| Top
10 SSD OEMs - based on reader search volume in
2nd Quarter
2010 - © STORAGEsearch.com |
| rank |
manufacturer - click for profile
and analysis |
SSD technology |
notes re this
quarter.................................................... |
| 1 |
Fusion-io |
PCIe SSDs |
This was Fusion-io's 6th appearance in the
#1 slot.
Fusion-io's search volume was 4x higher than the
#10 ranked company, and 77% higher than the #2 ranked company in this
top 10 list.
The prophetic vision Fusion-io proposes for the future of
SSDs is a break away from the ties of legacy HDD form factors and
interfaces as a prerequisite to get the full benefits of the transition to the
SSD accelerated economy.
Regardless of whether they believe in
Fusion-io's version of the
SSD Heresies lots of
other SSD companies are seeing an alluring business opportunity to be had by
following what they do - and the
PCIe SSD market is
starting to resemble the 2.5"
SSD market in the number of companies participating.
The
PCIe SSD market is attractive to vendors because
technical barriers
to entry are low - and the
average selling prices
are multiples of what vendors can get for small form factor SSDs. But with more
than a 2 year market lead, a clutch of important customer qualifications, an
energetic management team and strong funding - this is a company which new
entrants to the market will find tough to beat.
Competitors will
probably have to wait for Fusion-io to make mistakes and
stumble
- to have realistic hopes of achieving the same mind share - or else market in
the gaps which Fusion-io has left behind. These gaps include different
channels to market and selling products to the competitors of Fusion-io's own
oem customers.
See later:-
should we set
higher expectations for memory systems? |
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| 2 |
STEC |
SAS SSDs
military SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Up 1 place since the last quarter.
STEC
has been featured in StorageSearch.com's
Top 10 SSD Companies
List - for all 13 consecutive quarters. Its best previous rank was the #1
top spot in Q2 2007.
STEC
used to be the company which every other SSD company wanted to beat - owning (as
it did for many years) the
top performance slots
for HDD compatible
server flash SSDs - and a sizable chunk of the
military SSD market
too
STEC doesn't sell enterprise SSDs directly to users, instead its
route to market has been to rely on oems to design its SSDs into their
systems - and wait for the sales ramp to happen.
The initial advantage
of that approach (when the SSD
market was smaller than it is today) is that the company did not have to
invest in developing its own routes to market and related marketing
competencies.
The disadvantage - in the current SSD market - is that
the company is vulnerable to being swapped out in design sockets. Additionally -
STEC is poorly positioned to acquire expertise about
rackmount SSDs
(an important market in which its server SSDs are deployed and compete) -
because the company doesn't supply integrated solutions.
One factor
which has helped STEC in recent quarters has been a growing awareness in the SSD
customer community that the company's ability to put on a good show in the
ballet of solid state storage - has been due to hard training and
scientific expertise.
A lot of newer entrants to the SSD market thought the SSD dance was a lot
easier than it actually is - and have come
crashing down onto
the market stage after performing a few short pirouettes. Competitors may learn
a few more technical tricks - but they cannot easily contend with the mystical
nature of STEC's legendary reputation for performing impressively season
after season. | |
| 3 |
SandForce |
flash SSD Controllers |
Up 2 places since the last quarter.
This
is SandForce's 5th consecutive appearance in this top 10 list - though not its
highest rank.
SandForce is now the best known maker of
SSD controllers.
By talking openly about its SSD controller technology - SandForce has
garnered interest from many stakeholders outside the set of those oems who may
want to directly use its chip technology.
In May 2010 - SandForce officially
announced
a branding program called - SandForce
Driven SSDs. This effectively confirmed
StorageSearch.com's analysis of the
company's marketing efforts which we had previously described as "SandForce
inside" SSDs.
The arcane world of SSD controllers - which was once
invisible to most end users - with critical product data safely hidden behind
firewalls - is now turning into a merchant market with nearly 30 companies
supplying the critical IP needed to design your own SSD.
SandForce was
the 1st company to offer
symmetric R/W
IOPS in a 2.5" flash SSD form factor in Q2
2009 - and its
products offered impressive performance.
In June 2010 - a
new SSD company - called Anobit
announced technology which encroaches on SandForce's market turf. Will Anobit
become as well known as SandForce? Unless you're an SSD designer - your brain
has no real need to hold 2 such pieces of information.
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| 4 |
WD Solid State Storage |
1.8"
SSDs
2.5" SLC
SSDs |
Same as before.
WD made no
significant new SSD product announcements in this quarter. |
|
| |
| 5 |
Foremay |
1.8"
SSDs
2.5" SSDs
3.5" SSDs
military SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Down 3 places since the last quarter.
Foremay
made no significant new SSD product announcements in this quarter. But a lot of
other SSD competitors in the 2.5" SSD market did announce product plans to
ship PCIe SSDs and join Foremay in this dual play hedge your bets SSD
marketing game. |
|
| |
| 6 |
Texas Memory Systems |
Rackmount SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Same as before.
Texas Memory Systems, has
been operating continuously in the SSD market longer than any other company.
The company is often listed in
the Fastest SSDs.
TMS
made no significant new SSD product announcements in this quarter. |
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| |
| 7 |
RunCore |
1.8"
SSDs
2.5" SSDs
3.5" SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Same as before.
In May 2010
- RunCore started
sampling 2.5" and
3.5"
SAS flash SSDs for the
enterprise server market. The Kylin II product line, available with
MLC, EMLC or SLC
flash, has R/W speeds upto 270MB/s and 260MB/s respectively, R/W
IOPS of
30,000 and 25,000, upto 400GB capacity and 3 years warranty. |
| 8 |
Intel |
2.5" SSDs |
Same as before.
In June
2010 - Intel
announced
that its SSDs were now available in 800 Best Buy stores across the US and on
BestBuy.com.
|
| 9 |
Micron Technology |
2.5" SSDs
flash memory |
Same as before.
In June 2010
- Micron owned
Lexar Media
offered consumers a 64GB version of their
2.5"
6Gb/s SATA SSD for $149.99 - with R/W speeds upto 355MB/s and 75MB/s
respectively. |
| 10 |
OCZ
|
2.5" SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
1st appearance in the top 10 SSD oems
list.
 Despite
my initial skepticism about OCZ's stated aspirations to become an "enterprise
SSD" company - the company's has continued knocking on the door which
leads to the datacenter market with a series of gradually better product
announcements - undeterred by my reactions to its embarrassingly
inappropriate initial models.
But can a company - which has only been
in the SSD market a short time (since
March 2008)
really persuade conservative enterprise buyers that it should be taken
seriously? A lot of OCZ's SSD technology is bought in from various sources in
the SSD IP market -
and tailored for what the company's marketers think customers will buy. The
ability to spot a real market gap and fill it quickly with sound products - will
be one of the key factors determining success in the fastly inflating
SSD market bubble.
In
June 2010 -
OCZ unveiled the RevoDrive
a bootable
PCIe SSD with R/W
speeds up to 540MB/s and 530MB/s respectively and 75,000
IOPS.
| |
|
Waiting in the wings - just below the top 10 in this period
were:- PhotoFast
(down 1 place at #11), Violin
Memory (#12 - possibly heading for a re-entry after a long absence), and
Pliant Technology
(#13 - still waiting to get called onto the top 10 stage).
|
The
most important thing is being included in the list rather than the position
within it. As the number of SSD oems has grown - it's much harder than it used
to be to break into the top 10.
