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Flash will not replace hard drives in 2011

Posted: Fri May 30, 2008 8:57 am
by TheDaddy
Pillar & Gartner: flash will not replace hard drives in 2011

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http://blocksandfiles.com/article/5279

Pillar & Gartner: flash will not replace hard drives in 2011


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I don't what they're (EMC) smoking - but it's something really strong


The building expectation around Fibre Channel drive replacement by flash drives is rejected by Pillar Data and Gartner.

Quoting Gartner analyst John Monroe numbers, Pillar Data CEO Mike Workman suggests EMC's Joe Tucci and SanDisk's Eli Hariri may be smoking something unauthorised.

The Gartner numbers say that "in 4Q09, a single 500GB HDD will likely cost <$40 while 32GB of packaged PC-grade SSD NAND flash will likely cost >$70."

EMC CEO Joe Tucci reckons flash solid state drives (SSD) will become much more affordable and start replacing Fibre Channel hard drives in data centers. His storage business head, David Donatelli, said at EMC World that flash SSDs will have price parity with Fibre Channel hard disk drives (HDD) by the end of 2010.

The Gartner numbers are not consistent with that view, especially as they look at PC-grade flash, not enterprise storage grade. Price parity may occur after 2015 if the Gartner curves are extrapolated but not before.

Mike Workman said: "I don't know what they're (EMC) smoking - but it's something really strong."

Seen from Pillar HQ the idea that flash drives will replace Fibre Channel hard drives any time soon is a chimaera.