Data management company NetApp’s research has found that Flash is synonymous with the UK enterprise as two thirds of its businesses (57 per cent) are supported by Flash – and almost one in five say there are no factors that would prevent them from adopting Flash technologies. The survey of over 1000 UK IT decision makers shows that small and medium sized businesses are leading the way in Flash adoption.
While more than half of larger enterprises (55 per cent) have already adopted Flash technology – followed closely by smaller businesses with a 53 per cent adoption rate – medium sized businesses were the strongest advocates of Flash with two thirds (61 per cent) saying they have adopted Flash either within the last 12 months or earlier. Furthermore, one in five smaller businesses are planning to adopt Flash technologies either within the next 12 months or in over a years’ time.
The need for Flash remains consistent across the UK enterprise with 53 per cent of businesses saying they need Flash to support high-performance storage. Almost half (48 per cent) say it is needed to support their ability to store data without power and without losing data, and two fifths (40 percent) say it is necessary to support high speed storage across multiple devices.
In-line with the needs established in NetApp’s research, almost one in five businesses are using Flash technology to support payment processing (18 per cent) and business intelligence applications – which require high-performance storage and reliable access to data. Other applications supported by Flash in the UK include email marketing systems applications (15.2 per cent), HR management (14.9 per cent and enterprise resources planning applications (14 per cent).
Laurence James, NEMEA Products, Alliances and Solutions Manager at NetApp says, “The perceived barriers to Flash adoption are falling down as small and medium sized businesses are realising the benefits of high performance and consistency across their enterprise applications.
“Our research shows that IT decision makers understand the business value of Flash. At NetApp we are committed to enabling UK businesses with Flash solutions, providing a foundation for them to realise their full potential.”
