More recently the bank has kept costs down only by tiering storage and playing off vendors.

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The key to being able to hold positions is tiering in and out of size.

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Drobo automated Data-Aware Tiering, which automatically configures and utilizes both hard drives and SSD technology.

ENGADGET: Drobo's new 5N is a speedy $600 NAS for when you need files, stat

Most of these devices are used for caching and high performance storage tiering applications.

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Bring high-end storage features (automated data tiering, deduplication, virtualization, etc.) to the mid enterprise market.

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The management of this storage tiering by Apple software is the reason why the company calls this combination a Fusion Drive.

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This is true even though technologies such as virtualization, deduplication, intelligent storage tiering and more recently software defined storage allow more efficient utilization of storage hardware.

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Finally storage tiering and the combinations of storage and memory are undergoing a revolution as flash memory and perhaps other solid state storage technology such as MRAM find niches in more and more devices.

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In addition, the Drobo 5N, much like its sibling Thunderbolt-powered solutions the Drobo Mini and 5D, utilizes Drobo's Data-Aware Tiering capability, which intelligently uses high-performance flash (SSD) technology to accelerate performance of the storage array, allowing applications such as Adobe Lightroom and Apple iPhoto or iTunes fast access to data.

ENGADGET: Drobo's new 5N is a speedy $600 NAS for when you need files, stat