Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 11 | Page 15

LATEST INTELLIGENCE Justifying Investment in AllFlash Arrays During the course of research efforts in the all-flash array (AFA) space, IDC is still encountering IT executives, particularly CIOs and CFOs, who have an outdated perspective on relevant cost metrics for comparing allflash solutions with legacy hard disk drive (HDD)–based systems. In IDC’s view, flash is an absolute requirement for performance reasons in any 3rd Platform computing environment. While most understand the need for flash performance, there is still a subset that does not view the broader use of flash in the enterprise as cost effective. AFA vendors have struggled to adequately explain what IDC refers to as the “secondary economic benefits of flash deployment at scale” to prospective customers that are often still using the storage metrics of a bygone era to evaluate flash costeffectiveness. More than 10,000 AFAs are deployed in production. The AFA market is one of the fastest-growing subsegments of the overall enterprise storage space with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4% through 2020, and AFAs are already being used by a number of organizations — both enterprises and service providers — as general-purpose primary storage platforms hosting multiple mission-critical applications. In an effort to more clearly explain the economic benefits of an “all flash for primary storage” strategy, this IDC study provides a business-level discussion of the financial advantages AFAs can bring to the table when used as a general-purpose storage platform. These benefits span six areas, each of which contribute to a compelling total cost of ownership (TCO) story for AFAs. True or false: Debunking the top flash storage myths A Note About Myths Versus Truth It has been said, “Truth is universal. However, the perception of truth often varies.” In many cases, a kernel of truth can transform into myth as it is passed down from one or more “reliable” sources until the end statement differs so much from the original as to be nearly unrecognizable. Yet, because that fuzzy end statement seems like it could be true, it is sometimes mistaken for fact. The real truth, in contrast, separates fact from hearsay. Along the way, it corrects inaccurate assumptions with objective and verifiable information. Whether you manage flash storage directly or work closely with people who do, we think you’ll find the following short list of myths to be a good way to get to the real truth about flash storage. The Truth: Flash is a new and faster medium for storing data, but it is not a new way to store data. Data stored on flash still needs to be managed and protected, just as it has always been. This includes protection against failed devices, protection against data corruption (intentional and accidental), and facilities for disaster recovery. In the early days of flash adoption, customers were willing to sacrifice basic data management features for the sake of speed, but this is no longer the case. As flash storage has matured, the need for enterprise data management features has become a requirement. Download white papers free from www.intelligentcio.com/me/whitepapers/ www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 15