Last year was instrumental in expanding flash storage infrastructure, as the price of solid state drives (SSDs) dropped 30 percent during the 12-month time frame. This did create challenges, as some projects were delayed while buyers tried to time orders to benefit from lower pricing.
Pricing
While we anticipate continued pricing declines this year, we expect them to be less aggressive than those seen in 2018. Instead of continued price drops on the existing 2-bit or 3-bit TLC technology, the introduction of lower-priced QLC storage results in an overall lower dollar-per-Gigabyte cost.
Samsung is developing new technologies (QLC, fifth-generation V-NAND) and manufacturing efficiencies that deliver lower costs for our customers.
Storage Growth
We’ve talked about SSDs replacing hard disk drives (HDDs) many times over the years, and it looks like this transition will continue to accelerate in 2019. QLC pricing promises to radically erode the price advantage that HDDs have enjoyed while delivering the performance benefits of flash storage. Add the multiple form factors available in flash storage and you increase the opportunities to add storage to various applications.
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Samsung’s entry into the QLC market with the 860 QVO series will help system builders accelerate the transition to SSD. Low up-front cost plus much stronger performance and productivity value make these drives an extremely compelling selection.
Internet of Things
Lower cost, more form factors, increased hardware compatibility and advances in controllers have helped to increase the desire to put storage closer to the user, with examples ranging from smart homes to vehicles and fitness equipment, among others. The proliferation of intelligent Internet of Things (IoT) devices requires primary storage to improve usefulness.
Samsung’s DCT drives are being integrated into back-end servers supporting IoT applications. On the devices themselves, mSATA and M.2 with small form factors are adding storage capabilities for higher on-device intelligence and capabilities.
Enterprise Moves for PCIe/NVMe
Combining non-volatile memory (NVMe) with a high-speed PCI Express (PCIe) interface dramatically accelerates data transfers between SSDs and CPUs. Enterprise applications need fast, efficient processing for today’s massive data stores, which makes these solutions better than slower, power-hungry SATA. In 2019, watch for the shift to PCIe/NVMe in enterprise and data center spaces to continue as IT managers increasingly recognize significant ROI based on the multiple benefits it delivers.
We added our 983 DCT and 983 ZET drives this year, which add important new solutions to the branded channel.
The best-fitting SSD solution for your enterprise is waiting in Samsung’s full lineup.
