| Top SSD
Companies - © StorageSearch.com | |
based on
reader search in the - 3rd Quarter 2012 |
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| rank.... |
company |
top related segments |
notes........................................................... |
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| 1 |
Fusion-io |
PCIe SSDs
SSD software |
Same as before.
This is
Fusion-io's 15th straight quarter at #1.
The gap between the #1 and
#2 company in these lists narrowed down in this quarter.
Throughout
most of the series the top company has scored 2x the level of search volume
compared to the second in this list. But in Q3 2012 - the ratio dropped to 1.5x.
Fusion-io's search volume was
4x the level of the #10 company and 7x the level of the #20
company.
There's always so much to say about Fusion-io that if you
look at our SSD news page
in any given
month - you're sure to find something interesting. So I won't repeat it all
here. |
|
| 2 |
STEC |
enterprise component SSDs...
industrial SSDs
military SSDs |
Up 1 place since the last quarter.
Although
STEC's reputation suffered in this quarter from miserable revenue shrinkage
and a "temporary" step down by its CEO - the company continued to
advance its belated marketing efforts into
PCIe SSDs and
software. Growing
industry awareness of the advantages of
adaptive R/W
DSP flash IP - a technology pioneered within the enterprise SSD context by
STEC - may have been a positive factor in reassessment of the company in
critical segments. |
|
| 3 |
Violin Memory |
rackmount SSDs
HA SSDs |
Down 1 place since the last quarter.
One
way to characterize Violin in this quarter - is as the rackmount SSD company
which years ago announced that it would like to be acquired by Oracle (or
anybody of that market stature) - but which got passed over in this quarter
when IBM bought Violin's main rival Texas Memory Systems. In my view that was a
no brainer - because Violin didn't have a PCIe SSD product line - and for IBM -
buying a single IP set which spans both racks and servers and is software
agnostic was a much more efficient option than buying 2 disparate SSD
companies and trying to manage and resolve the ensuing integration
incompatibilities.
On the other hand if aren't IBM but you've got the
money and like the idea of acquiring a
big SSD
controller architecture rackmount SSD company without diving into the highly
competitive PCIe SSD
market and also without having to take a bet on the outcome of far
side flash technology (like some other companies in this list) then safe
(it works) Violin may still be what you're looking for. |
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| 4 |
OCZ |
PCIe SSDs
SAS SSDs
consumer SSDs |
Same as before.
In this quarter investors in OCZ didn't know whether retaining their
holdings in OCZ was the smartest or dumbest thing they had ever done - as
speculation spread around the web about possible acquirers.
When I
looked at the companies being named in this context - none of these rumors made
any serious business sense to me either from the so-called acquirer's or OCZ's
point of view at any kind of price which a self respecting SSD company like OCZ
would tolerate.
One of the casualties of this hiatus was OCZ's founder
who - according to reports - was booted out from his CEO chair due to a
feeling that the company needed a different type of management to reestablish
the confidence of stakeholders. |
|
| 5 |
Texas Memory Systems... |
rackmount SSDs
HA SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Up 1 place since the last quarter.
The
big deal for TMS watchers in this quarter was that the privately owned company
which has been at the fast end of the SSD market since 1978 - was being
acquired by IBM. The acquisition closed at the start of October - and currently
the company is retaining its name and being called - an IBM company.
Here
are some extracts below from an email on this subject which I sent to a reader.
TMS
has had a low level public compatibility relationship with IBM for its
SAN SSD product line since at least 2004 - so there are no surprises lurking in
the woodwork.
One of the great strengths of the TMS product line (and
also its greatest weakness) was in the area of software. The RamSan
architecture inside is almost a software-free zone inside. Because so much of
the product's functionality is performed by raw hardware – the product
isn't tainted by software or OS dependencies. It's software agnostic and can be
made to work well with almost any enterprise software.
For a small hardware-centric (and VC-free zone) company like TMS –
competing against deeply funded competitors like Fusion-io and Violin and
having a best of breed product like in both PCIe SSDs and rackmount SSDs was a
great achievement. But as we're now seeing in the enterprise SSD market –
it's easy to sell more SSDs if you have software which makes these product
easier for users to deploy within their legacy server and storage assets.
Software can multiply SSD hardware sales by 10x – which makes it
as good an investment as recruiting more sales people. Hence the ridiculously
high (seeming) prices paid to acquire small SSD software ISVs recently.
There's plenty of genuine demand for high performance, cost effective
and high availability enterprise SSDs at the rack and module level. IBM is
well placed to provide a credible support and distribution channel for the TMS
product line – which I believe will become a multi-billion dollar
business unit within 1 or 2 years.
It doesn't really matter what
software IBM uses to support the TMS product line. It provides a stable launch
hardware platform for a wide range of possible server and storage solutions.
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| 6 |
WhipTail |
rackmount SSDs
HA SSDs |
Up 3 places since the last quarter.
In
a report published by IT Brand Pulse this
quarter Whiptail was ranked #2 in unified SAN/NAS rackmount flash SSDs. |
|
| 7 |
Skyera |
rackmount SSDs |
Up 14 places since the last quarter.
The
meteoric rise of Skyera in the same quarter in which it exited stealth mode
demonstrates that StorageSearch.com's readers are capable of recognizing
when they see a significant convergence in technical and business concepts
coming together in a single place.
That convergence is about
SSD efficiency -
which was the subject of my home page blog this month.
No other
rackmount SSD vendor in the market today integrates as many of the raw
ingredients in the SSD design efficiency toolkit within a shipping SSD system
as Skyera does in its Skyhawk.
And no other rackmount SSD vendor
owns all these elements (which include
adaptive R/W
technology) within its own proprietary IP set.
Now before we get
too carried away by this genuine achievement - one of the big weaknesses of
Skyera's product line is that it doesn't yet have a
high availability
product. So it will lose revenue and traction in that important segment until it
does.
The company told me that they are working on that track - but
my guess is that the kind of customer who's in the market for a true native
fault tolerant SSD wouldn't rush out to buy it from a totally new supplier
anyway. So even if Skyera already had an HA /FT SSD rack in their catalog
today - few end users would click to place it in their shopping carts.
They'll wait several quarters to see how Skyera's basic technology works in
other user sites first.
Looking ahead it won't take any longer for
Skyera's competitors - among those who already make HA SSDs - to source
and integrate whatever they think is needed (in the way of missing IP) to
climb up the SSD efficiency ladder than it will take Skyera to add high
availability. So this time next year the competitive shootout will look
different in detail.
But my guess is that the standoff will be among
companies which are already named in this edition of the Top SSD Comapnies
list. (Or whoever acquires them.) |
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| 8 |
LSI |
SSD controllers
PCIe SSDs |
Down 3 places since the last quarter.
There's
a kind of irony in the fact that 2 of the adjacently listed top 10 SSD
companies in this quarter - Skyera and LSI - both have their SSD roots in
the founders of that earlier
2009 surprise entrant
to these lists - SandForce. |
|
| 9 |
Virident Systems |
PCIe SSDs |
Down 1 place since the last quarter.
Virident
announced another round of funding, a new enhanced product and a new CEO in this
quarter. |
|
| 10 |
SanDisk |
PCIe SSDs
SSD software
SAS SSDs |
Down 3 places since the last quarter.
The
most interesting development which came out from SanDisk in this quarter was a
clearer message about how the company plans to run its enterprise SSD business -
and in particular the positioning of
FlashSoft as a
business unit within SanDisk and also as a collaborative platform working with
3rd party competing makers of SSDs. |
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| 11 |
SMART |
SAS SSDs |
Up 1 place since the last quarter. |
|
| 12 |
BiTMICRO |
rugged SSDs |
Down 1 place since the last quarter. |
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| 13 |
Kove |
ultrafast rackmount SSDs |
Down 3 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 14 |
Micron |
PCIe SSDs
2.5" PCIe SSDs |
Up 10 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 15 (tie) |
DensBits |
SSD controller IP |
Up 1 place since the last quarter. |
|
| 15 (tie).. |
KingSpec |
industrial SSDs
consumer SSDs |
First appearance in the top SSD companies
list. |
|
| 17 |
RunCore |
industrial SSDs
PCIe SSDs |
Down 3 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 18 |
Nimbus |
rackmount SSDs
HA SSDs |
Up 2 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 19 |
EMC |
rackmount SSDs
SSD software |
Down 2 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 20 |
Intel |
PCIe SSDs
consumer SSDs |
Down 5 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 21 (tie) |
Seagate |
PCIe SSDs |
Re-entry to this list. |
|
| 21 (tie) |
Kaminario |
HA SSDs |
Up 1 place since the last quarter. |
|
| 23 |
WD |
industrial SSDs
SAS SSDs |
Down 5 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 24 |
Samsung |
consumer SSDs |
Down 5 places since the last quarter. |
|
| 25 |
KingFast |
consumer SSDs |
Down 2 places since the last quarter. |
|
Who's at the next level
down?
With just 15% of the search volume of the top ranked
rackmount SSD company (Violin) and hovering just below the level of the top 25
companies this quarter is
Pure Storage.
Will we see them appear in next month's list?
And are there
still surprise companies which will crash into high visibility when they exit
stealth mode and announce their new SSD offerings?
Stay tuned to the
SSD news here on
StorageSearch.com and we'll see the answers in
January 2013.
see
also:- the top SSD
companies (series overview),
SSD market
history, the
SSD buyers g guide. |
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