Flash memory is taking the data center world by storm and creating disruptive opportunities to challenge the status quo, overcoming the capacity challenges of RAM and the performance challenges of hard disks to enable innovative new architectures. This article discusses several different real-world use cases for SQL Server, MySQL web scale, and performance scale up within a turnkey appliance. A Highly Available, Shared-nothing Microsoft SQL Server Powerhouse When flash is placed within the server, as close to the CPU as possible (i.e. natively on the PCI Express bus), the media's microsecond latencies enables databases to get the performance they need without having to go across the network to Tier 1 storage (via shared-nothing architectures). But many organizations' High Availability (HA) requirements have kept them tied them to back-end storage, limiting them to less effective architectures that rely on hard disk arrays, unnecessary legacy storage protocols, and millisecond-latency network transfers. Enterprise software developers have been quick to realize flash's potential and develop features to support HA without a SAN or NAS. A great example is Microsoft SQL Server 2012's AlwaysOn, which automates server-based replication and failover for many different environments. Online gaming platform company, BetOnSoft, used flash memory with AlwaysOn and readable mirror to achieve the following benefits: Eliminated maintenance job's impact on performance 10.8x faster Check DB jobs 9x faster backups Support 10x more workload per server Offloads reporting with Fusion Powered readable mirror 200-millisecond average replication speeds (including network overhead) 14-second failover Notably, Microsoft is not the only Enterprise vendor in the space to offer these kinds of features. Oracle's DataGuard provides similar server-based replication and failover—and flash memory eliminates performance slowdown for both. About the Author Gary Orenstein, VP of Products, Fusion-io Gary has served in leadership roles at numerous data center infrastructure companies. Prior to Fusion-io, he was the vice president of marketing at MaxiScale, focused on web scale file systems and acquired by Overland Storage. Prior to MaxiScale, he was the vice president of marketing and business development at Gear6, focusing on storage and web caching. He also served as vice president of marketing at Compellent which went public in 2007, and was a co-founder at Nishan Systems, which was acquired by McDATA/Brocade.