Flash storage is a sexy topic lately, thanks to the recent success of companies like Fusion-io.  FlashSoft is another that’s been on our radar lately, with an initial launch product designed around the leveraging of cache at the SSD level.  The company’s even caught the eye of SiliconAngle founder John Furrier, who outlined the benefits of FlashSoft’s caching process for improving the cloud’s data processes at the server level.  Today FlashSoft unveils its second major product, releasing the SE-V edition for VMware’s virtualized machines.

FlashSoft SE-V accelerates application performance on Windows Server in Virtual Machine environments, based on VMware vSphere.  The new solution is based on the original product, which enables enterprise flash as a server-tier cache.  What the new edition looks to do is translate that same level of performance on virtual machines, based on VMware’s ESX software platform.

“The core of FlashSoft SE-V is based on our proven FlashSoft SE product, so it delivers the same degree of performance and reliability that our customers enjoy with our current product,” said Ted Sanford, founder and CEO of FlashSoft. “Now IT managers can apply flash memory to enhance application performance in virtual machines based on the VMware platform.”

FlashSoft SE-V works by wrapping the server software in the context of a virtual environment in order to run on a virtual machine.  The FlashSoft drive would be installed normally on Windows Server, and the entire bundle would then be installed on a virtual machine.  The solid state drive that FlashSoft uses for cache is in fact placed on the host virtual machine server.  The business value for the enterprise level is that application acceleration can be applied to a wider stretch, encompassing a virtual machine and replicating FlashSoft’s enhancements at a new level.

The benefits for users are clear, but they’re not without their own challenges.  When working at the virtual machine level, there’s a few new administrative tasks to consider in installing and operating a system like FlashSoft’s new product.  It’s not so much the installation process that causes more obstacles for IT, but determining how to best allocate FlashSoft SE-V is something for IT to think about.  That poses another challenge for FlashSoft as it builds its own business around flash storage for the enterprise market.

“We’re very glad [FlashSoft SE-V] can be implemented to run seamlessly inside the VMware environment,” says Rich Petersen, FlashSoft’s VP of Marketing.  “When you’re providing a complete product, providing document support, etc. is different because you’re now addressing users that want to install four or eight times on separate virtual machines.  Partitioning the storage and SSD–that’s also something the end user has to think about.”

For many companies dealing with the enterprise cloud, it’s at this point they start thinking about building out their support services.  And that form of build out is certainly something FlashSoft is already thinking about.  Given the short install process for FlashSoft’s base product, there’s a bit of a jump when it comes to translating that to the virtual environment.  There’s a different kind of support needed to serve end users, and the company has been staffing accordingly.  FlashSoft doesn’t anticipate too much additional work, but there’s admittedly an art to working with virtual machines, and the company plans to continue publishing about the process, helping administrators to identify hot data for applications, and determining how to partition the right amount of SSD resources to get that hot spot just right.

“We’re actually building a product we’ll be giving away to do that,” Sanford explains.  Called the FlashSoft analyzer, it will be a “light driver you put into an operating server–you don’t have to reboot, the code nestles in.  It makes a trace of the application you think you might want to use FlashSoft for, then you load the FlashSoft app in user mode and that app.  This would execute against the traces of the actual I/O that’s trapped.  From that, we’ll be able to tell the user how big the not spot it and what kind of performance acceleration to expect in a certain capacity.”