SSDs May Get Boost From Hybrid Storage Systems, Automated Management

With or without an economic downturn, solid-state disks (SSDs) are coming to the enterprise. The deployment is likely to come slowly, with SSDs gradually being added to servers or replacing hard drives in data center storage racks -- and only where performance and the end of storage asset cycles warrant the replacement. However, there is also a school of thought that contends that enterprises won't be so conservative and that they will opt instead for fully integrated storage systems that come in the door with SSDs.

Sun Microsystems, with its Sun 7000 Unified Storage Systems, is certainly banking on it. EMC, which offers SSDs in all of its storage product lines, feels the same way. Why all the optimism around turnkey SSD-integrated systems that require greater up-front expenditures?

The benefits of a fully integrated hardware-software integrated system are automated management of the storage resource, and the full backing and support of reputable vendors that have already performed all of the laboratory benchmarks and the due diligence on best storage management practices and build this knowledge into the end product. For enterprises new to the world of hybrid SSD-HDD (hard-disk drive) storage solutions, "ready to roll" products mean that they can immediately put the systems to work as soon as they arrive.

"Enterprise users of these systems are not expecting to have to do anything different than they do with their existing storage," says Bob Merritt, a founding partner of researcher firm Convergent Semiconductors. "They don't want to have to 'blaze a path' in getting up to speed in managing hybrid storage, and they are counting on system vendors to build this infrastructure expertise into the product."

The price of this expertise should not be underestimated. Sun initially introduced its FishWorks product, which includes the System 7000, into the marketplace in November 2008. "Since then, we have talked about flash storage with our customers, and everyone got very excited when they saw the prices of flash falling precipitously," says Adam Leventhal, senior staff engineer at Sun. "But when we asked our enterprise customers how they planned to use flash, they had no idea. We recognized that one of the ways we could help customers in a flash implementation would be to show them how to use flash most effectively."Accordingly, providers of turnkey systems that incorporate both SSD and hard drives provide system management software in an integrated system that automatically makes the decisions on where and when to use flash versus conventional storage, based on performance, capacity, availability, and reliability parameters that IT managers define in their storage management policies. "A hybrid storage system is essentially transparent to both the system administrator and the end user," says Scott Delandy, a senior product manager for EMC's Storage division. "To the system administrator, the SSD is simply just another storage device. He doesn't have to worry about system topology, communications protocols or resource optimization."

What the administrator does get is easy to follow, detailed reporting on asset performance. "Managing performance in a hybrid storage system can be more complex, but we also provide analytics to system administrators that give them a unique lens into the system that allows them to see performance bottlenecks and to further optimize their systems," says Leventhal.

Large companies in particular have system administrators with specialized expertise who can make use of this information. However, in many cases the systems that come in the door to smaller businesses are run "as is" and the storage optimization they provide meets IT needs. Both Sun and EMC indicate that they are seeing enterprise momentum build for these integrated systems -- even in the face of a tough economy.

"When we first introduced an integrated hybrid system, everyone felt that specific industry groups with high storage performance needs would provide niche markets, but that the general IT market would be slower to adopt," says Delandy. "So while the niches included credit card companies and companies doing currency conversions, we are now also seeing much more widespread general adoption. Nearly everyone in the enterprise has gotten the message that flash memory will benefit traditional storage investments, and people are actively looking at flash and determining where it makes the most sense." Delandy says EMC is seeing companies use flash for applications, such as Microsoft Exchange, and DB2 and Oracle databases.

While it is still too early to assess or estimate the momentum for turnkey hybrid storage systems that combine SSD, hard drives, and system management software that is programmed with industry best practices, there is room to consider some new twists to corporate total cost of ownership calculations. In addition to hard costs like data center floor space, power consumption, hardware, software, cost of processing, and even manpower, companies now need to consider factors such as increased performance and management and optimization capabilities that come in a box and start working as soon as you flip the switch. If new management software can make the increased performance of SSDs easy to use, that could help fuel adoption of the new technology.Learn more about all the latest products and technologies at TechWebs Interop Las Vegas, May 17-21. Join us (registration required).