It is no secret that Apple’s move to all Flash devices is only the beginning of what’s to come. Their much-anticipated release of the MacBook Pro Retina Display marked the true excitement expected of such technology. Their decision to abandon the notion of HDD has primarily targeted consumers. However, the important question is: Will the enterprise market follow the consumer market?

Flash memory is a non-volatile computer storage chip that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed; it uses electricity and has no mechanical parts. It typically consumes 80% to 90% less power and reads more than one hundred times faster than traditional mechanical hard drives.

Apple’s adoption of Flash translates into many benefits for its consumers. Performance is key and it is the biggest drive to produce such devices. The lower energy consumption of Flash contributes to a longer battery life of up to seven hours. These devices are expected to outlast other machines and durability allows for a longer overall lifespan. Their Flash technology delivers data up to four times faster and consumes 90% less internal space than a traditional hard disk drive would. It also creates a quicker, more responsive device when coupled with other Apple performance components.

The mission for a consumer is convenience and reliability. Loading and working with content becomes faster, but a consumer doesn’t need this all the time. A MacBook Pro user may spend several hours a day on it, but is not constantly using the device.

The mission for an enterprise is sustainable performance and durability. For example, in a banking facility transactions are always flowing, whether customers are checking balances, transferring money from one account to another or even simply making credit card transactions. Flash technology, in this space, ensures a higher level of performance alongside lower energy consumption, reduced device management and high reliability.

So, the answer to the important question is: Yes. The enterprise customer absolutely needs to follow suit in order to reap the benefits.

Adoption of all Flash arrays will grow rapidly across the enterprise. The need for natively faster IO will displace the habit of acquiring capacity in an attempt to Rube Goldberg one’s way to higher performance. High Performance Flash arrays invite enterprises to consolidate performance demanding applications. Performance consolidation is a game changer and this game offers the enterprise more for less, More performance for applications with near zero storage administration time, while consuming less energy and occupying fewer data center floor tiles.

Apple’s move to Flash is only a taste of the capabilities of this technology. Performance is what drives an enterprise, and Flash offers the performance it needs.