I’ve been fascinated with Intel’s Optane memory ever since it launched. Promising and delivering on performance and capabilities that combined the non-volatile elements of flash with a performance that approached system memory, it seemed to be a massive game-changer for both the desktop and in storage. There are an impressive number of products that use […]
I’ve been fascinated with Intel’s Optane memory ever since it launched. Promising and delivering on performance and capabilities that combined the non-volatile elements of flash with a performance that approached system memory, it seemed to be a massive game-changer for both the desktop and in storage.
There are an impressive number of products that use this technology form: Dell, HPE, MemVerge, NetApp, Pure Storage, and Vast Data, all reporting near impossible performance numbers. Yet, instead of taking the market by storm, we rarely talk about this technology, and this seeming lack of interest has harmed what should have been world-beating sales potential.
Let’s talk about why we aren’t hearing more about Optane solutions this week.
I spent several years working in this market, both as an employee at IBM and as a storage analyst, and this is a segment that doesn’t care much for new revolutionary technologies, with a couple of exceptions. We do have advancements because we have moved mainly from tape and rotating media (CDs and hard drives) to SSDs, but that move was over decades. It didn’t appear to lag the rapid deployment of new technologies we see in Networking, processors, and GPUs.
The reason for this concern is the value of the data is so incredibly high that it forces IT, decision-makers, into a very conservative decision matrix. Perhaps one of the most conservative in the industry. The cost associated with data loss makes taking a risk on new technology problematic.
However, several segments will take this risk and do. They are financial trading companies, military, engineering, and animation. But if that is the case, why isn’t there more vigorous advocacy for Optane?
Financial trading loves Optane, but this is an incredibly competitive market, so the IT managers don’t like to share what they are doing for a competitive advantage. The military is, by nature, unsharring, and their implementation process is often so long and their uses so unique that they typically make bad advocates. Engineers and animators generally rely on their software providers to dictate hardware, which is certified for use.
But, for some reason, those recommendations rarely include storage and are more focused on CPU and GPU compatibility. This lack of storage focus is true even though storage, particularly for large projects, is often the larger bottleneck. But storage tends to be agnostic to the software, so there is no need to spec it; thus, the critical advocates for those industries just don’t engage.
So this very conservative industry which requires strong advocacy can’t seem to get it because the segments that most like the technology are either poor at advocacy in general or aren’t set up to advocate storage. But this also means that companies that need this performance and spend the time to understand this technology could gain a sustained competitive edge by using Optane if they need better storage performance.
It is unusual to have a revolutionary high-performance technology that has been successful in the market so little known. But that is the historic nature of storage technology. Still, for the informed buyer, it also provides an opportunity for a competitive advantage without having to do the development yourself. Most of the major storage vendors have Optane solutions, and they are well-vetted and wrapped with appropriate services to make sure you won’t be disappointed.
I’m particularly taken by how well this should enhance animation and engineering markets, due to Optane’s ability to retain large files and datasets in memory safely without the risk of loss due to a power outage. By the way, while I focused on this technology applied to a storage appliance, what is also being missed is the number of engineers and animators working from home. They often don’t have reliable power and have kids and pets running around who may inadvertently pull plugs.
For them, both the ability to work on large files in memory and not risk losing their work should be far more attractive in this post-COVID-19 world. If you are interested, apparently there are some Optane workstations for just this sort of audience on the market (that I just found out about). Go figure.
Huawei’s AI Update: Things Are Moving Faster Than We Think
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
December 04, 2020
Keeping Machine Learning Algorithms Honest in the ‘Ethics-First’ Era
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 18, 2020
Key Trends in Chatbots and RPA
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
November 10, 2020
FEATURE | By Samuel Greengard,
November 05, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
November 02, 2020
How Intel’s Work With Autonomous Cars Could Redefine General Purpose AI
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 29, 2020
Dell Technologies World: Weaving Together Human And Machine Interaction For AI And Robotics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
October 23, 2020
The Super Moderator, or How IBM Project Debater Could Save Social Media
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
October 16, 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
October 07, 2020
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Guest Author,
October 05, 2020
CIOs Discuss the Promise of AI and Data Science
FEATURE | By Guest Author,
September 25, 2020
Microsoft Is Building An AI Product That Could Predict The Future
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 25, 2020
Top 10 Machine Learning Companies 2020
FEATURE | By Cynthia Harvey,
September 22, 2020
NVIDIA and ARM: Massively Changing The AI Landscape
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
September 18, 2020
Continuous Intelligence: Expert Discussion [Video and Podcast]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 14, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Governance and Ethics [Video]
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By James Maguire,
September 13, 2020
IBM Watson At The US Open: Showcasing The Power Of A Mature Enterprise-Class AI
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 11, 2020
Artificial Intelligence: Perception vs. Reality
FEATURE | By James Maguire,
September 09, 2020
Anticipating The Coming Wave Of AI Enhanced PCs
FEATURE | By Rob Enderle,
September 05, 2020
The Critical Nature Of IBM’s NLP (Natural Language Processing) Effort
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE | By Rob Enderle,
August 14, 2020
As President and Principal Analyst of the Enderle Group, Rob provides regional and global companies with guidance in how to create credible dialogue with the market, target customer needs, create new business opportunities, anticipate technology changes, select vendors and products, and practice zero dollar marketing. For over 20 years Rob has worked for and with companies like Microsoft, HP, IBM, Dell, Toshiba, Gateway, Sony, USAA, Texas Instruments, AMD, Intel, Credit Suisse First Boston, ROLM, and Siemens.
Datamation is the leading industry resource for B2B data professionals and technology buyers. Datamation's focus is on providing insight into the latest trends and innovation in AI, data security, big data, and more, along with in-depth product recommendations and comparisons. More than 1.7M users gain insight and guidance from Datamation every year.
Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2025 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved
Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.
