Solid State Hits Solid Ground

With the industry's next PC refresh upon us, and anticipated to slowly build for more than a year, it's now time for technology solution providers to give stronger consideration than ever to solutions with Solid State Drive (SSD) storage -- particularly in the enterprise.

After several weeks of evaluation by the CRN Test Center of Intel's X25-M SSDs, the imperative of either migrating or drawing a path to migration to this platform is now greater than ever. Simply put: Intel has delivered SSD technology that, for the price, will deliver longer PC life, better performance and efficiency than can be ignored.

Here's why:

For speed, life span and price performance, SSDs offer an exciting look at the future of computing. From a TCO standpoint, from an energy-efficiency standpoint and from a reliability standpoint, SSD technology has been a strong alternative to HDDs. But Intel has taken aggressive pricing action over the past several months, making cost of acquisition—once incredibly prohibitive—less and less of a factor.

Here's a look at a couple of speeds and feeds:

We compared speed performance of an 80-GB version of the Intel X25-M against a 2-TB Seagate Barracuda XT. This is not an apples-to-apples comparison, but rather we wanted to provide some means of comparison between the two architectures.

To be clear, the Barracuda XT is a drive we like and believe has a nice place for system builders in developing higher-capacity desktop solutions at a fair price point. But when matched head-to-head, it simply can't compare to the speed of the SSD.

When transferring a 2-GB file from a Western Digital HDD, the data moved to the Barracuda XT in 1 minute and 45 seconds.

When transferring the same file from the same drive to the X25-M, it took 1 minute and 3 seconds, according to the Test Center's trusty stop watch.

During use, the X25-M also never rose above room temperature—72 degrees Fahrenheit—when measured with an infrared thermometer. The Barracuda XT was measured at 105 degrees Fahrenheit after about 20 minutes of use. Extra heat means PC fans have to run harder, make more noise and consume more electricity over time. More activity inside a PC chassis also gives other components more of an opportunity to wear out over time.

Pricing is the next metric that needs evaluation when considering this platform.

The 80-GB Intel X25-M can be found for about $225 in street pricing. The Barracuda XT at 2 TB can be found in street pricing starting at about $275. And, again, the pricing curve has been moving in Intel's favor over time with the SSD platform.

For now, Intel's holding off on larger capacities may be a business call on its part as its 34nm process becomes more mature.

The bottom line: We want more from Intel, not because its SSD lineup is lacking but because it's been so good and is getting better. For system builders and VARs, the performance and efficiency metrics alone make it a compelling solution for many enterprises where those measurements are important. (Although we're not yet at the point where the SSD's better efficiency will quickly pay off in ROI. That, though could happen by the end of 2010.)

We're not writing off the HDD platform, either. The simple fact is it's the easiest route to take in terms of support from the entire ecosystem. (We're not the biggest fans of retrofitting SSDs into ATX or MicroATX PC chassis. Desktop case makers haven't exactly been out in front in supporting the SSD revolution.)

But the SSD's time is here, as Intel has proven.

COMMUNITY: Connect with the CRN Test Center at community.crn.com.

Tweet

   

More Components & Peripherals