MySpace is interested in using flash to save data-center space while maintaining fast page loads for its users, according to Buckingham. One way MySpace is likely to do that is by replacing short-stroked disks with flash. That technique should enable the company to use a server that's one rack unit (1U) high instead of 2U, which could make a big difference in a company with 60,000 square feet (5,600 square meters) of data-center space, he said. The company has petabytes of storage, and unlike most enterprises, it has to respond to hundreds of thousands of page requests per second, he said.

MySpace would use flash as a cache for frequently used data in its databases, as well as for maintaining indexes for search, Buckingham said. The company has tested both single-layer and multilayer products and is attracted to multilayer because it costs less. But MySpace wants to make sure the storage doesn't degrade under the heavy workloads it would be subjected to. Buckingham has been working with several vendors to establish baselines for performance and reliability. Even so, MySpace won't rely on flash for persistent data, such as the actual pictures that users post on their pages. Only about one-twentieth of the company's data would ever be stored on flash, Buckingham said.

"I'm never going to write something to an SSD and hope it lasts forever," Buckingham said.

NetSuite, a provider of on-demand software for uses such as enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management and e-commerce, sees flash as a place to store heavily used database information for its customers. That data helps to drive "real-time dashboards" that show NetSuite's medium-sized enterprise customers current information such as their expenses, sales forecasts or number of open customer service tickets, said David Lipscomb, senior vice president of engineering. NetSuite wants to let users refresh the dashboard as frequently as they need it, which can demand a lot of speed if thousands of customers are using their dashboards at the same time. Flash should be ideal, he said.

"When this thing comes along that allows you to make the database so much faster, you say, 'That's something I need to drill on,'" Lipscomb said.