The performance of IT infrastructure is crucial for delivering an exceptional customer experience and accelerating digital transformation efforts. Traditional hard disk drives (HDDs), once the staple for enterprise storage, are now a major performance bottleneck.
Moving to flash storage is no longer a luxury but a necessity for organisations aiming to modernise data centres, accelerate applications, and improve efficiency and reliability. The Fujitsu Eternus AF all-flash storage system offers a seamless path to this transition.
Limitations of hard disk drives
HDDs rely on spinning magnetic platters and mechanical arms, which limit speed and increase the risk of failure. Typical hard disks are approximately 500 times slower than flash drives, resulting in slower application performance, particularly for demanding workloads such as big data, online transactions, and virtual desktops. Their physical design also demands more space, power and cooling, significantly increasing operational costs.
HDDs are also less reliable, with an estimated 100 times greater failure rate than flash drives. As data volumes grow exponentially, using HDDs becomes costlier and less practical for modern enterprises that require agility and high availability.
Historically, flash storage has been exponentially more expensive than spinning disks. However, thanks to Fujitsu ETERNUS AF, flash and HDD storage technologies are now reaching price parity, clearing one of the biggest barriers to all-flash adoption.
Advantages of flash storage
Flash storage utilises solid-state memory with no moving parts, providing access times in the range of 0.1 to 1 millisecond – approximately 500 times faster than HDDs. This ultra-low latency transforms application performance, allowing consolidation of workloads on a single platform without sacrificing speed.
Flash is also 100x more reliable and resilient, safeguarding critical business data and reducing downtime risks. While flash used to be expensive, technological advances and inline efficiency measures like deduplication and compression have brought costs down to parity with HDDs, making it feasible for broad deployment for every application.
Physical storage footprint is also dramatically reduced, with flash achieving up to ten times higher storage density. This reduction leads to lower premises space, energy usage and cooling requirements, cutting operational expenses by up to 85% – and helping businesses meet their sustainability goals. Maintenance costs are also lowered due to durability and automation features in flash storage arrays.
Simplifying the transition to flash
Transitioning from HDDs to flash storage can seem complex, but Fujitsu Eternus AF simplifies this process. Using the same management platform as Fujitsu’s hybrid storage solutions, you can migrate gradually without disruption or retraining. This protects existing IT investments while unlocking all the benefits of flash.
The Fujitsu management platform automates quality of service management, eliminating manual tuning efforts and ensuring consistent application performance. Automation frees your IT teams to focus on strategic initiatives rather than routine storage maintenance.
An all-flash future is closer than you think
Modern businesses must overcome the limitations of hard disk drives to remain competitive in a digital-first world. Flash storage offers unmatched speed, reliability, efficiency and cost benefits that transform IT infrastructure.
The Fujitsu Eternus AF all-flash storage system simplifies and accelerates this crucial transition. By delivering industry-leading performance, automation and seamless compatibility with existing environments, it empowers your organisation to modernise confidently and unlock new opportunities for innovation.
Embracing flash storage is an essential step towards greater agility, reduced costs and improved IT outcomes in today’s dynamic business landscape. To learn more, please contact the the WTL team.