Updated on September 17, 2014
If you have used solid state drives in your PC or server set-up, you may have noticed they slow down over time. In particular, installing new programs or updates and copying large files can all take longer than when the workstation was brand new.
This happens because solid state drives, initially faster than a normal hard-drive, suffer performance degradation over time. This can even cause physical damage to the drive, potentially leading to data loss. Disk defragmentation methods designed for the moving parts within a standard hard drive do not work on solid state drives, and can even reduce their lifespan.
The solution is a solid state accelerator. These cards can maintain their speed over time as compared to an SSD. Typically, they can be installed directly into a PC or server, or can be installed into the server tier. Solid state accelerators drastically improve latency, alleviate I/O bottlenecks and as a result can give you predictable response times. An example of a solid state accelerator is the SanDisk Lightning PCIe. This particular disk is “plug-and-play”, meaning you can install it directly into a PCIe slot.
The SSA creates connections between storage and server or workstation processors which accelerates application execution.
What businesses can benefit from a solid state accelerator?
For any business that relies on rendering high quality graphics or works with video these cards can improve productivity, and hence revenue. They are equally valuable in environments with large amounts of data processing. Examples include:
- Seismic analysis
- Weather forecasting
- Modelling fluid dynamics and multi-body dynamics
- Rapid prototyping in computer-aided engineering designs
- Media editing, particularly video and audio
Solid state accelerators can also provide faster data performance on the server side.
- Online transaction processing can become smoother and faster, allowing you take payments more quickly and improving customer satisfaction.
- Speeds up enterprise resource planning (ERP) database analysis
- Speeds up customer relationship management (CRM) applications
Benefits of solid state accelerators
- High read-and-write performance and accelerated application performance
- Boosts read and write performance up to 5x
- Faster speed on transactions and real-time data access
- Enhanced productivity by enabling faster performance of key applications
- Can lower power consumption
- Reduces demand on cooling systems
- Access files and applications on the cloud faster
They are a great solution if you want to significantly improve the performance of your PCs or servers, but do not want to go to the cost of a complete system overhaul. It will also mean you have to replace your current SSDs less often. Almost all businesses can increase revenue by improving productivity, and one of the easiest ways to do that is by installing solid state accelerators.
