The Enterprise SSD: Technologies & Markets

Executive Summary

SSDs in the Enterprise
Enterprise Server Types and what They Need
Transaction Processing Systems
Charge Card Processing
Reservations Systems
Algorithmic Trading
Currency Exchange and Arbitrage
Inter-Bank Transfers
Other Real Time Transaction Processing Systems
Video
Video on Demand (VOD)
HDTV Drives Higher Capacities
Broadcast Video
Video Production
Large Internet Servers
Real Time Data/Feed Processing
Contextual Web Advertising
Data Warehousing
E-Mail Servers
Internet Server Caching
Other Applications
Video Surveillance
Call Centers
Science & Engineering
Electronic Design Automation & Modeling
Weather/Life Sciences
Aerodynamics Design
Nuclear Fission Models
Software Development
SSDs and Virtualization

How SSDs Complement Data Centers

Access Density: A Growing Problem
Random Read Misses (RRM)
SSDs Offer High IOPS
Comparing Both Read & Write Speeds
Measuring IOPS per Dollar
Another Important Metric: IOPS per Watt
Reduced Power Consumption
Boosting Reliability with SSDs
HDD Reliability
NAND Flash Endurance
Reducing the Odds of Failure
SSDs Stop Fragmentation Concerns
Cost Savings
Fewer HDDs
Reducing the Cost of High-Performance Storage
Server Count Reduction
Less Cooling - Power Savings
Cutting Floor Space
Reliability

NAND Wear Reporting

Operating Temperatures
Shock & Vibration
Overcoming SSDs' Quirks
Minimum Write Size
Slower Writes Than Reads
Inconsistent Performance
Standards Help Improve Performance

Building Standards for SSDs

International Committee for Information Technology Standards (INCITS)
Serial ATA International Organization (SATA-IO)
Joint Electron Device Engineering Council (JEDEC)
Solid State Drive Alliance (SSDA)
Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface (NVMHCI)
International Disk Drive Equipment & Materials Association (IDEMA)
Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)
Recently Developed SSD Interface Standards
SMART
Trim

Why SSD Acceptance is Limited

Scale Out vs. Scale Up Models
SSD Costs
SSD Wear Concerns
Alternatives to SSDs
Enterprise HDDs
Short-Stroking or De-Stroking
RAID Systems & Striping

Various Models of SSD Adoption

Fixed Cost
Constant Throughput
Constant Capacity
Managing SSDs
Managing Tiered Data

Where Do SSDs Belong?

The Impact of Price
Enterprise SSDs will convert from SLC NAND to MLC
Today's current large over-provisioning will be significantly reduced
Controller technology will command a lower premium as it matures
Enterprise SSDs' large DRAM buffer will shrink, reducing costs
Enterprise SSD Price Forecast
Total Cost of Ownership

Forecasts by Application

Transaction Processing Systems
Media Servers
Large Internet Servers
Science & Engineering
Total SSD Forecast

Combined Application Forecast

"Top-Down" Forecast
Forecast by Interface
SSD Interface Forecast Assumptions
Methodology
Further Reading