Dell EMC announced that it will soon add Optane-based storage to its PowerMAX arrays, and that PowerMAX will use Optane as a storage tier, not “just” cache. This statement implies using Optane as a storage tier is superior to using it as a cache. But is it?
One would think that with the continuing explosion in the amount of data being created every year, the number of appliances that can reduce the amount of data stored by deduplicating it would be increasing. That statement is both true and flawed. On one hand, the number of backup and storage appliances that can deduplicate data has never been higher and continues to increase. On the other hand, the number of vendors that create physical target-based appliances dedicated to the deduplication of backup data continues to shrink.
The ratification in November 2018 of the NVMe/TCP standard officially opened the doors for NVMe/TCP to begin to find its way into corporate IT environments. Earlier this week I had the opportunity to listen in on a webinar that SNIA hosted which provided an update on NVMe/TCP’s latest developments and its implications for enterprise IT. Here are four key takeaways from that presentation and how these changes will impact corporate data center Ethernet network designs.
On the surface, all-inclusive software licensing sounds great. You get all the software features that the product offers at no additional charge. You can use them – or not use them – at your discretion. It simplifies product purchases and ongoing licensing. But what if you opt not to use all the product’s features or only need a small subset of them? In those circumstances, you need to take a hard look at any product that offers all-inclusive software licensing to determine if it will deliver the value that you expect.
NVMe and other advances in non-volatile memory technology are generating a lot of buzz in the enterprise technology industry, and rightly so. As providers integrate these technologies into storage systems they are closing the gap between the dramatic advances in processing power and the performance of the storage systems that support them. The TrueNAS M-Series from iXsystems provides an excellent example of what can be achieved when these technologies are thoughtfully integrated into a storage system.
Storage vendors hype NVMe for good reason. It enables all-flash arrays (AFAs) to fully deliver on flash’s performance characteristics. Already NVMe serves as an interconnect between AFA controllers and their back end solid state drives (SSDs) to help these AFAs unlock more of the performance that flash offers. However, the real performance benefits that NVMe can deliver will be unlocked as a result of four key trends set to converge in the 2019/2020 time period. Combined, these will open the doors for many more companies to experience the full breadth of performance benefits that NVMe provides for a much wider swath of applications running in their environment.
When it comes to the mix of data protection challenges that exist within enterprises today, these companies would love to identify a single product that they can deploy to solve all their challenges. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but that single product solution does not yet exist. That said, enterprises will find a steadily improving ecosystem of products that increasingly work well together to address this challenge with HPE being at the forefront of putting up a big tent that brings these products together and delivers them as a single solution.
Hard to believe but the first day of autumn is just two days away and with fall weather always comes cooler temperatures (which I happen to enjoy!) This means people are staying inside a little more and doing those fun, end of year activities that everyone enjoys – such as planning their 2019 budgets. As you do so, solutions from BackupAssist and StorMagic are two key new technologies for companies to consider making room for in the New Year.
Mainstream enterprise storage vendors are embracing NVMe. HPE, NetApp, Pure Storage, Dell EMC, Kaminario and Tegile all offer all-NVMe arrays. According to these vendors, the products will soon support storage class memory as well. NVMe protocol access to flash memory SSDs is a big deal. Support for storage class memory may become an even bigger deal.
DCIG is pleased to announce the availability of the DCIG 2018-19 All-flash Array Buyer’s Guide edition developed from its enterprise storage array body of research. This 64-page report presents a fresh snapshot of the dynamic all-flash array (AFA) marketplace. It evaluates and ranks thirty-two (32) enterprise class all-flash arrays that achieved rankings of Recommended or Excellent based on a comprehensive scoring of product features. These products come from seven (7) vendors including Dell EMC, Hitachi Vantara, HPE, Huawei, NetApp, Pure Storage and Tegile.
The information, product recommendations, and opinions made by DCIG, LLC., are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC., believes to be accurate and reliable. However since market conditions change, the information and recommendations are made without warranty of any kind. All product names used and mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners.
DCIG, LLC., assumes no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever (including incidental, consequential or otherwise) caused by one’s use or reliance of this information or the recommendations presented or for any inadvertent errors which this document may contain. Any questions please call DCIG, LLC., toll free at 1.844.324.4552 (844.DCIGLLC).
Thank you for your interest in DCIG research and analysis.
Please sign up for the free DCIG Newsletter to have new analysis delivered to your inbox each week.