Quantum Leap: 2016 Is The Year Of All Flash In Primary Storage

Yesterday in London our market leading flash storage portfolio took a Quantum Leap forward! First, we announced a major update to our flagship high-end storage array – the VMAX All Flash – setting a new high bar for capacity and efficiency with advanced data services. Not content with this, we went on to change the flash storage game altogether with the introduction of DSSD D5. We believe DSSD is a new category of storage ideally suited to the new world of analytics and in-memory databases. These new additions to our already powerful flash portfolio, promise to make 2016 “The Year Of All Flash For Primary Storage”.

Why is this important?

Data volumes are continuing to increase and businesses are under pressure to process that data in a timely fashion. Processing power has steadily increased according to Moore’s Law – doubling every couple of years. But storage has not kept up … until the advent of flash (or Solid State Drive’s) several years ago. Today, flash has reached the point where it is more cost effective to deploy than high performance hard drives. We knew this day would come and have worked tirelessly over the past year to optimize the VMAX for all-flash deployments while still providing the world class data services our customers know and love.   This enables organizations to modernize their data center infrastructure and seamlessly run their mission critical applications at a speed and a price point unimaginable several years ago.

But the story doesn’t end there.   The biggest challenge facing most of our customers today is one of digital transformation. The world’s leading companies are moving quickly to modernize their business by taking their services online or creating smart devices to participate in burgeoning “Internet Of Things”. We believe companies will collect 1000x more data than ever before and will be under pressure to analyze that data in real time to seek competitive advantage.   These new requirements break traditional infrastructure and pave the way for a new approach. This is why we created DSSD D5. D5 is fast. How fast? Fast enough to analyze an entire day’s worth of stock market data. Fast enough to help banks stop fraudulent credit card transactions dead in their tracks. Fast enough to help analyze aircraft engine data during maintenance windows to help them fly more efficiently. Fast enough for businesses not to miss an opportunity to enrich the consumer experience because their infrastructure couldn’t keep up with their business

Why Go “All Flash For Primary Storage” Now?

It’s very simple. Offering all flash arrays for the majority of data center use cases simply makes economic sense. We’ve reached the point where it can cost less to store data entirely on flash rather than performance hard drives. We have a market leading all-flash portfolio – at the high end we have had a record year in 2015 selling well in excess of $1BN in only its’ second year in the market. To complement XtremIO we now have the VMAX All-Flash providing huge scale in terms of capacity, ports and devices, world class data services and support for file, mainframe and i-Series environments. In the mid-range we continue to offer VNX in all-flash configurations for general purpose mixed block and file workloads. “With all of these additions to our flash storage portfolio, there should be virtually no data center use case we cannot handle!

Can I Get It In Converged?

There’s no better way to modernize a data center than through converged infrastructure and we will be offering VMAX All Flash in the VCE Vblock 740, and DSSD D5 will be incorporated into the VCE converged infrastructure portfolio in the future..

To learn more take a look at the VMAX All Flash and DSSD D5 spaces on emc.com.

This release contains “forward-looking statements” as defined under the Federal Securities Laws.  Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) risks associated with the proposed acquisition of EMC by Denali Holdings, Inc., the parent company of Dell, Inc., including, among others, assumptions related to the ability to close the acquisition, the expected closing date and its anticipated costs and benefits; (ii) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (iii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iv) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenues; (v) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (vi) component and product quality and availability; (vii) fluctuations in VMware, Inc.’s operating results and risks associated with trading of VMware stock; (viii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (ix) risks associated with managing the growth of our business, including risks associated with acquisitions and investments and the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (x) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xi) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (xii) fluctuating currency exchange rates; (xiii) threats and other disruptions to our secure data centers or networks; (xiv) our ability to protect our proprietary technology; (xv) war or acts of terrorism; and (xvi) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.  EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release

About the Author: Jeremy Burton