Paper Title: Optimizing SSD Performance Efficiently with Realistic Workloads

Paper Abstract: SSDs are now part of every data center. However, their performance varies greatly, so data centers must validate them before deployment. But how does one obtain realistic workloads? The best approach would be to have analytics tools that could capture the characteristics of real production workloads, along with a replay capability that would allow one to present the captured data in the test environment. Data center teams could then test drives more efficiently and more effectively than they can with randomly generated, benchmark, or synthetic workloads. Such tools are extremely helpful in identifying and resolving issues during validation rather than during actual operations. Data centers can then make more informed buying decisions before deploying SSDs.

Paper Author: Bob Weisickle, CEO, OakGate Technology

Author Bio: Bob Weisickle co-founded OakGate Technology and serves as its Strategy & Technology Officer. In this role, Bob plays a pivotal role in strategic customer engagements and technology leadership initiatives. Bob has had a distinguished career in storage and server industries, holding key positions at large corporations, as well start-up companies. During his 26-year tenure at Hewlett Packard, Bob held a variety of positions, including the head of its Enterprise Storage Lab. Bob also played leadership roles in the engineering organizations at Sun Microsystems/Oracle, Network Appliance, Intransa, and Rackable Systems. He has extensive experience managing large engineering teams and offshore development facilities. Bob has engineering degrees from Santa Clara University.