One of the biggest game-changers in flash storage is the recent development of the non-volatile memory express (NVMe) interface, which transfers data between a host and a target device much faster than Small Computer System Interface (SCSI).
Adding NVMe to the established benefits of flash, including improved performance and lower power consumption, has made all-flash arrays the right storage choice for many data centers, but is it right for yours? The best fit is achieved when both your organization and your IT strategy meet certain benchmarks.
Will your organization benefit from all-flash storage?
Our experience with all-flash storage integration and implementation shows the best alignment for clients that are large enough (1,500+ employees) to have an existing data center infrastructure, and have virtualized workloads they are hosting and managing.
Organizations interested in improving business outcomes that rely on improved IT agility and efficiency are even more likely to support the move to all-flash storage.
Other signs that all-flash is right for an organization are IT strategies that include: improving storage capacity; virtualizing and consolidating critical workloads; or, delivering cloud-based automated, orchestrated, self-service offerings.
The right time to move to all-flash storage
If any of the following is occurring or planned for your data center, it’s an ideal time to move to all-flash storage:
- New data center build-out
- Array refresh
- Project-based need for flash features, and automation and self-service preparedness
- BC/DR improvement or virtualization for bare-metal applications
- Data center modernization/standardization
- Self-service IT initiatives
- Reducing excessive costs from existing hyperscale cloud providers
More on NVMe
Many see NVMe as the successor for other protocols, offering unrivaled throughput for flash data transfer. Traditionally, flash-based systems have used serial-attached SCSI links to connect with controller processors. While this works, it doesn’t work optimally. Because of original design and intent, SCSI thinks it’s talking to hard-disk drives and doesn’t allow the full performance of flash. NVMe was created for all-flash systems, and by design optimizes its capabilities by eliminating the bottlenecks that occur with SCSI.
To take full advantage of today’s technologies and those on the horizon, organizations will need the performance, density and consolidation of all-flash arrays with NVMe. Infrastructure architecture that plans for NVMe now will be ready for the coming move.
All-flash and NVMe from Pure Storage
Sirius partners with Pure Storage to help our clients simplify, consolidate and accelerate their storage needs. The FlashArray//X family from Pure Storage is the first enterprise-class, all-flash, 100% native NVMe storage solution.
- 100% NVMe performance: as low as 250 μs latency
- Efficient and affordable: industry-leading 5:1 data reduction
- Ultra-dense consolidation: 3PBs effective in 6U and proven 99.9999% availability
- Ultimate simplicity: AI-driven management and predictive support
Benefits of making the move:
- Accelerate your mission-critical applications
- Hyperconsolidate your cloud
- Unify all your current and future applications
- Future-ready your data center
Sirius can help you manage the volume, variety and velocity of your storage. As a 2018 Pure Accelerate award winner, Sirius’ Pure Storage experts will work with you to assess your current storage environment and help you architect, implement and manage your move to all-flash. Contact us today to learn more.
