A Debutante in the White Hot Storage Space

Pop Quiz Hotshot:

What niche area within technology is estimated to be a billion dollar market opportunity this year with the potential for 40% growth each year into 2015?

Further, within that niche, what company is serving two of the largest technology companies on the planet, both Apple and Facebook?

If you answered NAND Flash Storage and Fusion-io respectively, give yourself a hand.  If you have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, here’s what I want you to do ahead of the company’s imminent IPO:

1.  Read my friend Rolfe Winkler’s essential rundown of Fusion-io’s amazing opportunity and must-understand risk factors over at the Wall Street Journal:

Fusion-io Flashes Growth Before Its IPO (WSJ)

2.  Find the time this week to watch Fusion-io’s IPO roadshow on video here:

Fusion-io (Retail Roadshow)

I don’t know if this IPO will be a good one or a bad one, I am still doing my own homework.

What I can tell you is that NAND Flash storage means quicker recall time between when a user requests data (like when they click on something) and when the host (cloud or otherwise) can bring that data up.  This becomes an increasingly important concept as more and richer stuff is being served.

Fusion-io is not the only player in this space, you are advised to learn these names if you’re going to be trading tech names in the second half of 2011.