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The focus of primary data storage will move to directly attached flash in servers; the PCIe-connected flash sold by Fusion-io with software to sidestep the host OS's disk I/O subsystem code; or to networked, shared flash arrays that use a PCIe fabric or InfiniBand link to have the same access speed as PCIe-connected flash actually in the server - and using the same cut-through software. Storage array vendors are at a disadvantage here. They need three things to play in this area.

Fusion-io has just released an SDK that will allow developers to bypass all the speed draining bottlenecks that rob NAND memory of its true potential (i.e. the kernel block I/O layer,) and tap directly into the memory itself. In fact, Fusion-io is so confident of its products abilities, it prefers to call them ioMemory Application Accelerators, rather than SSDs.

Fusion-io launched its ioMemory SDK library, a software development kit that for the first time gives developers direct programmatic access to the company's flash-based ioMemory Application Accelerators. This move effectively leaves competing vendors of PCIe-connected flash storage devices in the dust, as traditional flash-based storage hardware still has to contend with latency-inducing operating system layers such as the I/O subsystem. They will probably be forced to release something similar in order to compete.

Fusion-io makes flash storage that can credit a tremendous amount of its popularity to the sophisticated software powering it, such as the Atomic Writes I/O cutting extension. The company is responsible for slowly pushing SSDs into mainstream IT, and its new SDK is certainly underscoring this goal.

According to David Flynn, CEO of Flash storage memory device maker Fusion-io, the enterprise storage market has yet to be disrupted in this fashion. “Storage vendors still sell vertically integrated, vendor locked, proprietary systems,” he says. “You pay ten times over the odds for a disk drive when you buy a storage array because it’s a proprietary, closed system.” One effect of this, Flynn argues, is that the performance and capacity of storage systems are tightly coupled. When an organisation needs performance, i.e. a higher speed of input and output (i/o) from the storage array, it must buy more capacity, even if it has plenty of unused storage space.

The ioFX was the highlight of NAB Show 2012 to me. Bringing massive performance to the masses, the ioFX continues Fusion-io’s tactic of shaking up the industry. And since it uses the same ioMemory architecture and drivers as the flagship ioDrive line, I expect Fusion-io will have difficulty keeping up with demand.

Arthur Cole of IT Business Edge spoke with Gary Orenstein, Vice President of products, Fusion-io. What does the future hold for the SAN? In many organizations, it has become a trusted component of the data infrastructure. But for firms like Fusion-io, which are advocating local Flash memory solutions, the SAN is becoming too old and slow for today's high-speed environments. As the company's Gary Orenstein points out, more powerful technologies on the server and elsewhere are quickly eroding many of the rationales that led to SAN architectures in the first place.

Fusion-io is targeting VFX artists with the 420 GB Fusion ioFX, a new solid-state memory product that's designed specifically to improve workstation performance for editing, compositing, encoding, transcoding, playback and rendering.

Fusion-io has released the Fusion ioFX, a card that dramatically increases memory and processing speed for visual effects artists, even while working with high-resolution stereoscopic content.

Haven't heard too much news from Fusion-io lately, but the company famous for making PCIe-based solid state storage "a thing" is back in a big way. The company has today announced that it is bringing the power of its ioMemory technology to visual effects professionals with the Fusion ioFX. According to the company, the new monster is "designed to eliminate data bottlenecks that slow the creative production process for digital artists, the Fusion ioFX enables creative professionals to meet deadlines while exploring more artistic possibilities by bridging the performance gap between workstations and today's powerful digital content creation applications."