By Michael Letschin, Field CTO
Having the most complete portfolio of Software-Defined Storage solutions in the industry is something that Nexenta pride’s itself on, but with that comes questions about all sorts of other storage technologies when I am out talking with our customers and partners. Their questions range from trying to understand the latest trends like enterprise containers to the impact of the Internet of Things and augmented reality, but more often than not their questions are about how some of the newer datacenter technologies will help their business. These technologies range from Software-Defined Networking to public cloud and of course hyperconverged solutions. Sometimes we integrate very well, for instance with the VMware vCloud Air where we can run inside the public cloud and be a DR target for our existing customers, at a public cloud price point. In other environments we have to explain that many solutions are not one size fits all. Hyperconverged falls into that camp and George Crump, an analyst for Storage Switzerland, has a great write-up here – Is Hyperconverged worth the Hype? – on the pros and cons to that market. I think a key takeaway is that if you’re looking at a new project or a new datacenter with fixed needs, then the simplicity of hyperconverged could be the answer; but if you are growing a datacenter or expect unpredictable growth there are some caveats: the inability to separate storage and compute as you grow can result in over-buying, and losing the benefits you get from virtualization and consolidation. In those cases, the idea of a traditionally isolated compute and storage solution has real benefit. Utilizing new technologies like Software-Defined Storage to give you the flexibility of choosing the right hardware for you when you need it gets the enterprise closer and closer to the dream of a next generation or Software-Defined Datacenter.
For more on hyperconverged, check out Is Hyperconverged worth the Hype? by George Crump at Storage Swiss.