Skyera Suggests Things to Look for Before Buying Solid-state Storage Systems

SAN JOSE, Calif., Sept. 25, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Adding SSDs or solid-state storage systems to a network can result in unforeseen complexity and significant cost penalties, negating any benefits an organization is looking to leverage in implementing flash-based storage to its data center, say experts at Skyera Inc., a company founded by an executive and engineering team with unsurpassed backgrounds in the solid-state, storage and networking arenas.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20120619/LA26849LOGO)

Rather than investing in the time-consuming and expensive proposition of upgrading a network infrastructure in order to take advantage of the one or two high-speed network ports that are often included with solid-state appliances, Skyera suggests adopting flash storage systems with a built-in network switch to avoid the need for a new infrastructure that requires all-new switches, HBAs and cabling.  By avoiding an unnecessary network upgrade, these systems can minimize both acquisition and operational costs to less than that of standard hard disk drive systems.

"As industry excitement continues to build for the performance attributes of solid-state storage systems and the cost of flash devices begin to drop, many organizations are looking to jump head first into adopting this technology without giving any thought to the impact on their existing network," said Dr. Radoslav Danilak, Skyera CEO. "While this might not be a problem for those who believe in maximizing system performance at any cost, most organizations need to consider the effects of adding solid-state storage systems into their network environment and calculate the added investment and complexity that will be required in making such a wholesale change."

Solid-state storage systems that integrate 1GbE switches directly into the appliance allow for private point-to-point connections between servers and the device itself eliminating the need to upgrade to more expensive 10GbE or 16GB Fibre Channel alternatives.  By freeing up network ports instead of monopolizing them, these 1GbE ports can be combined to match the network speed of the connected host to remove the often unplanned expense of network upgrades.

One such appliance that is set to dramatically change the enterprise flash adoption landscape is the Skyera Skyhawk.  The company's enterprise solid-state storage system is based entirely on 19/20 nanometer consumer Multi-Level Cell (MLC) NAND flash at a system price of less than $3 per gigabyte before compression and deduplication. The compact half-depth 1u form factor sports a staggering 44 terabytes of high performance, low latency native capacity for the most demanding Big Data, analytics and virtualization applications. It was designed from the ground up to incorporate the most innovative technology available to yield the 100 times life amplification required to achieve enterprise reliability and endurance requirements.

Before going out and purchasing an off-the-shelf solid-state storage appliance, organizations owe it to themselves to consider the impact and implications of adding such devices to their existing network architecture.  With the right strategy, solid-state storage systems can satisfy a company's performance needs while minimizing both upfront costs and TCO.  Flash appliances with networking built in, like Skyhawk, are able to bring unprecedented performance to today's demanding applications and workloads while achieving true price parity with HDDs to make flash storage an excellent choice for the data center.

About Skyera

Skyera Inc. is an emerging provider of enterprise solid-state storage systems designed to enable a large class of applications with extraordinarily high performance, exceptionally lower power consumption and cost effectiveness relative to existing enterprise storage systems.  Founded by the executives who previously developed the world's most-advanced flash memory controller, Skyera is backed by key technology and financial partnerships designed to position it at the forefront of the hyper growth in the solid state storage sector.  The company was featured in the Gartner report "Cool Vendors in Storage Technologies, 2012" and was chosen by Flash Memory Summit as a Best of Show award winner for 2012 in the category of Most Innovative Flash Memory Enterprise Business Application.  For more information about the company, visit skyera.com.

Follow Skyera:
http://www.twitter.com/skyerainc
http://www.facebook.com/skyerainc
http://www.youtube.com/skyerainc

SKYERA CONTACT:
Mark Smith
JPR Communications
818-884-8282, ext. 22
[email protected]
Skype: jprmark

SOURCE Skyera Inc.