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Current Filter: Storage>>>>>Technology Focus> Flash Arrays: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Editorial Type: Technology Focus Date: 01-2015 Views: 5027 Key Topics: Storage Flash SSD Data Centre Strategy Key Companies: ManageEngine Key Products: Key Industries: | |||
| Is everything rosy in the flash array garden? Nikhil Premanandan, Marketing Analyst at IT management specialist ManageEngine, puts the technology under the microscope A recent study from IDC predicted that worldwide spend in the enterprise all-flash storage market will grow to £1.0B in 2016 from £0.2B in 2012. That translates to a CAGR of 58.5 percent between 2012 and 2016. Flash has taken the storage market by storm, and going by the staggering numbers here, its adoption has been widespread. Having said that, is everything about flash arrays good, or is there a flip side to the story?
THE GOOD Because there are no mechanical parts, flash arrays end up consuming less space and power than traditional disk-based arrays. With flash vendors incorporating compression and inline deduplication in their arrays, all flash arrays continue to add incremental value to the storage.
THE BAD Also, numerous reads or programming of data in one cell can inadvertently corrupt the data in a nearby cell. When used in a hectic storage environment, the flash drive will eventually fail like any other disk drive. In addition to this, sudden data loss due to unexpected power failures also makes a case against flash. However, many of the top flash vendors offer enterprise, all-flash arrays that provide five years of usability and 99.999 percent availability, so data loss should no longer be a roadblock to adopting flash.
THE UGLY Hybrid arrays hit the sweet spot when it comes to balancing performance and capacity needs of storage while delivering better bang for your buck. This is the best option for organisations that do not have the adequate finances for all-flash arrays. However, in a typical hybrid array, applications may compete for the flash tier of storage array. That competition, based on data accessed, could result in oversubscribed flash and sub-optimal performance for all applications.
ARE YOU EXPERIENCED?
Flash arrays are a godsend for those IOPS-hungry applications. However, they come with their own set of challenges for the storage admin. With the different deployment options available, an administrator should run beta units at the data centre to evaluate the performance against the requirement to make an informed decision. After all, experience is something you shouldn't get just after you need it. And experience with flash is something that will benefit most companies today and in the future. | ||
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