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Why should Data Centers Shift to All-Flash Arrays?

Enterprise Technology Review | Monday, September 23, 2019

Storage technologies evolve continuously, and the emergence of all-flash arrays is expected to be a game-changer in the long run for data centers and users.
   
FREMONT, CA:
The advent of affordable and effective all-flash storage technology is impacting the data center market significantly. All-flash arrays are powerful and possess advantages that conventional storage solutions like Solid State Disk (SSD) and Hard Disk Drive (HDD) do not have.  With the drop in the prices, data center vendors, as well as customers, are expected to invest more towards getting full-scale all-flash storage. Hybrid flash array is also becoming a good option for companies. Considering the buzz that data-centric capabilities have created and the importance of data storage and processing within the technological realms of AI and machine learning, it is imperative that data center vendors, as well as users, adopt all-flash arrays. Here are a few objectives that stakeholders can achieve with all-flash storage.

• Enhanced Speed 

Speed is the biggest advantage with flash arrays. Compared with SSD and HHD, the performance of flash arrays is much higher, lending data centers the best processing speed, which is central to the facility. With access to real-time data becoming more important than ever for every business sector, data centers can look to improve services with flash arrays. On the part of users, data transfer and processing speeds translate into enhanced business operations and real-time control and monitoring. 

• Smoother AI Deployment

AI has been the most transformative technology for several sectors in recent times. Many companies have already incorporated AI into their systems while many others are looking forward to the transformation. The intelligent technology that is revolutionizing businesses can fare exceedingly well with all-flash arrays to back it. AI is data-intensive and requires infrastructure that can support the applications. All-flash storage can optimize the use of AI algorithms by enhancing the speed and processing power of data centers, giving users the direct benefit of better AI functionality. Investing in all-flash storage has the potential to transform the output of AI solutions for users.

• The Cost Factor

Technology makes an impact only when it is affordable. All-flash used to be exceedingly unaffordable for most users as well as vendors. The prices have dropped now, and experts feel it will fall further, eventually, becoming the same as that of HDD-based storage. Provided that all-flash arrays improve efficiency, are compact, produce less heat, and are faster, return on investments will also be better. When all the factors are clubbed together, data center services with all-flash storage capabilities perform better than their counterparts, with respect to costs, and thus, profitability.

• Predictive Maintenance and Feasible IoT

Storage analytics innovations have made data centers better equipped to maintain the facilities. To optimize these solutions, data centers require infrastructure designed for AI and machine learning. All-flash arrays provide the right environment for optimum utilization of advanced technologies that enable safer storage, increased controls, and better risk management. Self-healing in real-time becomes feasible for data centers with all-flash storage technology. From the user perspective, storage solutions today need to have the power to support the exponential rise in the number of IoT devices and the vast amount of data that they collect. Within the next few years, the deployment of IoT will reach staggering levels, making current data center facilities insufficient. All-flash storage is potent enough to sustain IoT networks and supports better analytics.  

To ensure the unhindered development and growth of data center facilities, service providers are expected to make the shift sooner or later. In their quest to scale storage and processing capacities, businesses will take to the reliability and superiority of all-flash arrays

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