Over the years, businesses have gradually turned towards Flash memory SSD disks for their production environment, in addition to rotating hard drives.

Given their numerous benefits, they are the ideal solution for organizations dealing with a high volume of ultra rapid transactions, like financial institutions. However, they are just as beneficial for the majority of companies, ranging from large businesses to SMBs, as their benefits are numerous.

The advantages of Flash storage, in comparison with HDD, are undeniable:

• •  Performance greatly surpasses those of hard drives;
• •  Reduced number of physical disks;
• •  Lower operating costs;
• •  An increased installation speed;
• •  Real use of available storage resources.

The advantages obtained by businesses using Flash storage are undisputable. The main reason why they don’t immediately opt for it is the high acquisition costs. Yet, when put into perspective, we realize it is much more attainable for businesses then a few years ago.

Flash storage technology, more affordable than it seems

New technologies all have one thing in common: they are more expensive than their traditional counterparts. However, as time passes, their use becomes widespread and in turn they become more affordable. SSD disks are no exception.

Acquisition costs

When they were first introduced to the market, manufacturers only had «business» quality SSD disks to propose, which can be rewritten 10,000 times. Today, most of them have released a range of lower performance SSD disks, at a lesser cost. Businesses now have a wider choice of quality, as well as price.

Durability

Contrary to a hard drive whose durability is measured from a mechanical stand point, SSDs in turn are measured from a physical stand point, which means by the number of times a disk’s capacity may be inscribed on it. For example, for a 1 terabyte (TB) SSD disk, it is the number of times 1 TB of data can be written on it that determines its quality. The disk’s performance progressively deteriorates as it nears its life expectancy.

To compensate for this quality deficiency, manufacturers offer a few years’ warranty that varies depending on the company and model. Consequently, even if a cheaper model deteriorates more rapidly, the company does not have to pay for its replacement, as long as it remains under warranty. Knowing that replacing an SSD disk is simple and that its reconstruction is quick, choosing a model of lesser quality may be a cheaper way to increase your system's production performance.

Lower global ownership costs compared to other technologies

Even though SSD disk acquisition costs remain higher than traditional hard drives, its global ownership costs are without a doubt lower. Given the high performance level of this technology, the quantity of disks needed is much lower, which results in space saving. As a matter of fact, their IOPS – Input/ Output Operations Per Second – is much higher, which means that a single SSD disk can support a server work load equivalent to that of many hard drives.

In addition, as their electricity consumption is very weak, they release less heat and consequently require considerably less ventilation and air conditioning. This feature results in much lower, long term operational costs.

Conclusion

Opting for Flash storage SSD disks for your production environment proves to be financially justifiable. However, as every business must deal with different specific realities, it is preferable to discuss the pros and cons with your IT expert.

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