SPEED
A new memory type, called by various names such as "persistent memory", "storage class memory" or "not your mama's memory" is making the rounds. The next version of Windows 10, currently in beta, is supporting it. Expect to see it on IBM kit, including IBM i, in the future.
The promise of that technology is to give you the best of both worlds: The crazy speed of RAM and the popular feature of hard-disk drives that the bytes don't drop when the power does. Memory is persistent.
Think that you heard this before? Yes! The same concept is why everybody is going for solid-state drives. Got some SSD's in your servers? They are nice fast, aren't they?
Well, hold on to your seat. SSD's aren't fast. Persistent memory is. In the picture below, from a Microsoft presentation, no less, the top row shows performance for a fairly standard fast-ish SSD. The middle row we will just skip. The real gold is the bottom row. It shows the performance for the new technology with full OS support.
Performance --- measured in IOs per second, in average latency, and in throughput, is better for the new technology. Not just by 2% or 3% or 80%. We are talking about orders of magnitude better. Mind: blown.
We live in exciting times.
Image: Windows Persistent Memory Support, by Neal Christiansen, page 14