As we look to 2020, there are numerous signals supporting our hypotheses around NVMe and NVMe-oF storage solutions. CTO V.R. Satish shared predictions for 2020:
- The convergence of primary and secondary storage ushers in NVMe-oF as a cost-effective and performant media for secondary storage.
- NVMe-oF will become the preferred protocol for all new infrastructure deployments.
- High-performance edge storage becomes a requirement for hybrid cloud deployments with arrays taking center stage.
According to Industry Projections, NVMe has crossed the chasm with the number of NVMe gigabyte shipments likely surpassing SAS and SATA combined in 2019. In 2020, G2M Inc. expects NVMe to reach $57 billion in total sales.
On the other hand, Gartner’s Hype Cycle for Storage and Data Protection Technologies, 2019, sets a very different tone, suggesting that NVMe and NVMe-oF must emerge from the trough of disillusionment.
We believe that NVMe is ubiquitous, and NVMe-oF is inevitable.
NVMe is now a proven and cost-effective solution for both primary and secondary storage. Look for NVMe interfaces to QLC media in 2020 and beyond.
NVMe-oF is now proven. In 2019, we saw the maturation of the NVMe-oF 1.1 standard with RDMA and TCP transport, enhanced device discovery, and full-featured high-availability. It is now easier than ever to redeploy SSDs from servers into arrays.
What’s driving NVMe-oF?
- VMware’s NVMe-over-RDMA vSphere 7.0 release
- Numerous NVMe-oF drivers for Microsoft Windows
- NVMe-oF Arrays
TechTarget’s Flash Pulse Survey shows that 47 percent of NVMe adopters plan to implement through storage arrays vs. DAS. As NVMe-oF becomes defacto, NVMe-oF arrays will dominate. Why?
- Bigger SSDs
- Better Storage Utilization
- NVMe-oF Array-based Storage Management and performance needs at the edge
Bigger SSDs
Drive manufacturers want to cram more bits into smaller form factors. Bigger drives take longer to rebuild. As drives get larger, they take longer to rebuild and impact application performance. Recovery can take as long as an hour/TB with reduced network and application performance.
With an NVMe-oF array, there is zero impact on application and network performance. Some vendors offer SWARM recovery that can rebuild a 1TB drive in ~ 5 minutes.
Focus on Storage Utilization
With the recent fire at Kioxia and a projected 40% increase in NAND cost, there will be a focus on NVMe SSD utilization. DAS deployments with RAID-0 or RAID-1 are expensive. RAID-6, with thin provisioning in an array, saves money!
High-performance edge storage becomes a requirement for hybrid cloud deployments with arrays taking center stage.
Array-based Storage Management drives edge adoption
RDMA, TCP, iSCSI, NFS, VMware, Windows. All will operate with low-latency across standard networks with NVME-oF. Arrays will support some or all of these protocols and transports. Arrays also offer RAID-6, snapshots, thin provisioning, and SWARM recovery with zero host overhead.
As we enter 2020, NVMe-oF is standardized and proven at scale. The industry will add VMware and Microsoft support. Arrays will be the deployment model of choice as customers require NVMe/TCP and NVMe/RDMA simultaneously.
Pavilion’s disruptive OpenChoice Storage™ business model and patented hyperparallel storage architecture redefine enterprise storage. Supporting RDMA, TCP, iSCSI, NFS, VMware and Windows on NVMe-oF, all simultaneously.
We are excited to watch NVMe and NVMe-oF take storm in 2020 and beyond. Stay tuned to www.pavilion.io as we offer up new solutions, broader OS support and recipes for successful deployments. Never mind the awesomeness of our roadmap, the future is here and now.