all-flash array (AFA)
An all-flash array( AFA) is a solid state array( SSA) consisting exclusively of solid state drives( SSD) with non-volatile NAND flashes. All-flash arrays are characterized by high performance and short response times and latency, which are in the micro- and nanosecond range.
In contrast to all-flash arrays, the latency times of disk arrays are in the millisecond range. In addition, all-flash arrays consist of non-volatile NAND flashes and are not subject to mechanical stress. Storage capacities of AFA arrays exceed100 terabytes( TB), which can be scaled for specific applications.
All-flash arrays can be built with single level cells( SLC) or multi-level cells( MLC) and provide good CPU utilization thanks to short microsecond latency and best input/output operations per second ( IOPS) values. They accelerate the provision ofIT services and can be used in database management thanks to their flexibility and performance.