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Tuesday 27 December 2016

The 2016 Virtualization Review Editor's Choice Awards

VR Editors Choice 2016 Logo
Our picks for the best of the best.
As we close the book on 2016 and start writing a new one for 2017, it's a good time to reflect on the products we've liked best over the past year. In these pages, you'll find old friends, stalwart standbys and newcomers you may not have even thought about.
Our contributors are experts in the fields of virtualization and cloud computing. They work with and study this stuff on a daily basis, so a product has to be top-notch to make their lists. But note that this isn't a "best of" type of list; it's merely an account of the technologies they rely on to get their jobs done, or maybe products they think are especially cool or noteworthy.
Jon Toigo on Adaptive Parallel I/O Technology
In January, DataCore Software provided proof that the central marketing rationale for transitioning shared storage (SAN, NAS and so on) to direct-attached/software-defined kits was inherently bogus. DataCore Adaptive Parallel I/O technology was put to the test on multiple occasions in 2016 by the Storage Performance Council, always with the same result: parallelization of RAW I/O significantly improved the performance of VMs and databases without changing storage topology or storage interconnects. This flew in the face of much of the woo around converged and hyper-converged storage, whose pitchmen attributed slow VM performance to storage I/O latency -- especially in shared platforms connected to servers via Fibre Channel links.
DC express configurator
While it is true that I like DataCore simply for being an upstart that proved all of the big players in the storage and the virtualization industries to be wrong about slow VM performance being the fault of storage I/O latency, the company has done something even more important. Its work has opened the door to a broader consideration of what functionality should be included in a properly defined SDS stack.
In DataCore's view, SDS should be more than an instantiation on a server of a stack of software services that used to be hosted on an array controller. The SDS stack should also include the virtualization of all storage infrastructure, so that capacity can be allocated independently of hypervisor silos to any workload in the form of logical volumes. And, of course, any decent stack should include RAW I/O acceleration at the north end of the storage I/O bus to support system-wide performance.
DataCore hasn't engendered a lot of love, however, from the storage or hypervisor vendor communities with its demonstration of 5 million IOPS from a commodity Intel server using SAS/SATA and non-NVMe FLASH devices, all connected via Fibre Channel link. But it is well ahead of anyone in this space. IBM may have the capabilities in its SPECTRUM portfolio to catch up, but the company would first need to get a number of product managers of different component technologies to work and play well together.
Dan Kusnetzky on SANsymphony and Hyper-converged Virtual SAN
Why I love it: DataCore is a company I've tracked for a very long time. The company's products include ways to enhance storage optimization, storage efficiency and to make the most flexible use of today's hyper-converged systems.
The technology supports physical storage, virtual storage or cloud storage in whatever combination fits the customer's business requirements. The technology supports workloads running directly on physical systems, in VMs or in containers.
The company's Parallel I/O technology, by breaking down OS-based storage silos, makes it possible for customers to get higher levels of performance from a server than many would believe possible (just look at the benchmark data if you don't believe me). This, by the way, also means that smaller, less-costly server configurations can support large workloads.
What would make it even better: I can't think of anything.
Next best product in this category: VMware vSAN

Monday 12 December 2016

DataCore Parallel Processing - Applications & I/O on Steroids

Video 360 Overview by Enterprise Strategy Group and ESG Labs
Mark Peters, Senior Market Research Analyst and Brian Garrett, VP ESG Labs discuss DataCore’s parallel technologies and market shifts, trends to Software-defined Storage, Hyperconverged and Cloud; describe parallel I/O and impact and value based on the leap in performance that goes beyond technologies like all-flash arrays; the fit for data analytics, databases and more…
Must see 6 minute video below:

Thursday 8 December 2016

DataCore Software Chairman Wins Innovator of the Year at Best in Biz Awards 2016

ziya-aral2    BiBA-2016-gold-midres
DataCore Software has been named a gold winner in the Best in Biz Awards Innovator of the Year category, honoring the achievements of DataCore Chairman and Co-Founder, Ziya Aral.
The Best in Biz Awards is the only independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts. The sixth annual program in North America garnered more than 600 entries, from public and private companies of all sizes and from a variety of industries and geographic regions in the U.S. and Canada.
Much of DataCore’s technological success can be attributed to its Chairman and Co-Founder, Ziya Aral. Responsible for the direction of DataCore’s technologies, advancements and products, Aral is truly a pioneer in the storage industry.
While Aral has long been considered a “guru” in the space – widely published in the field of computer science – there’s no doubt that this past year was among his most innovative. His fundamental role in creating DataCore’s new Parallel I/O technology, the heart of the company’s software products including SANsymphony and DataCore Hyper-converged Virtual SAN is one of his greatest achievements to date. This says a lot for someone who designed the first high availability UNIX-based intelligent storage controller and whose development team invented disk-based data-sharing technology.
The problem facing the IT industry today is that in order to keep up with the rate of data acquisition and unpredictable demands of enterprise workloads, business applications, data analytics, Internet of Things and highly virtualized environments, systems require ultra-fast I/O response times. However, the required I/O performance had failed to materialize in large part because software development hadn’t exploited the symmetrical multiprocessing characteristics of today’s cost-effective multicore systems. This is where Ziya Aral comes in…
In the early days of parallel computing, Aral was vice president of engineering and CTO of Encore Computer Corporation, one of the pioneers of parallel computing development. Then as co-founder of DataCore Software, he helped create the storage virtualization movement and what is now widely known as software-defined storage technology. As Aral and his team of technologists at DataCore Software set out to tackle the I/O bottleneck issue, this unique combination of expertise has enabled DataCore to develop the technology required to leverage the power of multi-cores to power I/O intensive applications like no other company can.
Parallel I/O executes independent ‘no stall’ I/O streams simultaneously across multiple CPU cores, dramatically reducing the time it takes to process I/O and enabling a single server to do the work of many.
The result? Parallel I/O not only completely revolutionizes storage performance but takes parallel processing from the realm of the specialist to making it practical and affordable for the masses. Unleashing multicores from the shackles of being I/O bound opens up endless new possibilities for cognitive computing, AI, machine learning, IoT and data analytics. The technology is proven at customer sites and has shattered the world-record for I/O performance and response times using industry-audited and peer-reviewed benchmarks.
“If companies are going to stand out from the crowd and remain competitive in future years, innovation is key. The market is tough and there is no guarantee that today’s dominant players will remain so — unless time and effort are concentrated on research and development,” said Charlie Osborne, ZDNet, one of Best in Biz Awards’ judges this year. “This year’s entries in Best in Biz Awards highlighted not only innovative business practices but the emergence of next-generation technologies which will keep companies current and relevant.”
For a full list of gold, silver and bronze winners in Best in Biz Awards 2016, visit: http://www.bestinbizawards.com/2016-winners.

Wednesday 7 December 2016

DataCore’s SANsymphony-V Software Receives Editor’s Choice ‘SVC 2016 Industry Award’ due to its Outstanding Contribution to Technology





READING, UK: DataCore have announced that their tenth generation SANsymphony-V platform has received the coveted Storage, Virtualisation and Cloud (SVC) 2016 Industry Award from an editorial judging panel, held at a London-based glittering ceremony, last Thursday evening.

“SANsymphony-V firmly deserves this important industry award based on two counts. Firstly, on the maturity and longevity of the platform – DataCore were the first to market Software-Defined Storage back in the early 2000’s, bringing software powered storage to thousands of customers. And secondly, on the immense impact that Parallel IO processing is having today within data centres, handling compute with unprecedented ease and on a scale never witnessed before.” notes Brett Denly, Regional Director, DataCore Software UK.

Brett collected the Award alongside DataCore’s Neil Crispin and Pierre Aguerreberry.

With unparalleled  numbers of vendors to select from within the Storage, Cloud and Virtualisation space, the eminent editorial judging panel of Digitalisation World stable of titles contemplated long and hard before bestowing the 2016 SVC Industry Award to DataCore Software, noting:-

“DataCore Software is a leader in software-defined storage backed by 10,000 customer sites around the world, so they must be doing something right!” said Jason Holloway, Director of IT Publishing at Angel Business Communications, Organiser of the SVC Awards

SVC Industry Awards continue to set a benchmark for outstanding performance on the contribution of individuals, projects, organisations and technologies that have excelled in the use, development and deployment of IT.


Image: DataCore’s Brett Denly (Regional Director), Neil Crispin (Account Director), Pierre Aguerreberry (Director, Enterprise Sales) collect the Award from SVC organiser & Director of IT Publishing, Jason Holloway.