Flash Storage Moves Closer to CPUs

Computerworld: Recently, flash-based SSDs have been becoming more popular as an alternative to disk-based centralized storage arrays. Now, a new group of vendors is promoting flash-based products that use the solid state memory as cache and storage at the server level. STEC and OCZ Technology Group both introduced PCIe cards with flash components this week, and other vendors like Fusion-io offer similar products.

Enterprise Strategy Group analyst Mark Peters pointed out that the speed of flash-based storage gives it a big advantage over disk-based storage. “We’ve been so brainwashed in the business that the way you measure storage is cost per gigabyte,” Peters said. “No one’s storing anything for the sake of storing it. You’re storing it because you may use it.”