PRO+ Premium Content/Storage
Access your Pro+ Content below.
Time for a flash storage system refresh: What's next?
This article is part of the Storage issue of February 2018, Vol. 16, No. 12
Most data centers have already made the decision to implement flash in the primary storage tier, with many now 100% flash for production data. This year will be one of the first where we will see organizations start to go through a flash storage system refresh. For these enterprises, the shock and awe of their first flash purchase has long worn off. So they will be looking at more than just IOPS as they refresh their original flash purchase. Why so soon? Considering most data centers purchased their first all-flash, or mostly flash, system less than three years ago, it may seem premature for a flash storage system refresh. But technology changes fast, and in the case of flash, even faster than normal. The first big change in flash has been in the density of the drives. Three years ago, 128 GB or 256 GB flash drives were the norm. Today, most vendors are shipping 16 TB drives, and several are preparing to ship 50 TB-plus drives in this year. The problem is most flash systems, especially early ones, couldn't mix flash capacities ...
Features in this issue
-
-
Enterprise file sync-and-share market evolves as adoption expands
Most EFSS products unify communications, collaboration and content management tasks well beyond the technology's initial file sync-and-share functionality.
Columns in this issue
-
Market for software-defined systems due for a correction
Software-defined storage seems to relegate hardware to the sidelines, but that may change as hardware-centric offerings become attractive alternatives to software-on-COTS options.
-
Violin Systems and StorOne lead way to shared storage
Two companies head toward a future of shared enterprise storage resources, moving away from siloed software-defined and hyper-converged approaches.
-
What's the future of data storage technology and the IT pro?
Several enterprise data storage trends are all about getting rid of storage as an IT silo. That will have consequences for both the industry and IT pros who work in it.