Entries categorized under “Storage Systems”

The deployment of flash memory storage as either storage or memory almost inevitably results in increases in application performance. However to get the real 'kick' in performance that today's transactional applications need and which flash can provide, a more elegant approach to flash's deployment is needed. Today I continue my discussion with Fusion-io Senior Director of Product Management, Brent Compton, who elaborates on the APIs that the Fusion ioMemory SDK exposes that make this boost in transactional performance possible. (read more)

Storage tiering as a strategy is gaining a lot of momentum as a way to optimize available storage capacity and bring storage costs under control. But many small and midsized businesses (SMBs) still question if storage tiering is right for them and, if so, what steps they should take to implement it. To answer these concerns, there are three tips for SMBs to follow to ensure implementing storage tiering is the right choice for them and that they do it correctly. (read more)

EMC's VFCache announcement caused a lot of the buzz in the storage industry a few months ago as it was seen by some to be done in direct response to Fusion-io's very disruptive ioMemory architecture. Today in the conclusion of my interview series with Fusion-io's CMO Rick White, he provides his take on EMC's recent VFcache announcement and how he sees this impacting both Fusion-io and EMC. (Editor's Note: This interview with Rick was conducted when EMC's VFCache was still known as "Project Lightning.") (read more)

Today many enterprises and cloud storage providers ask, "What scale-out storage solution will enable us to economically and easily house our burgeoning Big Data stores?" However small and midsized enterprises (SMEs) put a slightly different spin on that same question by asking, "What scale-out storage system will enable us to affordably address our 'bigger data' problems?" SMEs are finding an answer to their question in the form of the Gridstore Scale-out Storage platform. (read more)

It seems there is no shortage of storage appliances on the market today from which small and midsize businesses (SMBs) may choose to meet their varied data storage needs. However, SMBs looking for an all-in-one storage appliance that can address both their current storage demands and position them to meet the unpredictable requirements of Big Data may wonder what such a solution even looks like or if it even exists. (read more)

In this fourth and final part of our interview series with GreenBytes CEO Bob Petrocelli, we hear about a three-second failover between canisters used in Solidarity, a solid-state storage array solution. If you're not looking, says Petrocelli, you could miss the failover. (read more)

In this third part of our interview series with GreenBytes CEO Bob Petrocelli, we learn about some of the advantages of using solid-state drive (SSD) technology and how Solidarity's use of SSD differs from others' implementations of it. As well, Petrocelli divulges what he calls a "dirty little secret" about some hardware that was cleverly repurposed to give Solidarity an edge in compression. (read more)

This year's spring Storage Networking World (SNW) 2012 show was unlike any other that I had attended in the past. While I had good conversations with the folks from FalconStor, HP, QLogic, Spectra Logic and Nimbus Data Systems among others, what was most remarkable about this SNW was the lack of notable new announcements around storage. (read more)

In the first part of our interview series with GreenBytes CEO Bob Petrocelli, we got a glimpse into the company's groundwork with solid-state drives (SSDs) that led to the development of Solidarity. It is a high-availability (HA), globally optimized SSD storage array solution receiving a great deal of attention because it does away with magnetic drives and delivers a massive 200,000-plus IOPS performance. Today I resume my interview with Petrocelli as he lays out the configurations and processes that make Solidarity hum. (read more)

Inline deduplication data storage solutions provider GreenBytes, Inc. recently released a new high-availability (HA), globally optimized solid-state drive (SSD) storage array solution called Solidarity that is garnering a lot of attention. Solidarity offers inline real-time deduplication and compression via a dual-controller unit outfitted entirely with SSD storage. The buzz over Solidarity is in large part because of its 200,000-plus IOPS performance--with deduplication and compression enabled. (read more)

This last week I was doing a fair amount of research and writing on solid state storage when I was struck by how much it is poised to change the storage industry. However the change it is going to make is not in the usual context of how much faster or power efficient solid state storage is over traditional hard disk drives (HDDs.) Rather it struck me that the current 3-5 year depreciation period typically used for today's storage systems may need some updating. (read more)

Private cloud-based infrastructures are becoming a priority for almost every small and midsize business (SMB) as they deliver levels of flexibility, scalability and value that traditional IT architectures simply do not provide. But many of these cloud solutions are still immature and implementing the wrong one may be worse than having no cloud solution at all. The IBM Ready Pack for Cloud changes that by addressing today's SMB concerns while positioning them for tomorrow's requirements. (read more)

Fusion-io's ability to put 10 - 20 TBs of flash in a single 1U server is turning the world of high performance storage upside down. But the other half of Fusion-io's game plan is to open up its Virtual Storage Layer (VSL) APIs so that developers can leverage flash - and potentially anybody's flash - in new and unique ways. Today in part IV of my interview series with Fusion-io's CMO Rick White, we talk about what competitive advantages organizations can realize by using Fusion-io's VSL. (read more)

Using a common console to manage servers and storage coupled with a roadmap to automated disaster recovery (DR) are becoming almost prerequisites in VMware vSphere deployments. Key to delivering on these emerging requirements is employing a midrange array that (1) integrates with and is managed by vCenter Server, and (2) facilitates the implementation of VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager (SRM). (read more)

Fusion-io makes no bones about it. It wants to get in the data warehouse space. But to play in that space, it first had to deliver a solution that scaled to over 10 TBs. Today Fusion-io's CMO Rick White and I continue our interview series as we discuss why delivering on the 10 TB benchmark was so critical to both Fusion-io and its prospective data warehouse clients and why it is going directly to the channel to deliver these solutions. (read more)

One of the more revealing findings out of the recent DCIG 2012 Midrange Array Buyer's Guide was the gap between those midrange arrays that integrate with the VMware vSphere storage APIs and those that do not, as it was almost a case of the "Have's" and the "Have-not's." But among the "Have's" there are still levels of differentiation in vSphere integration that the Buyer's Guide did not examine in depth. (read more)

This past Monday EMC created a fair amount of buzz in the storage industry with its VFCache announcement that in essence validates the emergence of server-based flash technology in the enterprise. But does EMC VFCache go far enough? Fusion-io, who arguably invented this space, argues, "Definitely not!" In this first of a multi-part interview series with Fusion-io's Chief Marketing Officer, Rick White, we talk about server-based flash technology and why it is poised to change enterprise data centers. (read more)

In this final installment of our blog series on WhipTail Technologies, a Solid State Drive (SSD) array provider with some impressive features and capabilities, I am continuing my discussion with WhipTail Technologies Chief Technology Officer, James Candelaria. Last time, we looked at how WhipTail implements software RAID on its devices. Today, we will be discussing the different transport protocols supported by the WhipTail array and why the FCoE and iSCSI protocols trump Infiniband in today's SSD deployments. (read more)

Today there are more open system arrays with more features from more vendors from which organizations may choose. Yet what is emerging as an obstacle to organizations considering some of these arrays as viable options is their inability to leverage these snapshot capabilities. That obstacle may be short-lived thanks in part to the CommVault IntelliSnap Connect Program. (read more)

Today, I am continuing my discussion with WhipTail Technologies Chief Technology Officer, James Candelaria, whose company specializes in Solid State Drive (SSD) storage solutions. In Part III of this interview series, we looked at how WhipTail deals with the variances between solid state drive manufacturer's hardware and firmware and how this emerging technology deals with those differences. In this installment, we'll look at how and why WhipTail implements software RAID in its appliance. (read more)

A little over two (2) years ago I did an interview with ExaGrid System's CEO Bill Andrews about the same time that EMC and NetApp were engaged in a bidding war over Data Domain. In that interview Andrews expressed concern about EMC winning the battle for Data Domain and how that might negatively impact ExaGrid. But as EMC and ExaGrid both respectively announced overwhelmingly positive numbers this week, it turns out that EMC's acquisition of Data Domain has served both companies well. (read more)

Today I continue in my interview series with WhipTail Technologies CTO, James Candelaria, whose company specializes in Solid State Drive (SSD) storage solutions. Last time, we discussed how WhipTail is optimizing SSD performance while minimizing the deficiencies of Multi-Level Cell flash. Today, we look at the variances between SSD manufacturer's hardware and firmware and how WhipTail deals with those differences. (read more)

It is rare to find is a storage configuration that improves the efficiency and manageability of large Exchange deployments even as it improves speed and performance. So it is notable that HP's recently released Exchange Solution Review Program (ESRP) results for Microsoft Exchange 2010 meet both existing and new enterprise requirements while tripling Exchange's database performance over that of competitive storage systems. (read more)

Today is part 2 of an interview I recently did with WhipTail Technologies Chief Technology Officer, James Candelaria, an emerging provider of SSD storage solutions. In my last entry, he and I discussed one major roadblock to widespread enterprise SSD adoption: the performance penalty incurred by garbage collection. This time, we'll look at how WhipTail optimizes SSD performance while minimizing the deficiencies of MLC flash. (read more)

A component of DCIG's blog that has been absent for the last year or so are blog entries that are interviews with executives of data storage companies that DCIG considers thought leaders in their respective spaces. Today DCIG begins to rectify that by publishing the first part of an interview that I recently did with WhipTail Technologies Chief Technology Officer, James Candelaria, an emerging provider of SSD storage solutions. (read more)