For too long, all-flash arrays have seemed to be a distant competitor in the data center competition. High costs and uncertainty keep businesses from adopting. However, the landscape is changing, and the benefits of an all-flash array far outweigh the mystical risks.
As costs have fallen, the increasing use of all-flash arrays – the modules that make up solid state disks (SSD) – is bringing agility, speed, and analytics to businesses. In fact, a recent TechTarget survey found that 37% of enterprise respondents plan to invest in server-side flash installations for data centers.
Benefits of All-Flash Arrays
While there are many, the big benefits of all-flash arrays for the data center can be organized into four categories: speed, cost, analytics, and scalability. IT leaders looking to help improve their business from an infrastructure standpoint should consider an all-flash array as a sourcing strategy, covering some of IT’s most critical functions.
Speed
Unlike traditional HDDs, flash arrays have no moving parts or physical seek limits, which equates to high IOP (Input/Output Per Second). One of the greatest benefits of an all-flash array is the increased read-write and access speeds. The best-performing storage tiers often use only all-flash arrays, which provide major advantages in data access and processing.
What does this mean for storage users? Well, for one thing, all-flash arrays enable incredible data mobility speeds. Sharing, accessing, and moving data across functions becomes simpler and faster. Better access to internal users increases ROI in every aspect of the business, which also allows IT staff to focus on more strategic initiatives.
The sooner the better. That doesn’t mean it’s always the right fit for every aspect of your storage infrastructure. If you don’t need speed, then HDD is a good backup solution.
Cost
For a long time, all-flash arrays were too expensive to use as primary or, frankly, even secondary storage in data centers. Since 2010, the cost per gigabyte for HDDs has stayed between $0.03 and $0.10. For current SSDs, prices range between $0.29 and $0.87. That price has fallen significantly since the early 2000s. And experts just expect the price of all-flash arrays to drop close to that of HDDs.
Return on investment? Speed, reliability, responsiveness, weight, functionality, agility. The reality is that both individual and business users are increasingly storing in the cloud. With less space requirements, these other factors become even more valuable in finding a storage solution that gives you an edge.
Another cost benefit?
- Reduce physical size
- Reduce heating costs
- Fewer replacement costs
- Reduce data center maintenance costs due to less noise and vibration
- Better environmental footprint
Analytic
What can you do with increased read-write and access speeds? A lot, it seems. As businesses move into the digital age, the need for real-time analytics grows exponentially. We mean literally. The amount of data businesses can access is exploding, and this in turn leaves leaders with both barriers and opportunities.
Data can weigh you down. Or, it can help you get through difficult times. An all-flash array can provide the speed and access needed to use that data to guide your team towards more informed, data-driven decisions.
Scalability
At a time when the nature of computing and the data center is changing drastically, the greatest benefits of all-flash arrays are becoming clear. Some are ringing the death bells of on-site infrastructure, while others, affectionately called “server huggers,” are holding on with all their might for what may not be much longer.
Wherever you personally fall, there’s no denying that technology is always changing. People don’t store photos and music on their desktop anymore – it’s all in the cloud. And businesses are making the same changes. 77% of enterprise businesses use a hybrid cloud model today, and that number is only expected to grow in the coming years.
All-flash arrays have several features that make them ideal for scenarios where a business needs to be agile and scale, either way, quickly. They’re faster, tougher (see: no moving parts), non-volatile, and rewritable.
All-Flash Array Vs. Hybrid Flash Arrays
While an all-flash array offers the best speed and performance, it’s not necessarily what you need.
All-flash arrays are best for environments where:
- Optimum performance
- High IOPs
- Lower operational costs
- Fast management
It’s probably not you. That doesn’t mean you have to rely entirely on a slower HDD. Hybrid flash arrays can provide the best of both worlds scenarios.
The best hybrid flash array for environments where:
- Lower Opex
- Higher capacity
- Average performance
Whether you’re ready to invest in a specific storage architecture, or if you want to talk to storage experts and test a solution in your environment, our team is here to help.