Stay Ahead Of Shady Flash Storage Providers
By Rick Delgado, contributing writer
Over the span of just a few years, flash storage has become increasingly useful and, as a result, increasingly popular among businesses. This is in part driven by the influx of Big Data into organizations as companies try their best to analyze it and discover valuable insights. It’s gotten to the point where the traditional hard disk drives in use for decades are quickly being replaced in many instances with the much faster solid-state drives.
A recent Gartner report predicts that, by the end of the current decade, a not insignificant 20 percent of high-end storage arrays will be replaced with the increasingly common solid-state arrays now favored by many organizations. It’s clear that flash storage is turning into a more preferable option, and that means companies are turning to flash storage vendors to satisfy their demand.
Flash storage providers have popped up everywhere, each offering unique products and solutions. As with any vendor, some are straightforward in what they promise, while others are of a shadier nature. Flash storage can be a sizeable investment, so knowing what to look for to avoid the less than reputable providers is a must for businesses looking to get into the flash game.
When it comes to dealing with flash storage vendors, it’s best to look out for a number of red flags. Perhaps one of the most prominent that should grab your attention is when they act like they know about your industry than you do. Many interactions with providers starts with you explaining what you need to get done and how you hope flash storage will provide it. A shady vendor will then talk about how you would be better off with multiple arrays when only one will do just fine.
More questions are sure to follow, but more red flags should pop up if vendors happen to turn what should be a relatively simple solution into a highly complex one. When it becomes clear the vendor is more interested in selling more arrays than actually helping you solve the problem, it’s time to walk away. Honest providers keep things simple and answer questions directly without a bunch of technical jargon accompanying it.
A good flash storage vendor will also talk about their products reliability. Downtime and malfunctions are things that can severely damage a business, especially during times of peak activity. You’ll want to know you can count on a vendor to be there should the worst happen. Trustworthy vendors will have a plan in place should some technical failure occur and be available for support at any time no matter the circumstances. Less than trustworthy vendors will usually duck the question or make empty promises. Always have your chosen vendor put their promises in writing, and make sure to add heavy penalties in case they don’t come through when they said they would.
At the same time, you should always be wary whenever vendors talk about performance guarantees. One of flash’s selling points is its high performance, so providers will likely talk it up quite a bit, but guarantees are a completely different matter. A lot of factors go into determining how well flash storage performs — even more so when the product is a hybrid flash array. From the size of the workloads to age of the storage components, storage performance varies greatly, and no honest vendor will be able to make 100 percent guarantees. Again, telling them to put the guarantee within the contract is a surefire way to get them to back away from outlandish promises.
It’s also important to note there are numerous types of flash storage solutions, and not all of them may work for you. Some vendors may try to sell you flash arrays that don’t provide Tier-1 data services that have become so crucial to performing big data analytics. Solutions that don’t feature massively parallel design, converged flash, and mixed workload support could be a poor fit for your organization. Any vendor selling a solution that doesn’t have these features while knowing you want to use big data is a vendor you want to stay away from.
Perhaps the best way to stay ahead of the shady flash providers out there is to simply be informed. An educated customer is always in a much better position than a clueless customer. With the right information on your side, you’ll be able to ask excellent questions, get direct responses, and know when you’re being sold something the vendor can’t deliver. Flash storage is the future, so it’s best to get a start on it now by keeping one step ahead of the providers.