Sun Microsystems - Flash Storage for Everyone

Filed in archive Vendor on June 5, 2008

© Rich Mansburden

Available for nearly every server, Sun is going to make available a 32GB flash storage drive THIS YEAR!

Let's quickly compare a typical disk drive to the 32GB flash drive proposed by Sun:
Typical disk drive @15,000 RPM gets about 180 write IOPS and 320 read IOPS
A 32GB flash drive gets 5,000 or more write IOPS and at least 30,000 read IOPS

WHAT an increase! Yes the flash drives do cost a bit more, Sun says about $1,000 for the 32GB drive but just think of the performance gains. No longer will you need to waste disk space in an attempt to gain high performance numbers. Plus I know many database shops that run with 100-200GB databases that are unable to tune their databases because of high transaction rates. This could be a great way to go for a few thousand dollars.
Will flash drives replace all disk based storage systems? Probably not. But when you start taking into consideration the lower power requirements and everyone's attempt to be IT-green there just might be a push, down the road that make this one great alternative..