After a slow start, industry leader EMC dove into the flash storage market in 2012 with the release of its first PCIe NAND flash card, VFcache, and its acquisition of all-flash storage array maker XtremIO. Two years later, those bets are paying off.

In October, EMC's Emerging Storage category -- flash and software-defined storage (SDS) solutions, essentially -- helped offset slipping sales of the company's high-end storage array unit during the third quarter of 2014 (3Q14). A 47-percent, year-over-year revenue boost in Emerging Storage sales helped the company hit $6 billion in revenues in 3Q14, a 9 percent increase over the same year-ago period.

Flash adoption is clearly picking up. But what else does the future hold?

Dan Cobb, vice president and distinguished engineer at EMC's Non-Volatile Memory Strategy unit, offered InfoStor a glimpse into how organizations will be leveraging flash storage in the coming year.