PURE FUD
We have a saying in the UK. " All-Flash, No Cache."
OK so I have corrupted it a little here. The information in the pure blog on hybrid array performance is just that PURE FUD. I do have to ask myself why all flash vendors seem to want to attack hybrid storage arrays. Surely their enemy is the traditional storage platforms running high end databases applications. The only reason I can think they want to attack hybrid arrays is that they wish they were hybrid so they really did have the compelling cost /GB argument. The simple fact of the matter is that HDD is cheaper per GB and will be around for a long time. Many large workloads do not play well with compression and deduplication so if you are trying to consolidate storage and create an internal cloud HDD has to be in there to handle the bulk of the data. Hybrid Storage simply uses flash-based caching for performance. It is not esoteric, it is a proven technology that has been around for forever but is now applied using larger SSD drives. How many workload combinations let alone stand alone workloads really need more than 50K IOPS today? Very few. you might say in the future more will and to that I say "Clearly Hybrid Storage platforms will continue to push up in performance but will never sacrifice $/GB for that performance". Hybrid storage is aimed at offering the best combination of $/GB and S/IOP. That combination is simply not achievable with all flash. I know a customer who has a Pure storage system for a high performance application and likes it but they have 3 Starboard Storage Hybrid Arrays for the bulk of their workloads. The simple fact is that All-Flash and Hybrid Arrays are not targetting the same workloads. You can read more about Hybris arrays on our blog. www.starboardstorage.com/blog
