{"slug": "hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined", "title": "Hard reality of surging SSD costs force tech pros to consider software defined storage", "summary": "An Omdia report commissioned by Verge.io found that DRAM prices nearly doubled in Q1 2025 and SSD prices rose more than 50%, prompting 98% of storage professionals to consolidate storage layers and consider software-defined storage. Nearly three-quarters of respondents are slowing on-premise AI deployment due to pricing pressures, while 27% manage 1PB to 10PB of data and 6% handle 100PB or more. Verge.io CMO George Crump noted that software-defined storage is the durable answer to the hardware supply crisis.", "body_md": "FLASH\n\n# Hard reality of surging SSD costs force tech pros to consider software defined storage\n\nStorage teams are bearing the brunt of AI fuelled price hikes for SSDs and memory, forcing them consolidate storage layers and confront the fact that much of their data is beyond their control.\n\nThe challenges facing storage pros was laid bare in an Omdia report commissioned by Verge.io, and released this week. The report noted that DRAM prices almost doubled in the first quarter alone, while SSD prices were up by more than half.\n\n### Every byte lands on media somebody bought at 2026 prices. What is not fixed is the gap between the capacity an enterprise buys and the workload it serves\n\nAnd, it noted, “The supply side has chosen not to build its way out” with no forecasters expecting a return to 2025 type pricing any time soon.\n\nThis means tech and storage pros are being forced to rethink their strategies and are focusing on software rather than increasingly unobtainable hardware.\n\nJust 2 percent of respondents are NOT looking to consolidate storage layers or are in the process of doing so, the research showed. And while it is hyperscalers’ and model makers’ greed for infrastructure that is driving prices higher, pricing pressures and shortages mean almost three quarters of respondents are “slowing on-premise AI deployment.”\n\nThis is all happening as companies amass ever more data on-prem, with 27 percent boasting 1PB to 10PB, a similar amount packing 11PB to 25PB, and 18 percent having 25PB to 50PB. At the top end, 6 percent are dealing with 100PB or more. Meanwhile data growth rates are surging with nearly three quarters of respondents seeing volumes climbing by between 11 percent and 50 percent annually.\n\nThis means companies are looking at consolidation, software defined strategies, and the cloud to fill the gap. Cloud is the first port of call, with almost half of firms not already using it “considering or planning moderate investment” and 31 percent considering or planning “significant investment.”\n\nBut Omdia chief analyst Simon Robinson noted: “We were surprised by the number of organizations that are considering software-defined storage as a potential solution.”\n\n“Buyers put software-defined storage at the top of that list without anyone prompting them, and our read is that they did it because software that does not care which hardware you bought is the durable answer to a hardware supply crisis,” said Verge.io CMO George Crump.\n\nCrump added, “Every byte lands on media somebody bought at 2026 prices. What is not fixed is the gap between the capacity an enterprise buys and the workload it serves.”\n\nSo, companies need to pay far more attention to how they allocate arrays, how they optimize them, and the number of architectures they support.\n\n“Cut the number of architectures. Move cold data down, since 30TB SSD capacity now costs 22.6 times the equivalent disk, up from 4.9 times. Stop buying a second set of hardware to protect the first. None of that is exotic, and most organizations have never measured any of it.”\n\nThe problem is many companies have little insight into the data they already have, with over a third of companies admitting that half to three quarters of their data is “dark”, with another 13 percent saying 76 percent to 90 percent of their data is dark.\n\nThis leaves them with the challenge of how to manage what may be a potential asset for training AI – or which may simply be a drain on increasingly strained storage budgets.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined", "canonical_source": "https://www.blocksandfiles.com/flash/2026/08/18/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined-storage/5289055", "published_at": "2026-08-18 13:05:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-18 13:15:22.171029+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["ai-infrastructure", "ai-policy", "ai-research"], "entities": ["Omdia", "Verge.io", "Simon Robinson", "George Crump"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/hard-reality-of-surging-ssd-costs-force-tech-pros-to-consider-software-defined.jsonld"}}