Flash storage has become a necessity in many industries, innovations, and organizations, it has become a fundamental part of our daily lives, and we are surrounded by it without even realizing it. Flash memories are significant, in today’s computer world. With its low power consumption, portability and size, as well as safety and efficiency, flash storage is ideal for supporting data and information created with digital cameras, smartphones, audio devices, among other gadgets.
Delivering faster speeds and better efficiency, organizations are keen to invest in flash storage. It not only stores large amounts of data in the smallest possible space, but it allows reading and writing in multiple memory locations with the same operation. While the price of flash technology was initially too high to be affordable, now the price of All-Flash Arrays (AFAs) has lowered and are a genuine option for enterprises, however, the price of NAND flash chips has increased as major companies are adopting it. Its purpose is to achieve the desired output at high performance and reliability, thus, driving the demand of the market.
Flash storage is now an essential requirement in industries such as finance, as banks and other institutions are relying on fast flash-based storage arrays to eliminate performance bottlenecks for transaction systems, particularly during service peaks. People have become more and more used to quick, instant service and can become very unhappy when they cannot access their online banking when they need it. Banks have turned to this technology as a critical customer service priority and are leveraging flash arrays to quickly generate and analyze reports and improve the speed of the virtual desktops at remote sites and tellers, therefore reducing desktop costs.
Governments as well are looking to create smart cities, and so are also finding flash memory critical in underpinning their initiatives. Whether it’s from sensors scattered throughout the city, collecting and analyzing data in real time, or communicating the results, flash storage is underpinning many critical smart city infrastructure projects.
Flash storage is enabling many innovations to exist that would be either very difficult or even impossible with more traditional storage technologies. Data collection for example, and of course the use of data, is widespread and a modern day necessity for running a business. Data which gets collected is often massive, so fast storage speeds can either make or break the success of a project.
As smartphones become indispensable, the competition in the consumer electronics industry is increasing. Therefore companies have been rapidly adopting next-generation technologies to retain their position in the market, which in turn, will increase the demand for ample storage space.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is another example of something that needs flash memory. AI is seen as one of the most effective ways for an organization to drive greater efficiencies, but the sheer weight of data involved in AI applications and the fact that AI needs to operate in real time with raw data means that the only viable solution for an AI application is to use flash memory storage.
Predictive storage analytics is also being combined with AI and machine learning to drive greater optimization within the storage environment, and proactively detect and address problems in real time. This also means handling vast amounts of data in real time, so requires flash storage.
The Internet of Things (IoT) is another area of innovation that companies are now relying on. With the promise of sensors and other connected devices adding to the meaningful and usable data collected, it is predicted that by 2019 the number of connected IoT devices in the world will hit 12.2 billion (more than double the number of devices from just two years prior). Only flash storage can handle a dynamic environment that is looking to tap into the potential of IoT. The data collection will be significant, and the rate at which data will be collected is unprecedented.
Because of this, there is an increasing demand for low-cost Storage and applications of NAND flash memory are expected to increase, and there has also been an emphasis on the evolution of new technology and products, as existing solutions cannot effectively scale to the capacity needed to meet the increasing demand for data.
Asia-Pacific is set to occupy the largest share in the NAND flash memory market, due to the high technological adoption of memory devices in the consumer electronics and enterprise storage sectors in the region. Also, memory devices manufacturers, globally, are now adopting various strategies, such as joint ventures, to increase their businesses and market shares.
