StorageRap

Enough already of this EMC fantasy about a unified platform!

How much kool aid can be consumed in the blogospere?  An infinite amount apparently.

Now that I see Steve Todd, EMC Intrapreneur, jumping on the circle jerk bandwagon of EMC's love for federated systems and the vaporware ideal of their having a unified platform - I have a very simple litmus test to offer:

1. Do EMC's many systems work together to protect customer's data?  Have they shown an ability to integrate data protection across their primary storage platforms? 

2. Do they have an integrated management system that allows customers to use the same tools across their primary storage products?

EMC customers understand the frustration of living with diversification much more than the joys of federation.

Do Clariions work with DMXes or v-Maxes for such basic bread and butter data protection applications as remote copy?  No. Do administrators have to learn different skills to deploy and manage EMC mid range and enterprise arrays? Yes.  You can talk about federated futures all you want, but the past and present tell the real story and saying its a simple matter of programming to bridge the gap is - well - saying its a simple matter of programming.

This is not EMC bashing, this is telling it like it really is - the way customers feel the pain. 

If you want examples of storage vendors who have already been delivering on the unified platform concept check out 3PAR and EqualLogic.

All 3PAR InServ arrays run the same software. Remote copy operations work between Enterprise (T class) and Mid Range (F class) storage clusters.  Admins of 3PAR systems learn a single set of skills that are transferable between mid range and enterprise clusters.  We do not mix F class and T class nodes in the same cluster - you either build an F class cluster or a T class cluster.  3PAR clusters are something we call Mesh Active, which refers to the uniform distribution of I/O activity and cache resources across all nodes in the cluster.

All EqualLogic arrays run the same software base. Remote copy operations work across all of their systems (I'm not sure about their new entry systems - but it would be a licensing restriction and not a code difference if these systems do not). Admins of EqualLogic arrays also learn a single set of skills that are transferable across all their products.  You can mix and match different EqualLogic products in a single group. A group is not a cluster and does not have the same performance and availability characteristics as a cluster.

If you want to talk about federated systems in the cloud, look at what 3PAR cloud computing customers are doing.  Our Cloud Agile partners have started rolling out ASSURED and SECURED services which demonstrate platform federation with remote copy and virtual private domains for storage in the cloud.

dw'Ville: Unexpected risks of travel #1

my flight was full and the guy in front of me had bad gas!

Duplessie cloud redux

Steve Duplessie clarified his recent 'pot-stirring' post on cloud storage economics, with this new post, which was thoughtful and well written.  

He brings up the history lessons of the over-hyped, over-financed bubble and demise of storage service providers (SSPs) during the early years of this decade, arguing that their failure was the inability to deliver sufficient value.  I'd add that the technology available at that time was insufficient to allow the SSPs to deliver much other than expensive bulk storage. The evolution of virtualization technologies since then has made a big difference, changing the cost equations for service providers and allowing them to focus on application specialization and service delivery.

Steve argues that adding application value is the key, which I don't disagree with, but storage applications have always been tricky to define - just as storage technology is always very tricky to develop. I contend that value-add in storage comes from things that often seem very mundane, such as being bulletproof & flexible - a perspective I took in this YouTube video on 3PARTV.  Just in time delivery of applications and the corresponding "right-sized", immediately available storage to support those applications makes a huge difference to service providers and their customers.  Reservationless,  incremental storage provisioning does not sound like much of an application, but it certainly is the way everybody wants storage delivered to their applications.

The ability to right-size storage - and the flexibility to make changes to storage at a moments notice is what drives 3PAR's technology development.  It's why we have been so successful selling our products to cloud service providers.  In the weeks to come, look for more service-oriented innovations from us.

3PAR Countdown: Horizon Data Center Solutions and their FlexSafe Cloud

When Horizon Data Center Solutions went looking for storage to support their new FlexSafe Cloud service they chose 3PAR.  Here's the story.

dw'Ville: The value of moon water

What do you think moon water is worth?  We have over 50 patents....

Data replication the amazingly fast and easy way

3PAR's Remote Copy software broke all the rules for the cost and effort required to make remote data replication work.  Huge savings in cost, time and capacity.

dw'Ville: wait, wait, don't tell me.....

I bought a mind reading robot last week.....

Duplessie on selling cloud storage

Steve Duplessie's recent post Reverse Cloud Economics, caught some interesting reactions in comments and from StorageBod.  I think he was looking to get the juices flowing onto his new re-branded blog - and he did!

Anyway, here's my video response to Steve's blog where I say the things he did not:  that selling cloud storage by the pound results in an inverted cost benefit. The thing that makes the next great enterprise storage product successful is the value add that comes with it provided - such as offloading tasks that waste a lot of time and have serious risks associated with them. 

Of course, the type of storage used by the cloud service provider matters a great deal. 3PAR Cloud Agile partners have the best cloud storage infrastructure technology.

Three blogger, post VMworld steering wheel cam adventure

It's hands free and its fun.   Farley, Foskett and Graham riding in the Syncmobile on their way to the San Francisco airport.  Avoiding arrest, milk trucks and talking about VMworld 2009, with a smattering of cross vendor smack up. A must for any fan of the SWCSA .

(The video was changed on September 27, 2009 to a shorter version because the original vid was too long)

dw'Ville: When Sun and moon come together

IAC's Marc Morales on efficient storage, coast to coast replication, VMware and service

IAC is an Internet media company with many well known properties.  When I was on the east coast I stopped to see IAC's Marc Morales, who manages their security and infrastructure technology, and we spoke about how they are using 3PAR arrays, including thin provisioning, coast to coast remote copy (data replication), mixed workloads including Exchange and VMware and service.

dw'Ville: There's Water on the Moon!

In today's episode, where its confirmed that there is water on the moon, Balmy wants to go for a fishing expedition while Lawrie makes an industrial move to grow moon chips for his three Suns.

The Cloud is boring, but moon computing is real money laundering!

dw'Ville Twitter killed the bloggo sphere!

The blogosphere was ill already when twitter sounded it's death knell. 

3PAR Countdown: Exchange Service Provider LiveOffice saves buku bucks with 3PAR storage

The news is here:  In addition to saving serious scratch with a 3PAR clustered storage array with reservationless thin provisioning, LiveOffice uses 3PAR's Virtual Copy software to quickly and easily restore their customer's Exchange mailboxes.

dw'Ville: The ultimate service business

SW licensing will be indescribably delicious!