Storage Virtualization a Corporate Priority and a Cloud Building Block

You may have seen the press on the recently released Symantec survey on the state of the Data Center 2010.  Having been involved in these efforts in the past, I know they are typically generated by a PR agency and can be thinly veiled platforms for product promotions.  Yet this one rings true at least as it pertains to the continued importance of certain technologies such as Storage Virtualization.  So long as data growth continues about 60% a year, regardless of a company's size, or top line growth, something needs to be done to manage the growing torrent of bits & bytes, but with about the same number of IT staff.  Because, as they say, even bad numbers need to be stored somewhere.

The bigger trend I'm seeing is that virtualized storage resources are becoming an atomic unit of a Dynamic IT operation.  Companies are adopting ‘private cloud computing’ and are using capabilities like storage virtualization to make their environments more dynamic, cost effective and responsive to the needs of the business.   In order to realize these benefits, virtualized storage, server and network resources need to be managed in a unified way, and this requires a unified, intelligent fabric connecting it all.

I echo the recommendation of leading infrastructure players that IT organizations proceed cautiously and develop an infrastructure that can support the performance, security and distributed data aspects of cloud computing and virtualization. 

We can expect to see continued innovation in managing larger data sets either via private cloud array and fabric-based solutions or external cloud-based services -- both with the goal to achieve greater scalability, reduced total cost of ownership and improved ability to manage geographically distributed data sets.  All of these efforts will benefit from a high-throughput, converged network that can intelligently manage data at the packet-level and optimize connections between resources.

5 Reasons to Virtualize Storage

It's great to see proponents of Storage Virtualization out there, and especially those promoting network-based approaches such as Invista.  Enjoy this recent blog post from someone who apparently knows a thing or two about the benefits of storage virtualization.

More info on a leading heterogeneous storage virtualization offring is available at www.InvistaOnBrocade.com.

Congrats on V-Max

EMC had big news today thanks to their virtual launch of the new Symmetrix V-Max. It has garnered broad industry coverage, as well as its share of competitive brickbats.

It's a revolutionary break from the old-line monolithic array. Based on x86 components, designed with modular 'engines' to enable more granular scale-out, and built-in automated tiering makes it more like an offering from a nimble innovator like Compellent or 3Par. But with scale-up to a claimed 3PB and "tens of millions of IOPS" this is still gold-tier enterprise storage.

EMC's Chuck Hollis paints a typically empassioned view of the technology. It includes storage virtualization features such as pooling data across multiple arrays, non-disruptive data mobility and I/O load-balancing. He listed architectural approaches customers have to achieve Storage Virtualization: "today, we've got three different approaches to putting storage virtualization in the network: (1) use a server appliance (e.g. IBM SVC), (2) use an array controller (e.g. HDS USP), or (3) use an intelligent switch (e.g. EMC Invista)." Forgiving the over site of "host-based" (e.g. DataCore), this list does cover the typical enterprise, large service provider or government agency considered set. There are a number of choices each with its pros and cons.

And despite all the greatness of V-Max, the Storage Virtualization buyer often needs to address issues of heterogeneous storage resources, performance and vendor lock-in. Where these are issues, a fabric-based approach is still the best way to go. (And if you're an EMC shop, you can still make your sales rep happy by choosing Invista.)

Congrats to the Symmetrix team on the launch -- we're all eager to see how the new V-Max vision rolls out over the coming months.

Virtual Storage as well as Coffee Cups

The report from SNW: still a big show but not quite as large as last year. Cost cutting was top of mind, with one attendee sharing that his company eliminated styrofoam coffee cups to save $70k!

Storage news included the apparent maturing of Storage Virtualization, with 76% of attendee orgs either having already deployed or expecting to deploy a solution by next year. Companies are realizing savings from Storage Virtualization through efficient resource pooling, reduced management complexity and the ability to manage more data with the same staff. One company shared that they had 15PB all on a performance SAN, and wanted to reduce cost through tiering to cheaper arrays -- a compelling use for Storage Virtualization.

With the maturing of the category, the key players will stabilize their respective positions. But there's a potential disruption on the way, because the market still hasn't found an equilibrium in terms of form-factor, with shares split between array-based (e.g. HDS USP), appliance-based (e.g. IBM SVC and NetApp V-Series), Host-based (e.g. Datacore) and Fabric-based (e.g. EMC Invista). Expect to see innovation in how network-based technology works to improve the performance of these and other storage apps...

Bringing Clarity to Cloud Computing

There's a great deal of news out there on Cloud Computing. And a number of new innovators and recent deals show this to be an IT hot spot for '09. But as shown in earlier posts, the idea of running applications on a network fabric isn't new. Storage management apps have been running within the SAN fabric for sometime.

So, What fabric apps are on the market today?

If you're looking for a more efficient way to do Storage virtualization, Data replication or Data migration, to name a few, you can accomplish this Today with established, enterprise-class applications from brand name suppliers. Here's a focus on one:

EMC Invista -- this leading Storage Virtualization app runs on the SAN fabrics of hundreds of leading global companies, some with up to a Petabyte of data virtualized. Invista enables non-disruptive data movement, ILM, increases storage hardware utilization, supports server virtualization efforts, and does it all across a heterogeneous storage environment.

Invista has proven benefits: one company realized a 3:1 consolidation of storage equipment. Another saved 91% on storage provisioning time via pooling. And another reduced a 22-month migration plan to just 4 months. And being able to mix-and-match storage allows organizations to optimize on lower-cost hardware and reduce thier overall Cost/TB - a big deal in today's economy.

The hallmark of todays fabric apps is Enterprise-class functionality with very high-performance. If this is the space you're operating in, then you should definitely be looking into this quieter corner of cloud computing: SAN fabric applications.

Enjoy this very recent story on reducing storage cost through things like storage virtualization.