The argument goes something like this: if flash costs more than disk, why would you spend the money on an all-flash data center? Some might suggest that you just use flash for intense I/O applications like databases where you can justify the additional expense over disk.
What we see from Violin customers is different. Not all have gone all-flash, but for those that have the benefits are many.
All-flash data centers can provide new sources of revenue. Lower operating costs. Elimination of slow I/O workarounds. Improved application response times. Faster report turnaround. Simplified operations. Lower capital costs.
As a storage subsystem manufacturer, Violin puts together the best system they can design, but they are constantly being schooled by their customers. For instance, they had a large telecom customer who were missing some billing opportunities and redesigned their customer accounting software. When the customer implemented it on their traditional storage system, they didn’t see much benefit. They saw the application wanted even more I/O, and brought in Violin. As a result they found over $100 million in new revenue. That paid for the project handsomely, of course. This is revenue that wasn’t available with traditional storage, but is captured due to Violin’s low latency.
Another example of how flash storage changes the data center is the impact of low latency on servers and the software that runs on them. Moving to a Violin All Flash Array speeds I/O so much, the traditional layers of overprovisioning and caching can be eliminated. The result: better application performance with lower costs. Customers have also told me they can also free up people from this consolidation to redeploy on more productive efforts since there is no need to manage the overprovisioning and caching infrastructure.
However, not all All Flash solutions are created equal. SSD solutions are inferior to a backplane-based approach like Violin’s Flash Fabric Architecture™. Consider key operating metrics such as power and floorspace. For instance, 70 raw TB from Violin takes 3RU of space. Common SSD-based solutions take 12RU (or more) for the same raw capacity. This density also translates into power. The Violin 70TB will take 1500W, while common SSD approaches may take over 3000W for the same capacity. This translates into operating expense savings. One customer recently estimated they would save 71% in operating costs with Violin over traditional storage.
Additionally, the Violin Flash Fabric Architecture provides superior performance, due to the array-wide striping of data and parallel paths for high throughput that holds up under heavy loads. It also provides for better resiliency, since hot spots are essentially eliminated. The result is not just a big step up over traditional disk storage, it is a significant improvement over SSD-based arrays.
Customers who have gone all-flash for active data have found they can buy the new storage and server equipment, and still have money left over. This is in addition to any new sources of revenue realized, such as the Telecom example. Flash is essentially free.
The last hurdle has been data services. Some customers who have Violin installed love the performance, but were hesitant to put all their data on it because they wanted to have the enterprise level availability features. Capabilities such as synchronous and asynchronous replication, mirroring and clustering give enterprises a robust tool kit. They configure their data centers in a variety of ways that will protect against local issues like fire, metro area problems like hurricanes/typhoons, and regional issues with a global replication. These capabilities now exist in the Concerto 7000 All Flash Array from Violin Memory. This allows enterprises who want to experience transformative performance to also employ the operational capabilities they need to meet their data center design goals.
The move to the all-flash data center is upon us.
For more information go to www.violin-memory.com
Big Data Perspectives 