DCIG is pleased to announce the availability of its 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide that weights, scores and ranks over 150 features on 25 different cloud storage arrays from 15 different providers. This Buyer’s Guide provides the critical information that all size organization need when selecting a private cloud storage array that provides the availability, ease-of-use, flexibility and scalability features to meet the demands of their most data-intensive applications.
In October 2011 IDC estimated that the total amount that enterprises spent for on-premise storage in 2010 was around $30.8 billion. In that same interview IDC also forecast that expenditures on cloud storage solutions (both public and private) would explode to $11.7 billion by 2015. In other words, in just five (5) short years organizations would reallocate anywhere from 25 to 33 percent of their total storage budget and invest it in cloud storage technologies.
While no one yet knows precisely what percentage that companies will spend on either public or private cloud storage solutions, DCIG anticipates that in the near term (0-5 years) organizations will invest the majority of this new line item in their storage budget in private cloud storage arrays.
ApplicationContinuity.org DCIG is pleased to announce the availability of its 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide that weights, scores and ranks over 150 features on 25 different cloud storage arrays from 15 different providers. This Buyer’s Guide provides the critical information that all size organization need when selecting a private cloud storage array that provides the availability, ease-of-use, flexibility and scalability features to meet the demands of their most data-intensive applications.
In October 2011 IDC estimated that the total amount that enterprises spent for on-premise storage in 2010 was around $30.8 billion. In that same interview IDC also forecast that expenditures on cloud storage solutions (both public and private) would explode to $11.7 billion by 2015. In other words, in just five (5) short years organizations would reallocate anywhere from 25 to 33 percent of their total storage budget and invest it in cloud storage technologies.
While no one yet knows precisely what percentage that companies will spend on either public or private cloud storage solutions, DCIG anticipates that in the near term (0-5 years) organizations will invest the majority of this new line item in their storage budget in private cloud storage arrays.
ApplicationContinuity.org found in a separate survey of 3,300 midmarket companies that 90 percent of IT managers felt it was critical to keep their key applications and data in-house and out of the <public> cloud. Yet these organizations still want the benefits that public storage clouds offer, they just do not want the inherent risks and uncertainties that they perceive public storage clouds still present.
This is where private cloud storage arrays enter the picture. They provide the key features that organizations need today more than ever as they enable organizations to:
- Achieve high levels of availability
- Easily configure and manage these systems so that as the private cloud storage array grows larger the management of it does not become more complex
- Non-disruptively perform routine maintenance and upgrades
- Perform reliably
- Scale predictably
- Start small with only the capacity and performance that they need with the flexibility to grow larger
The ability of private cloud storage arrays to deliver on all of these features is particularly important for those organizations that opt to implement private cloud storage arrays to host many and/or all of their production applications. When deployed into these environments, any planned or unplanned downtime or disruption in service at any time for any reason can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the entire business.
It is in this context that DCIG presents its 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide. As prior Buyer’s Guides have done, it puts at the fingertips of organizations a comprehensive list of private cloud storage arrays and the features they offer in the form of detailed, standardized data sheets that can assist them in this important buying decision.
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Arra Buyer’s Guide accomplishes the following objectives:
- Provides an objective, third-party evaluation of currently available private cloud storage arrays
- Evaluates, scores and ranks private cloud storage arrays from an end-user’s perspective
- Includes recommendations on how to best utilize this Buyer’s Guide
- Provides data sheets on 25 private cloud storage arrays from fifteen (15) different providers so organizations may do a quick comparison of features while having sufficient detail at their fingertips to make an informed decision
- Provides insight into each private cloud storage array’s support for various applications, the robustness of its hardware, its management and replication capabilities, its integration with VMware vSphere and what levels of support it offers
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide Top 10 solutions include (in alphabetical order):
- Coraid EtherDrive
- Dell Compellent Storage Center SAN + FS8600 NAS
- EMC Isilon NL-Series
- EMC Isilon S-Series
- EMC Isilon X-Series
- IBM SONAS
- IceWEB 6500 Series
- NetApp FAS3250
- NetApp FAS3220
- Nimbus Data E-Class Flash Memory
The NetApp FAS3250 achieved the “Best-in-Class” ranking among the private cloud storage arrays that DCIG evaluated with its companion FAS3220 close on its heels. The NetApp FAS3250 and FAS3220 successfully deliver the broadest range of features for those organizations looking for a single array that may be used in multiple roles.
Small and midsize enterprises will find that the FAS3250 and FAS3220 offer the breadth of features in a single system to meet their various application needs ranging from data-intensive, cost-sensitive applications to performance-intensive, highly available ones with the only measurable differences between the two models being the FAS3250 offering more capacity and performance.
In doing its research for this Buyer’s Guide, DCIG uncovered some interesting statistics about private cloud storage arrays in general:
- 100% support a federated management interface from which all storage arrays in an environment can be managed from a single, common portal
- 89% support thin provisioning
- 82% license their standard management software as
part of the system’s acquisition cost - 80% support storage tiering
- 67% support more than 1 PB of storage capacity
- 60% support connectivity to a public cloud storage provider with Open Stack being the most widely supported option
- 56% support VAAI
- 48% support NDMP
- 41% support some type of deduplication technology
- 26% support more than 1 exabyte of storage capacity
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide is immediately available. It may be downloaded for no charge with registration by following this link.
found in a separate survey of 3,300 midmarket companies that 90 percent of IT managers felt it was critical to keep their key applications and data in-house and out of the <public> cloud. Yet these organizations still want the benefits that public storage clouds offer, they just do not want the inherent risks and uncertainties that they perceive public storage clouds still present.
This is where private cloud storage arrays enter the picture. They provide the key features that organizations need today more than ever as they enable organizations to:
- Achieve high levels of availability
- Easily configure and manage these systems so that as the private cloud storage array grows larger the management of it does not become more complex
- Non-disruptively perform routine maintenance and upgrades
- Perform reliably
- Scale predictably
- Start small with only the capacity and performance that they need with the flexibility to grow larger
The ability of private cloud storage arrays to deliver on all of these features is particularly important for those organizations that opt to implement private cloud storage arrays to host many and/or all of their production applications. When deployed into these environments, any planned or unplanned downtime or disruption in service at any time for any reason can have potentially catastrophic consequences for the entire business.
It is in this context that DCIG presents its 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide. As prior Buyer’s Guides have done, it puts at the fingertips of organizations a comprehensive list of private cloud storage arrays and the features they offer in the form of detailed, standardized data sheets that can assist them in this important buying decision.
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Arra Buyer’s Guide accomplishes the following objectives:
- Provides an objective, third-party evaluation of currently available private cloud storage arrays
- Evaluates, scores and ranks private cloud storage arrays from an end-user’s perspective
- Includes recommendations on how to best utilize this Buyer’s Guide
- Provides data sheets on 25 private cloud storage arrays from fifteen (15) different providers so organizations may do a quick comparison of features while having sufficient detail at their fingertips to make an informed decision
- Provides insight into each private cloud storage array’s support for various applications, the robustness of its hardware, its management and replication capabilities, its integration with VMware vSphere and what levels of support it offers
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide Top 10 solutions include (in alphabetical order):
- Coraid EtherDrive
- Dell Compellent Storage Center SAN + FS8600 NAS
- EMC Isilon NL-Series
- EMC Isilon S-Series
- EMC Isilon X-Series
- IBM SONAS
- IceWEB 6500 Series
- NetApp FAS3250
- NetApp FAS3220
- Nimbus Data E-Class Flash Memory
The NetApp FAS3250 achieved the “Best-in-Class” ranking among the private cloud storage arrays that DCIG evaluated with its companion FAS3220 close on its heels. The NetApp FAS3250 and FAS3220 successfully deliver the broadest range of features for those organizations looking for a single array that may be used in multiple roles.
Small and midsize enterprises will find that the FAS3250 and FAS3220 offer the breadth of features in a single system to meet their various application needs ranging from data-intensive, cost-sensitive applications to performance-intensive, highly available ones with the only measurable differences between the two models being the FAS3250 offering more capacity and performance.
In doing its research for this Buyer’s Guide, DCIG uncovered some interesting statistics about private cloud storage arrays in general:
- 100% support a federated management interface from which all storage arrays in an environment can be managed from a single, common portal
- 89% support thin provisioning
- 82% license their standard management software as part of the system’s acquisition cost
- 80% support storage tiering
- 67% support more than 1 PB of storage capacity
- 60% support connectivity to a public cloud storage provider with Open Stack being the most widely supported option
- 56% support VAAI
- 48% support NDMP
- 41% support some type of deduplication technology
- 26% support more than 1 exabyte of storage capacity
The DCIG 2013 Private Cloud Storage Array Buyer’s Guide is immediately available. It may be downloaded for no charge with registration by following this link.