As NAND flash memory technology has evolved, MLC, TLC, and QLC has been perceived to compromise both reliability and performance. In this episode of the On-Premise IT podcast, we confront the reality of Quad-Level Cell (QLC) SSDs, shedding light on their capabilities and suitability for today’s workloads. Roger Corell of Solidigm, who sponsored this episode, discuss QLC SSD with Karen Lopez, Alastair Cooke, and Stephen Foskett. The industry is increasingly embracing the benefits of QLC SSDs for mainstream workloads, and this discussion debunks common misconceptions, emphasizing the equivalent reliability, performance, and quality of QLC, TLC, and MLC SSDs. With the shifting landscape of read-intensive workloads and the growing data demands, QLC SSDs offer an efficient and cost-effective solution for mainstream applications.

On-Premises for Today’s Spotlight Podcast:

Panelists

Karen Lopez

Alastair Cooke

Twitter

@DataChick

@DemitasseNZ

Solidigm Panelist:

Roger Corell, Director Solution Marketing at Solidigm. Find out more about Solidigm’s SSDs and other products on their website.

Moderator

Stephen Foskett

Twitter

@SFoskett

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The Rise of QLC SSDs for Mainstream Workloads

As technology evolves, there are often trade-offs between reliability, performance, and capacity. This has been especially true in the world of NAND flash memory, where multi-level cell (MLC) technology has long been perceived to compromise both reliability and performance. However, in this episode of the On-Premise IT podcast, sponsored by Solidigm, industry experts confront the reality of Quad-Level Cell (QLC) SSDs, shedding light on their capabilities and suitability for today’s workloads. Roger Corell of Solidigm is joined by Karen Lopez, Alastair Cooke, and Stephen Foskett, in a discussion of the advantages of QLC SSDs.

In recent years, workloads have shifted towards being more read-intensive, aligning perfectly with the capabilities of QLC flash technology. Solidigm’s fourth-generation QLC SSD drives are a testament to this evolution, delivering impressive capacities of up to 32 TB, a wide range of high-density form factors, and cost-effectiveness tailored for mainstream workloads. These SSDs have even made their way into new form factors like EDSFF E3, offering improved cooling and density for applications beyond traditional data centers and the cloud.

One of the persistent misconceptions surrounding QLC SSDs is the belief that increased bit per cell density significantly impacts read performance. However,