News, Insight and Analysis

News

• 3D TLC NAND gives capacity boost to IBM FlashSystem 900

  FlashSystem 900 building blocks are the foundation of IBM FlashSystem A9000 and V9000 arrays. New NAND modules use 3D TLC in place of planar 2D enterprise MLC. Continue Reading

• Kaminario K2.N gives composable infrastructure an NVMe twist

  Kaminario's K2.N all-flash infrastructure creates multiple virtual arrays from clustered resources. Compute nodes and NVMe shelves connect via RDMA over Converged Ethernet. Continue Reading

• Tegile becomes the latest Western Digital acquisition

  Western Digital's acquisition spree continues with the pickup of flash vendor Tegile Systems. The drive-maker says Tegile storage complements its ActiveScale object storage. Continue Reading

• Hedvig storage upgrade adds flash tier, encryption options

  Hedvig software-defined storage enables 'all-flash hybrids' by supporting tiering across different types of solid-state media inside of commodity hardware systems. Continue Reading

• Tegile IntelliFlash array family welcomes all-NVMe sibling

  A rack of Tegile's IntelliFlash N Series NVMe arrays scales to 60 PB of effective capacity. Tegile promises 3 million IOPS in a single array with full data services at low latency. Continue Reading

Get Started

• A primer on SSD response time, other performance benchmarks

  Consider several SSD performance benchmarks, including SSD response time, as key units of measurement. Also, note the difference between benchmarks and load generators. Continue Reading

• Flash memory vs. RAM: What's the difference?

  Even though vendors refer to flash memory and conventional RAM -- the main memory of a PC or server -- as solid-state memory, these two memory types are significantly different. Continue Reading

• What you need to know about flash caching

  Using solid-state storage as cache can boost server and application performance dramatically, but the kind of flash cache you choose is critical. Continue Reading

• How DRAM or NVRAM cache can reduce flash SSD write amplification

  DRAM/NVRAM caching provides SSD systems with better performance while reducing flash SSD write amplification. Continue Reading

• Define SSD: Top terms you need to know

  How do you define SSD? Check out this list of important SSD terms. The list includes terms you should know and some that may seem obscure. Continue Reading

Evaluate

• Explore benefits, tradeoffs with SLC vs. MLC vs. TLC and more

  Learn the important capacity, performance and reliability differences among multilayer flash types, including SLC vs. MLC vs. TLC, and typical uses for each. Continue Reading

• How NVMe over Fabrics will change the storage environment

  Expect NVMe to supplant SCSI and SAS protocols for SSD storage and NVMe over Fabrics to find a place in high-end networking deployments for transporting data. Continue Reading

• How to determine the true cost of flash

  If you want to add flash storage, it's important to consider the cost per IOPS and gigabyte compared to HDD volumes, as well as the difference between consumer and enterprise SSDs. Continue Reading

• Compare XtremIO vs. Unity all-flash storage system for VDI

  Dell EMC offers two all-flash storage options geared toward VDI shops. One suits companies with fewer than 500 persistent machines, and the other is for larger deployments. Continue Reading

• Caching vs. tiering: Comparing storage optimization techniques

  There are many factors to consider when choosing between caching and tiering storage techniques to optimize storage. Knowing how and when to use either can make a big difference. Continue Reading

Manage

• New use cases for flash data storage benefit enterprises

  Adoption of protocols such as NVMe and memory bus-based flash DIMMs helps flash storage devices keep pace with the most demanding use cases. Continue Reading

• The status of NAND flash memory now and in the near future

  Flash memory chips have driven a revolution in storage, and faced a recent shortage because of huge demand. That's easing, and advances in NAND technology show a great future. Continue Reading

• The state of flash storage systems

  Making flash storage performance even faster has little to do with the media itself and more to do with the storage infrastructure that surrounds it. Continue Reading

• AFA storage advances may mean the end of the hybrid market

  Flash price drops and speed boosts make the all-flash array the smart choice over hybrid storage arrays for most enterprise users, not just those with high-performance computing needs. Continue Reading

• Server-side caching has new data center role

  Some server-side caching products have evolved into complete software-defined storage platforms that can aggregate flash across multiple servers. Continue Reading

Problem Solve

• Fact or fiction? Flash SSD storage is faster than HDD storage

  The general perception of SSD storage is that it's always faster than HDD storage. Marc Staimer examines whether that's actually true. Continue Reading

• Problems with using SSDs for write caching and how to avoid them

  Marc Staimer looks at using SSDs for write caching and explains why most storage SSD caching is write-through and not write-back. Continue Reading

• Streaming large video files in today's big data environments

  Solid-state drives are a good choice for streaming large video files. Other factors to consider include cost and how often video will be accessed. Continue Reading

• RAID with SSD: A primer

  While RAID is still a storage standard, questions remain about RAID’s relevance with SSDs. This tip will explore the basics of using RAID with SSD. Continue Reading

• The impact of SSD technology on the network and CPU

  SSD technology can have a noticeable effect on the network and CPU utilization. Learn how increased traffic loads can change the bottlenecks in your environment. Continue Reading