Tier Zero' Enterprise Storage:  Customer Requirements and Use Cases for Array-based SSDs

Lawrence Schwartz, Senior Manager, Symmetrix, EMC Corporation

For years, magnetic disk drive technology has defined performance boundaries for users' mission-critical storage environments. With the recent introduction of enterprise-class flash drives into mainstream storage arrays, users can now achieve response times that are an order of magnitude faster than the fastest hard disk drives, while consuming significantly less power. This can dramatically improve performance in applications such as electronic trading, database acceleration, and online transaction processing. This new tier of array-based, SSD storage is commonly referred to in the industry as 'tier zero' storage.  

As a result of participating in this session, attendees will be able to:  

• Assess the primary technology requirements associated with array-based SSDs and the associated gains in storage performance, response times and energy efficiency
  
• Evaluate the performance, reliability and availability requirements associated with SSD-enabled enterprise storage.  This includes workload considerations, data access patterns, MLC vs. SLC, wear-leveling, diagnostics, RAID and replication considerations
  
• Gain knowledge of array interoperability (connectivity and "in the box" tiered storage) as well as appropriate use cases for array-based SSDs