policy & reform campusreview . com . au
Digital delay
Why universities need to upgrade their digital storage capabilities .
By Mark Jobbins
Universities are increasingly relying on digital technologies to support , augment and deliver teaching and learning . They are seeking new ways to interact and engage students remotely while also expanding research methods by leveraging new technologies ; all this while also driving operational efficiencies .
Against this backdrop , legacy storage environments are hindering operations . Many universities are reaching the limits of their storage capacity and are looking for new options . All-flash storage arrays can overcome these issues and deliver significant performance benefits for universities .
Legacy storage solutions are often characterised by latency . Choosing the right storage option can help overcome performance issues such as latency , letting students and staff focus on their studies and research without being frustrated by slow responses .
When universities reach the limit of their existing storage capabilities , they often consider simply adding more of the same type of storage . However , adding more legacy storage does not provide spacesaving technologies such as deduplication and compression . It also does not support workload spikes during peak periods , which can include enrolments and the release of academic results . And it doesn ’ t solve performance issues , which are likely to worsen given that few organisations create , share , and store data at the rate universities do .
Universities generate massive amounts of data across the organisation and research projects are a great example of data-intensive activities . Universities are expected to retain data for five years , continually adding to the data burden . Usually , the cost of data storage needs to come out of the grant funds for specific projects . Keeping these costs down is a financial imperative .
The Australian Research Data Commons ( ARDC ) Institutional Underpinnings program was created in 2020 to create a nationally agreed framework for research data management . Nichola Burton , ARDC program manager for the Institutional Underpinnings program , said : “ Some universities are drowning under data and the problem is only getting bigger .”
The creation of this project and the participation of 25 of Australia ’ s 42 universities illustrates that universities are well aware of the challenges they face regarding storage and are looking for guidance and consensus on how to approach this . 1
ALL-FLASH ARRAYS PROVIDE AN ELEGANT OPTION FOR UNIVERSITIES
Traditional storage devices were harddisk drives characterised by a spinning disk . These have created an inherent risk because moving parts mean more can go wrong . A drive with a spinning disk is unreliable and failure can make it impossible to recover data . Particles or contaminants can cause the disk to fail , as can excessive wear and even persistent loud noises . 2
The new generation of storage technology uses flash memory drives which have no moving parts , so there is less risk of failure . Flash uses electricity to write to and erase the chips , so flash is much faster than traditional spinning-disk drives . It ’ s reliable because it ’ s non-volatile , which means it retains its memory even if powered down .
An all-flash array used to be prohibitively expensive ; however , the technology has progressively become more affordable , so all-flash storage is now a viable solution for most organisations .
Flash storage delivers three key benefits :
1 . Speed . All-flash arrays offer the fastest read-write and access times , making it faster to access and share data . Structured query language ( SQL ) queries can run up to three times faster with the right storage solution .
2 . Space . Flash memory takes up less physical space compared to a spinningdisk drive with the same capacity , so it ’ s possible to fit more storage capacity into data centres .
3 . Reliability . Because flash storage has no moving parts , it ’ s less susceptible to failure . Universities should choose an all-flash storage solution that is designed from the ground up for the cloud era . The chosen platform should deliver robust performance while delivering cost savings , eliminating the need for expensive , disruptive and cumbersome data migrations , and simplify operations . It should support cloudenabled agility to support the university ’ s future needs .
The ideal provider should also provide advanced compression and deduplication capabilities . By eliminating duplicate copies of data across the entire storage system , and compressing data with a lossless process , universities can reduce the amount of data in their system . This helps to save energy , reduce physical storage costs , and decrease the university ’ s data centre footprint .
The data explosion is unlikely to abate anytime soon as universities continue to create data on a massive scale . By upgrading their storage capabilities , universities can deliver a better user experience to students and staff , support data-intensive projects , and prepare for a future in which data continues to play a key role in every aspect of teaching , learning and research .
For references go to www . campusreview . com . au ■
Mark Jobbins is vice president and field CTO , Asia Pacific & Japan , at Pure Storage .
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