We are all living in the 21st century, which has been widely defined as the information age. Technology nowadays fully utilizes information as the primary driving factor behind its functionality, making processes like sending and retrieving information incredibly valuable. The quicker that these information exchange processes are executed successfully, the faster the given tasks can be completed. Even though factors like the total processing power and the cumulative active memory play a vital and irreplaceable role in relation to information transfer, it is also important to recognize the unprecedented relationship between the storage medium and the information exchange processes as their main purpose is to swiftly store, read or return the desired information segments instantly. This applies to many divergent types of technology, especially those who need to actively perform these processes of sending and retrieving information with key examples being smartphones, computers and servers, the latter of which we are going to focus on in this article. More specifically we are going to talk about the differences between the innovative NVMe storage and the traditional SATA SSDs.
What is NVMe storage?
NVMe, short for Non-Volatile Memory Express, is a protocol which allows for extremely fast and almost instantaneous data exchange in terms of transferring information between the host and the memory system. It is because of its speed that NVMe is constantly referred to and defined as the king of rapid information exchange. Due to its lightning-fast speeds the devices that decide to implement it are capable of achieving incredibly quick response times. This is especially relevant in the field of hosting and more specifically – servers. As devices that are required to process, read and return information at impeccably high rates, it is absolutely necessary for them to be able to process data as fast as possible. One way that NVMe facilitates this is by decreasing the response time of the server database. In turn, this increases the speed of the given website or application and also simultaneously decreases the waiting time for the user at the front-end. Additionally, this also positively impacts the loading time of the webpages or application by lowering the initial processing time, which will consequently result in an overall better user experience, which is especially important for websites that desire to rank higher in the search engine results. Furthemore, the time it will take for files to be uploaded or downloaded will also be substantially reduced. Moreover, the NVMe protocol can also help avoid potential bottlenecking in relation to larger databases. A bottleneck refers to the inability of the server to manage the amount of commands or information traffic that is coming its way, resulting in slower command execution, which also impacts data retrieval and overall exchange speeds.
What are SATA SSDs and how do they compare to NVMe?
Solid state drives (SSDs) using the SATA protocol, short for Serial AT Attachment, are still widely used by different hosting providers and servers worldwide. One major disadvantage that the SATA protocol has is that it is both a connector and a bus interface. This, consequently, results in lower information transfer rates and overall slower speeds. In terms of latency, NVMe has only a few microseconds delay in comparison to SATA SSDs, which can ultimately lag as much as 10 times behind. This is a severe disparity in relation to the field of servers, hosting and data exchange due to the fact that even a single microsecond is enough to make a given user close or click off a given website or application. Additionally, the write-read speed of NVMe can reach as much as 3000 MB/s, which is quite a substantial difference when compared to the 600 MB/s of SATA.
Why are hosting companies utilizing NVMe?
Given the advantages that NVMe provides in terms of speed of both information reading and writing, it does not come as a surprise to anyone that hosting companies are starting to implement the protocol into their storage mediums. Of course that the main principle behind the decision is customer service in relation to server owners, but the results from certain company performed benchmarks also show a steady increase in terms of satisfied website visitors along with a lower bounce rate and a better search engine ranking, which again serves as evidence that faster information exchange rates between the host and the storage medium can have a positive influence on many other divergent factors and aspects. For example, one such company that utilizes NVMe storage is VPSBG in terms of their VPS servers, which can also be paid for using Bitcoin.
Is NVMe really better?
Like we previously said, information exchange speed is of the utmost importance in today’s age. Technology is also striving to improve, which means that everything needs to become faster and easier to use. This, consequently, puts NVMe at the forefront of this information sending and retrieval revolution because of its uniquely fast speed, characteristics and capabilities. Additionally, due to the fact that it is evident that faster information exchange is beneficial not only for server owners but also for website and application users, it can be concluded that NVMe is really better in comparison to what SATA SSDs have to offer. And while NVMe storage can be slightly more expensive in comparison to SATA SSDs, the many additional characteristics that it can provide you with are more than enough to fully justify the investment. Just remember that the faster speed will also be noticed by your customers and other users as well as being noted by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing since their web crawlers will be able to observe the drastic increase of speed. This can, consequently, help boost your website’s search engine ranking organically and bring an overall positive impact onto your search engine optimization campaigns. Additionally, choosing a hosting provider that employs NVMe storage such as VPSBG will ultimately reduce the total amount of funds that you will need to delegate to your hosting plan as you will not have to invest into additional resources or change your hosting provider altogether down the line in order to get better information exchange speeds in general.