Fusion-io Accelerates Hybrid Storage Performance

Fusion-io, Inc. announced ioControl Server Performance Extension (SPX), a suite of ioControl hybrid storage solutions that amplify Fusion ioMemory server flash performance with intelligent server caching.

ioControl SPX is a hybrid solution to offer server caching, which enhances the performance of ioControl hybrid storage . The solutions deliver shared storage performance for data-intensive application clusters such as VMware and SQL Server in an integrated solution that enables SMEs to leverage the Fusion-io performance.

“With the holiday shopping season quickly approaching, we needed a solution that could guarantee payments to be processed in less than a second to ensure customer experience and retail efficiency at the point of sale,” said Rick Taylor, CEO, BridgePay Network Solutions, LLC., which provides cloud payment gateway processing solutions in the United States and around the globe. “By intelligently caching databases locally in servers on Fusion-io flash memory, while maintaining the centralized management and simplified HA of our shared storage, ioControl SPX delivers integrated performance that enables us to complete transactions in half the time. The Fusion-io support team worked very closely with our IT team in designing and implementing the solution step by step, allowing for a transparent transition to the new technology. In addition, the Fusion-io solution fit our budgetary needs while providing enhanced performance, reliability and storage space. Our customers are extremely satisfied with the speed and stability of the new system.”

As the only hybrid storage solution architected with ioMemory, ioControl 3.0 provides 3X more performance and 25% more capacity than SSD hybrid storage. With an infrastructure that leverages ioMemory flash in the server, ioTurbine software, and shared ioControl hybrid storage, the SPX solution accelerates performance by an additional 4X compared to SSD hybrid storage systems. To maximize the efficiency of flash resources for SMEs, ioControl SPX performs writes on shared ioMemory flash in ioControl. Read workloads are moved from ioControl to ioMemory flash in the server to complete application requests as rapidly as possible.

Additional details on the benefits of ioControl solutions are documented in the white paper, SSD to PCIe, the Evolution of Hybrid Caching (registration needed.)

“By 2014, up to 60% of server workloads will be virtualized as high performance storage systems enable enterprises to virtualize even data-intensive workloads,” said Tim Stammers, senior analyst at 451 Research. “Fusion ioControl SPX is an end-to-end flash memory system for small to medium enterprises, which combines the benefits of shared, centralized hybrid storage, with the additional performance boost of server-side flash, delivered by a single vendor.”

ioControl SPX solutions accelerate and simplify HA for VMware and SQL Server clusters through a solution that also reduces storage sprawl to provide cost savings for SMEs. In VMware environments, ioControl SPX maximizes VM density for the most data-intensive workloads by eliminating virtualization storage bottlenecks and minimizing latency delays that slow application performance. Compatible with VMware vMotion, ioControl SPX delivers memory-attached HA in a solution that balances performance with simplicity of integration. As an integrated Fusion Powered solution, ioControl SPX scales linearly to deliver datacenter efficiency in virtualized environments.

In database environments, faster database transactions enhance the value of IT by enabling companies to transform information into opportunity more quickly. To boost performance while simplifying server clustering for databases like SQL Server, ioControl SPX provides server-side caching with an active-active architecture that eliminates any single point of failure. The integrated solution avoids the cost and complexity of implementing third party software to achieve storage HA.

“Optimizing acceleration across both servers and shared storage maximizes the value of flash memory for small to medium enterprises,” said Jeff Treuhaft, Fusion-io EVP of products. “Fusion ioControl SPX intelligently directs write operations to flash in persistent shared storage, while servicing repetitive read requests from server-side flash to respond as quickly as possible to application requests. This integrated approach maximizes server and storage flash resources with an efficient solution for HA Microsoft and VMware clusters.”

ioControl Hybrid Storage Solutions were showcased at VMworld 2013 Europe in Barcelona, Spain, from October 15-17 and at IP Expo 2013 in London from October 16-17.

ioControl SPX is available from Fusion-io resellers in North America and Europe.