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Access "I/O: The next frontier"

Arun Taneja, Contributor Published: 18 Oct 2012
FC, iSCSI, NAS: How to choose storage for virtual servers

This article is part of the Vol. 10 Num. 7 September 2011 issue of FC, iSCSI, NAS: How to choose storage for virtual servers

Processors get faster, networking tech takes it up a notch and bus designs keep up the pace, but they may all be dragged down if we can’t find a fix for slow I/O performance. There’s no question I/O is the next frontier the computer industry must conquer. We’ve met the compute challenge reaffirming Moore’s Law over and over again as the industry doubles processing power every 12 months to 18 months. Memory speeds have also kept pace with the CPU, so processors and RAM can feed each other at similar speeds. In the realm of networking, the technologies seem to enjoy a big kick every three years to five years. With 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10 GbE) in the volume implementation stage and 40 Gig parts already available, we’re swimming in bandwidth. But all those advances may be held up by one laggard: I/O. It’s been causing havoc with application performance and putting a dent in productivity for years. To see why, we need to get down to basics. I/O is the transfer of data to or from a device that’s handled by the file system or operating system making an I/O call. ... Access >>>

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    • I/O: The next frontier by Arun Taneja, Contributor

      Processors get faster, networking tech takes it up a notch and bus designs keep up the pace, but they may all be dragged down if we can’t find a fix for slow I/O performance.

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      Cloud-enabled storage arrays are among the ways that cautious end users are testing the cloud without the worry.

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    • Let’s get real about the cloud by Rich Castagna, Editorial Director

      Cloud storage is really a pretty simple concept, so how the heck did it get so complicated?

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