application and data support. For other environments, their role continues to evolve being used for high-density tier 2 bulk or even near-line storage for on-line access at scale.

Storage I/O trends

Does this mean there is completion between the old and new systems? Yes
In some circumstances as we have seen already with SSD solutions. Some will place as competing or replacements while others as complementing. For example in the PCIe flash SSD card segment EMC VFCache is positioned is complementing Dell, EMC, HDS, HP, IBM, NetApp, Oracle or others storage vs. FusionIO who positions as a replacement for the above and others. Another scenario is how some SSD vendors have and continue to position their all-flash SSD arrays using either drives or PCIe cards to complement and coexist with other storage systems in an environment (e.g. data center level tiering) vs. as a replacement. Also keep in mind SSD solutions that also support a mix of flash devices and traditional HDDs for capacity and cost savings or cloud access in the same solution.

Does this mean that the industry has adopted all SSD appliances as the state of art?
Avoid confusing industry adoption or talk with industry and customer deployment. They are similar, however one is focused on what the industry talks about or discusses as state of art or the future while the other is what customers are doing. Certainly some of the new flash SSD appliance and storage startups such as Solidfire, Nexgen, Violin, Whiptail or veteran TMS among others have promising futures, some of which may actually be in play with the current SSD market shakeout and consolidation.

Does that mean everybody is going SSD?
SSD customer adoption and deployment continues to grow, however so too does the deployment of high-capacity HDDs.

Storage I/O trends

Do SSDs need HDDs, do HDDs need SSDs? Yes
Granted there are environments where needs can be addressed by all of one or the other. However at least near term, there is a very strong market for tiering and mix of SSD, some fast HDDs and lots of high-capacity HDDs to meet various needs including performance, availability, capacity, energy and economics. After all, there is no such thing, as a data or information recession yet budgets are tight or being reduced. Likewise, people and data are living longer.

What does this mean?
If there, were no such thing as a data recession and budgets a non-issue, perhaps everything could move to all flash SSD storage systems. However, we also know that people and data are living longer along with changing data life-cycle patterns. There is also the need for performance to close the traditional data center IO performance to space capacity gap and bottlenecks as well as store and keep data longer.

There will continue to be a need for a mix of high-capacity and high performance. More IO will continue to gravitate towards the IO appliances, however more data will settle in for longer-term retention and continued access as data life-cycle continue to evolve. Watch for more SSD and cache in the large systems, along with higher density SAS-NL (SAS Near Line e.g. high capacity) type drives appearing in those systems.

If you like new shiny new toys or technology (SNTs) to buy, sell or talk about, there will be plenty of those to continue industry adoption while for those who are focused on industry deployment, there will be a mix of new, and continued evolution for implementation.

Ok, nuff said for now

Cheers Gs

Greg Schulz – Author Cloud and Virtual Data Storage Networking (CRC Press, 2011), The Green and Virtual Data Center (CRC Press, 2009), and Resilient Storage Networks (Elsevier, 2004)

twitter @storageio

Cisco buys Whiptail continuing the Storage storage I/O flash cash cache dash

Why the nand flash SSD cash dash and cache dance?

Questions include

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WD buys nand flash SSD storage I/O cache vendor Virident

Why the nand flash SSD cash dash and cache dance?

What about industry trends and market dynamics?

Closing comments (for now)

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