Nimble Storage has launched new flash storage technology designed for use in virtualized data centers and cloud environments.

It could help data center managers keep purchasing options open as two standards emerge, according to one independent market analyst.

Nimble claims its Adaptive Flash system provides the performance of flash-only arrays and the capacity of hybrid arrays.

It uses Nimble’s new CS700 Series arrays and All-Flash Shelf to deliver up to 500,000 input-output operations per second (IOPS), 64 terabytes (TBs) of flash and a petabyte of capacity.

Adaptive Flash is based on Nimble’s cache accelerated sequential layout (CASL) architecture and InfoSight, the company’s automated cloud-based management and support system.

The new CS700 Series array is designed for performance-intensive enterprise workloads, like large-scale virtual desktop infrastructures, high transaction-volume databases and server virtualization workloads such as Microsoft Exchange.

All-Flash Shelf’s capacity can be built by increments up to 16 TBs per node, or 64 TBs in a 4-node scale-out cluster.

By minimizing the trade off between performance and capacity, the system can consolidate all workloads and eliminate storage silos, according to Nimble.

As companies struggle to handle unpredictable data growth and changing demands, Nimble’s Adaptive Flash can dynamically and intelligently allocate storage resources, Dan Leary, Nimble Storage’s VP of worldwide marketing said.

“Today’s hybrid and flash-only products force enterprises to create storage silos, resulting in increased costs and management complexity,” Leary said.

“Our Adaptive Flash platform will make the storage industry rethink the way flash is used within data center and cloud environments.”

Analyst Eric Burgener, research director at IDC, said data center managers need to be aware of the continuing battle between flash and hybrid flash array vendors, which will give very different explanations over how application workloads can be tackled.

In some cases flash array is best, and in others the hybrid array option will be better, according to Burgener.

“Solutions like Nimble's give customers significant leeway and offer the flexibility needed to accommodate a wide range of mixed data center workloads,” Burgener said.