DCIG is pleased to announce the availability of its inaugural DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide that weights, scores and ranks 85 features of 34 different storage arrays from ten (10) different storage providers.
The DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide should help organizations quickly ascertain what Flash Memory Storage Arrays are on the market, what features they possess and then help expedite their decision making and buying process. Scoring and ranking tables will enable end users to do “at-a-glance” comparisons between many different flash memory storage array models, and our standardized data sheets will facilitate side-by-side comparisons.
Flash memory storage arrays are getting attention because they are helping organizations achieve results that matter to them. These include the successful deployment of thousands of virtual desktops and resolving application performance issues that could not be cost-effectively addressed by traditional disk-based storage systems.
DCIG believes that Flash Memory Storage Arrays are poised to address not only special I/O-intensive use cases like the ones mentioned above, but to begin displacing traditional storage arrays in many data centers. The arrays included in this Buyer’s Guide support the use of flash as the permanent home for data, and most of the vendors intend for their arrays to function as a full replacement for the traditional SAN.
- New business/IT initiatives with high I/O demands that are likely to be hampered by the performance characteristics of the current storage infrastructure.
- Virtualizing data centers for the first time. These companies can simply skip the traditional large array, leap-frog the competition, and achieve a better return on their virtualization investments.
- Nearing a virtual infrastructure refresh with storage arrays that are 3+ years old and where performance, reliability, or maintenance costs are a concern.
- Considering building another data center because they are approaching space, power, and/or cooling capacity in current facilities.
Nimbus Data E Class E6400M/E1000X and E6400M/E2000X
Nimbus Data S Class S1005M/S1005X, S255M/S255X, and S505M/S505X
PureStorage FA 310 and FA 320
Tegile Zebi HA2800
Violin Memory 6212 and 6232
- 100% incorporate redundant/hot swap power supplies and flash memory modules
- 70% include array management software with all features fully licensed
- 43% support thin provisioning
- VMware Integration:
- 74% support all of the VAAI 4.1 API’s
- 47% support VASA and VAAI v5.0’s Dead Space Reclamation
- 26% support all VAAI v5.0 features we assessed
- Flash Memory Optimization:
- 85% support Write Coalescing and Variable RAID Stripe Sizing
- 35% implement in-line deduplication
- 12% support block level compression
- Provides an objective, third party evaluation of Flash Memory Storage Arrays that evaluates and scores their features from an end user’s viewpoint.
- Scores and ranks the features on each Flash Memory Storage Array based upon the criteria that matter most to end users, and presents the results in easy to understand tables so they can quickly know which Flash Memory Storage Arrays are the most appropriate for their needs.
- Provides a standardized data sheet for each of the 34 Flash Memory Storage Arrays from 10 different storage providers so end users can do quick comparisons of the features that are supported and not supported on each Flash Memory Storage Array.
- Provides insights into what VMware vSphere APIs the Flash Memory Storage Arrays offer to optimize their VMware environments.
- Gives any organization a solid foundation for getting competitive bids from different providers of Flash Memory Storage Arrays that are “apples-to-apples” comparisons.