Understanding Flash Impact on Enterprise Storage Architectures

In London this week, I was invited to present on solid state storage at the SNIA Europe Data Center Academy event.  It was  a well-attended event with a good mix of  IT managers, consultants and press in the audience – including Chris Mellor from The Register who subsequently published this blog.  Chris is one of the most perceptive journalists in the industry and really nailed the key issues in his blog.  Check it out!

BTW, the presentation is among the latest batch of SNIA tutorials, which you can find here.

Spring SNW – Recap

Last week’s SNW show in Orlando had encouraging signs that the recession is receding. IT end-user attendance was slightly up on previous shows (although vendor attendance was down); IT end users had budget and were looking for the optimal way to invest it, and there was clear excitement around a number of topics – including solid state storage.

Solid State Storage was well represented on the agenda, both in the vendor-neutral SNIA Tutorials, and in the SNW sessions:

SNIA Tutorials:

Executive Overview and Current Topics in Solid State Storage, Rob Peglar, Xiotech
Apples to Apples, Pears to Pears in SSS Performance Benchmarking, Esther Spanjer, Smart Modular Technologies
Latency: the Heartbeat of a Solid State Disk, Levi Norman, Texas Memory Systems
The Benefits of Solid State in Enterprise Storage Systems, David Dale, NetApp
Using SSD MLC NAND in Data Center Applications, Tony Roug, Intel
Solid State Storage Architectures, Jamon Bowen, Texas Memory Systems

SNW Vendor Presentations:
Panel: Is SSD Right for your Enterprise? Moderator: Jeff Janukowicz, IDC; Panelists: David Dale, NetApp; Steve Johnson, LSI Corporation; Gary Tressler, IBM; Rich Vignes, Seagate; Tom Lattin, HP
Dynamic Tiering – Taking Advantage of the Best of HDDs and Solid State, Ron P. Bianchini, Avere Systems
Getting the Most out of SSDs- Data Center IT System Optimization Best Practices, Mike Chenery, Pliant Technology
Flash Solid State Storage reliability & data Integrity – Are We There Yet? David Flynn, Fusion-io

All of the presentations are available on the SNW website. In addition, the SNIA Tutorials are available on the SNIA website.

Check them out.

SSSI at SNW Spring 2010

Welcome to the SNIA Solid State Storage Initiative’s new blog site!

Check out the SNIA SSSI at SNW Spring – 2010, April 12-14 in Orlando, Florida.  Look for presentations from SNIA SSSI and SSSI member companies in the Hands-on-Labs, Tutorials (Executive and SSS tracks), and general sessions (Solid State track).  Make sure to come and visit with us over cocktails and d’oeurves at the EMC sponsored Welcome Reception Monday night from 6:00 – 7:30pm.

Stay tuned to this blog site for more discussions about solid state storage technology and the forthcoming Solid State Storage Performance Test Specification (SSS PTS).