the problem with SSD education - article on StorageSearch.com


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the problem with SSD education (and comprehension)

Sorry - this isn't a magic formula which resolves neatly in 5 easy bullet points

by Zsolt Kerekes, editor - July 2010

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In the early days of the SSD market knowledge about fundamental issues like:- how to optimally tune servers (with high HDD to SSD capacity gearing), how to optimize the design of SSD controllers, and how best to manage flash SSD endurance - were regarded as proprietary secrets.

Nowadays users are discovering that the more they learn about some of these arcane aspects of SSD technology - the more reasons they have to worry that there may be more they need to learn to avoid major disasters with their SSD deployments.

Users don't have the option of sitting back and waiting another 5 or 6 years for SSD technologies and architectures to stabilize into a stable set of best practise ideas.

If your competitors use are using SSDs - to speed up their business processes, or increase the efficiency of their knowledge workers - then you don't have any choice. You too have to participate in the SSD market bubble - or run the risk of being regarded as irrelevant or uncompetitive to your potential customers.

StorageSearch.com has been publishing articles about SSDs since before most people even knew the market existed - and those articles have helped to increase understanding within the industry and accelerate the market's progress. But one of the frequent complaints I get from readers is that they have spent hours reading articles about SSDs and they still don't understand what to do.

I can tell you now - that any prescriptive guide which says - this is exactly what you need to do to buy the best notebook or server or military SSD is doomed to failure at the start - because users don't know they are asking the wrong questions - or have an incomplete understanding of the data and value preferences which they have already unconsciously applied to filtering and asking the wrong questions.

The only solution to the SSD problem is better education.

But where is this education going to come from? And who can you trust?

Our news pages have shown that even experienced CTOs inside storage companies haven't always understood the subtle problems instrinsic in selecting SSD partners. And I have talked to many marketers in SSD companies - who operate within a narrow range - and would certainly give you the wrong advice if you asked them a question outside their day to day competency.

At the other end of the spectrum I have been privileged to share dialog with a handful of people who really understand the technology inside the chips, who know how it will interact with computer architecture and who are guiding their companies on a course which will lead them to the solid state promised land.

SSD talent is rare. And you can't be sure if the claims that people make about their own SSD understanding - stand up to any scrutiny.

That kind of judgement creates a problem for me too.

For example - in the past several years I've been contacted by a bunch of companies in the data recovery market who asked about advertising their services for SSD data recovery. But when I probed some of these companies with awkward questions - it was clear that their knowledge was only superficial - and they didn't have good answers for the tough questions I asked.

Anyone can create a web page claiming they can solve your problems - from recovering data from a dead SSD, or making flash live 100x longer in a new controller scheme - to curing cancer.

How can online readers judge the reliability of the info they see?

Thousands of companies will rush into the SSD training market - but maybe less than 1% of them today - and less than 10% in 2012 - will actually have worthwhile long term expeience in the subject they're talking about.

No list of quick links is going to solve this problem.

It's just the start of another journey.

Read lots of SSD articles - then ask lots of awkward questions. And good luck.

"I found a great website that introduces and speaks about SSD in depth. It is called StorageSearch and it is what I consider the best treasure trove on the web right now for SSD information. Go check it out."

SSDs coming into mainstream … be Ready - blog on StorageGaga.com (August 7, 2011 )

First the RAM SSDs pretended to emulate hard drives.

Then the flash SSDs replaced the RAM SSDs.

Then some flash SSDs started to replace big memory.

Now flash can replace much of DRAM big or small.

New memory technologies are sampling.

What we've got now is a new SSD melting pot in which all performance related storage is made from memories and the dividing line between storage and memory is also more fluid than before.

where are we heading with memory intensive systems?


Megabyte thought that knowing what you actually knew was sometimes scarier than not knowing anything at all.

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SSD Bookmarks - from Cactus Technologies

In the old days of the SSD world - the traditional sales process went something like this.

SSD vendor explains to customer...

This is what an SSD is. This is how we do it. And these are the models we sell.

In the modern era of SSDs - the customer has received their education about what an SSD is - and what it can do - from many sources.

So when they talk to a vendor - the customer says.

Don't tell me about SSDs. Tell me instead how you fit into my idea of SSDs I'm looking for - and why I should buy from you - instead of all these others.

re-imagining the enterprise SSD customer

If a user has been deploying SSDs in their datacenter for 5 to 10 years already - then they will have a different set of ideas about product feature preferences and vendor profile preferences to another user who is looking at SSDs for the first time - or who has less experience and less confidence about SSDs.

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After more than 2 decades of writing SSD guides I had this thought....

Hey it's Q2 2017 already - are we there yet?

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Can you tell me the best way to SSD Street? - I'm like the Old Woman of the SSD Village who talks to everyone that passes through. No wonder I have a unique perspective. It would be strange if I didn't.

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