SSD the way forward for virtualised IT

Enterprises are struggling to move big data around and SSD can help, claims Brian Feller

More desktop, server, and application virtualisation projects are happening than ever. Organisations want to be able to cope with changing market demands and business requirements, as well as save money.

However, the elephant in the room is storage. While the relative cheapness of HDD will ensure the technology remains valuable for storing some data, its days in high-performance applications such as virtualised server and desktop environments are numbered. Their moving parts also cause read/write delays that slow down applications.

More organisations are responding to the increases in data consumption by turning to SSD, which should offer them faster operations, lower power consumption and lower total cost of ownership. SSD can help resellers improve performance and get the most out of virtualisation rollouts for their customers.

Performance issues cannot be solved simply by installing more HDD storage. The additional capital expenditure, on drives themselves as well as extra power and cooling, is becoming unmanageable.

I also believe HDD does not scale effectively. When implementing virtualised desktop infrastructure (VDI) – an extremely intensive write application – organisations typically buy the number of disks they need for the number of virtual-desktop users they expect, but costing storage per user can be very expensive.

VDI is gaining ground in large companies, particularly if they have a distributed workforce, data security concerns, or remote working schemes.

Flash arrays are able to eradicate the poor performance that is a key driver of user dissatisfaction. Resellers can therefore increase the value of their deployments while saving their customers money.

Brian Feller is EMEA vice president and general manager of Whiptail