NetApp touts Fusion-io partnership and server flash management
NetApp claims servers run 90% faster with its flash cache
By Lucas Mearian | Computerworld US | Published: 11:31, 23 August 2012
NetApp is now selling software that uses NAND flash in its arrays to increase the performance of servers, the company has announced. It also unveiled a deal with Fusion-io to use that company's PCIe flash cards for arrays running its ONTAP operating system.
For two years, NetApp has offered flash cards and SSDs as an internal cache tier in its Fabric Attached Storage (FAS) arrays. Application data is migrated between hard drives and SSDs by NetApp's Virtual Storage Tier (VST) offering.
NetApp said it has now introduced Flash Accel software to its VST strategy, allowing users of its Data ONTAP OS to manage flash in arrays and SSDs in both physical and virtualised servers.
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"VST also creates new opportunities for partners to work with NetApp to develop innovative technologies that integrate closely with the capabilities of Data ONTAP software," NetApp said.
Through its Data ONTAP OS and other VST devices and software, such as NetApp Flash Cache PCIe cards and NetApp Flash Pool virtualisation software, NetApp users can now manage server-level, controller-level and disk-level Flash memory and back-end hard-disk storage use within a single data management infrastructure.
As with other vendors offerings, NetApp's Flash Accel can use the high performance of NAND flash to boost application performance. NetApp claims applications running on its flash can cut server latency by 90%.
"NetApp testing shows that by storing up to 2TB of hot data in server flash memory, application and server latency can be reduced by up to 90% and IOPS are increased by 80%," the company said. "And, by off-loading 'hot' IOPS at the server, Flash Accel helps reduce demand on back-end FAS storage."
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