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Tuesday 26 May 2015

DataCore SANsymphony-V10 adds New Hyper-Converged Services Plus OpenStack Cloud Support

See complete article in the StorageNewsletter

Manage end-to-end I/O performance, optimize flash, integrate backups, improve space efficiency, provision virtual desktops, and automate hyperconverged and enterprise-wide SDSe deployment

DataCore Software Corporation announced the availability of a number of capabilities included within its all-embracing 'any hypervisor, any storage' SANsymphony-V10 storage services platform and its Virtual SAN release.


DATACORE_ssv-box-largeThe PSP2 update release adds support for OpenStack Cinder, enabling DataCore to deliver its comprehensive set of Software-Defined Storage services to private, hybrid and public clouds built with OpenStack. The release includes features and services to centrally control and manage end-to-end I/O performance, optimize flash, integrate backups, improve space efficiency, serve virtual desktops, and automate hyper-converged and enterprise-wide SDS deployments.

A number of services have been incorporated to enable industry-standard x86 servers to gain the essential enterprise storage functionality needed to meet today's demanding business requirements. DataCore's ability to deliver complete and unified range of hyper-converged, virtual SAN and SDS platform services has fueled a list of alliances and server vendor partnerships with companies seeking to leverage their hardware platforms with company's latest release. The PSP2 release is available and shipping.

DATACORE_sansymphony-v-storage-functions

Extends powerful enterprise-wide services: The all-embracing software-defined storage platform

Services and enhanced features include:
  • Brings SDS to cloud architecturesadds OpenStack support: Enterprises and cloud service providers can use a SDS platform to centralize the provisioning and management of new or existing storage resources via standard OpenStack Cinder commands. Previously, organizations tasked with creating a cloud infrastructure with OpenStack were challenged to utilize already available storage investments or find new cost-effective storage that was OpenStack-compatible and yet able to deliver enterprise capabilities to power their cloud environments.
  • Hyperconverged virtual desktop services: This release introduces  VDI services and deployment tools to automate the creation and management of stateful, highly-available virtual desktops. The resulting high-density VDI implementations are cost-effective and especially well-suited for organizations seeking to deploy desktops at a departmental level. The software utilizes company's caching and thin provisioning to diminish the dependency on physical storage. In comparison to other hyperconverged VDI offerings, DataCore does not require expensive flash or disk subsystems to achieve needed performance levels; it optimizes industry-standard servers and DRAM, plus uses fewer, lower-priced internal disks in place of higher-priced external storage, to lower the overall cost per virtual desktop.
  • Universal virtual disk deduplication and compression services: Virtual disks can be deduplicated, compressed and scheduled in the background to reduce the space they occupy on disk. Unlike other vendors that limit this type of functionality to their own proprietary or array-specific storage devices, DataCore's space-saving services apply universally across the infrastructure; it extends block-level deduplication and compression to any storage and any file system or hypervisor.
  • Backup integration services, added Veeam support and automation: DataCore works with third-party backup products to simplify end-to-end data protection and ensure rapid data recovery at a granular level. DataCore already supports products such as CommVault Simpana's IntelliSnap technology and Microsoft Data Protection Manager, which take advantage of DataCore online snapshots to centralize backups for a wide range of applications, hypervisors, OSs and storage devices. This update provides a similar capability to trigger Veeam backups to usecompany's highly efficient snapshots to relieve the burden of using VM snapshots on hosts. Backups can be scheduled and taken more frequently with minimal impact on applications, improving RPOs and resulting in productivity and speedier recovery.
  • Console services and centralized management for distributed groups: Organizations with virtual storage pools distributed across multiple locations can manage the different DataCore server groups from a single user interface. Separate levels of control can be assigned to different administrators across a hierarchy of server groups making it possible to centrally manage, control and delegate responsibilites over widely distributed storage infastructures with fewer people.
  • Hyperconverged and popular-use case deployment services: With this update, DataCore continues to simplify and automate how software can be installed, configured and updated to meet different use cases and deployment scenarios. This release makes it easy to set up hyper-converged environments, scalable file systems over clusters, VDI configurations, mixed file/block storage and multi-node HA deployments running the software on either physical or on virtual platforms (Vms).
DATACORE_virtual-san-use-case-2
Delivers centralized and powerful SDS platform
to manage overall I/O performance end-to-end 


SANsymphony-V10 works infrastructure-wide across all types of storage (flash, disk and cloud) to automate and optimize performance and resource allocation. The release offers a set of tools to profile, monitor, instrument, identify 'hot spots' and manage performance-impacting application workloads. 


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New performance-enhancing additions included in PSP2 are:
  • Performance optimizations for flash: Enhancements have been introduced that impact how DataCore cache performs read operations from flash-based and solid-state storage technologies. The net result is faster application response, lower overhead and better utilization of costly flash memory.
  • Expanded instrumentation and metrics: The PSP2 release provides greater visibility to the I/O behavior of virtual and physical disks so users can accurately understand what is happening with storage resources. Updates include additional performance metrics for virtual disks, improved heat maps and performance trending analysis reports, and added support for S.M.A.R.T. alerts from physical storage to help IT administrators better isolate performance and disk problems. This capabilities improve productivity and make it easier to manage larger-scale deployments while reducing the time and expense to troubleshoot root causes of application slowdowns.
  • Production-ready Random Write Accelerator (RWA): The previous update introduced this innovation for experimental use under certain conditions; the experimental designation is removed in PSP2. This powerful capability converts high-latency random writes into storage-friendly sequential writes, yielding up to 30 times faster performance for the random-write-heavy workloads that frequently updates databases, ERP and OLTP systems. The result is SSD-like speed from lower-cost spinning disks and a reduction in the need for costly flash resources. This capability also helps optimize flash storage performance.
Closing the server to storage Gap; empowering server vendors to meet enterprise demandsThe gap between servers and storage continues to erode as servers become more powerful and more storage capable. In this new era of commoditized hardware, what matters is the software. DataCore recognized this inevitable shift and pioneered the movement to Software-Defined Storage solutions. With this release, the company advances its platform to deliver complete and proven SDS services stack. The software is comprehensive in scope, providing end-to-end data and storage services that are not limited to a single device, but work across different vendors and types of storage from flash to disk to cloud storage. The release combines a set of enterprise storage services with an enduring software architecture designed to harness the continually improving cost curves and technology advances of the underlying hardware to close the gap. Numerous partnerships signed with global server vendors attest to this new trend of server vendors seeking to benefit by providing DataCore SDS with their platforms, including HuaweiCiscoFujitsu and Dell.

"As the leading innovator of SDS technology for more than 17 years, DataCore has seen countless storage devices come and go that are all managed and administered differently. We created DataCore SDS solutions to break down those walls and create an enduring and flexible platform to allow any vendor's storage technology to work together seamlessly," said George Teixeira, CEO, DataCore. "We continue to evolve our SANsymphony-V and Virtual SAN solutions to enable our customers to take full advantage of their existing investments and to prepare them for the long term with a software architecture that is designed to absorb new technologies without disruption as the industry advances."

Wednesday 13 May 2015

DataCore’s Fifth Annual State of Software-Defined Storage (SDS) Survey Reveals Surprises

“Two major surprises jump out at you from the findings,” said Deni Connor, founding analyst, SSG-NOW. “The absence of near term spending on Big Data and Object Storage among the majority of respondents, and the relatively small penetration of flash across these 477 organizations. Not surprising are the rising levels of investments on Software-Defined Storage initiatitives known to offer more immediate payoff.”

DataCore’s Fifth Annual State of Software-Defined Storage (SDS) Survey Reveals Surprising Lack of Spending on Big Data, Object Storage and OpenStack

In contrast, more than half of organizations polled (52 percent) look to extend the life of existing storage assets and future-proof their IT infrastructure with SDS in 2015

DataCore has released the results of its fifth annual State of Software-Defined Storage (SDS) survey. The 2015 poll explored the impact of SDS on organizations across the globe, and distills the experiences of 477 IT professionals currently using or evaluating SDS to solve critical data storage challenges. The results yield surprising insights from a cross-section of industries over a wide range of workloads.
The survey also probed for levels of spending on much-hyped topics, including Big Data, Object Storage and OpenStack. Unexpectedly, the findings showed that very little funding is being earmarked in 2015 for these initiatives. Some of the pause may be explained by a number of disillusionments that were disclosed in the findings.
 
On the other hand, this year’s report reveals several major business drivers for implementing Software-Defined Storage. 52 percent of respondents expect SDS will extend the life of existing storage assets and future-proof their storage infrastructure, enabling them to easily absorb new technologies. Close to half of respondents look to SDS to avoid hardware lock-in from storage manufacturers, while lowering hardware costs by allowing them to shop among several competing suppliers. Operationally, they see SDS simplifying management of different classes of storage by automating frequent or complex operations. This is notable in comparison with earlier surveys, as these results portray a sharp increase in the recognition of the economic benefits generated by SDS (reduced CAPEX), complementing the OPEX savings referenced in prior years.
Other surprises include: while flash technology penetration expanded it is still absent in 28 percent of the cases and 16 percent reported that it did not meet application acceleration expectations. Also interesting is that 21 percent reported that highly touted hyper-converged systems did not perform as required or did not integrate well within their infrastructure. On the other hand, Software-Defined Storage and storage virtualization are deemed very urgent now, with 72 percent of organizations making important investments in these technologies throughout 2015. 81 percent also expect similar levels of spending on Software-Defined Storage technologies that will be incorporated within server SANs / virtual SANs and converged storage solutions.

Additional highlights of DataCore’s 2015 State of Software-Defined Storage survey include:
  • The ability to add storage capacity without business disruption is identified as the primary reason for choosing storage virtualization software (52 percent of respondents). Supporting synchronous mirroring and metro clusters for high availability to ensure business continuity and asynchronous data replication for remote site disaster recovery are also high on the list.
     
  • More than half of the respondents (53 percent) say that they currently have less than 10 percent of capacity assigned to flash storage. The number of participants who answered that flash makes up higher than 40 percent of their storage capacity is only 9 percent.
     
  • More than 60 percent of respondents experienced performance degradation or the inability to meet performance after virtualizing server workloads. When asked what the typical causes of performance problems are, 61 percent of participants blame slow applications, and 46 percent single out legacy storage devices as the culprit.
     
  • Human errors are driving the need for greater automation. It has become increasingly clear that the complexity which accompanies data growth and diversity is taking a big toll, as 61 percent of respondents indicated that human error was behind application and data center outages.
Software-Defined Storage Technology: Moving the Industry Forward
“This survey sheds new light on how IT professionals approach storage-related innovations. The data reveals that many organizations are moving away from storage functions tied to specific hardware and are deriving real CAPEX and OPEX savings and additional purchasing power by not being locked to particular hardware or being forced to go ‘all new buys’ to modernize their storage infrastructure. It also points out that heavily promoted technologies, such as Object Storage, are more often found at the fringes in pilot programs, where IT is hoping to assess their value,” said George Teixeira, president and CEO at DataCore. “Software-Defined Storage and storage virtualization software, in contrast, are providing the features that the market is demanding right now, such as continuous availability, faster performance and higher efficiency. These concrete benefits carry far more weight in 2015 spending than future promises from yet to be proven technologies and startups.”
The respondents of DataCore’s State of Software-Defined Storage survey come from a diverse set of organizations, both in size and industry, providing statistically significant insights into the similarity in needs for SDS over a wide range of IT environments. Participants were located in North America, South America, Europe and Asia, in a wide range of vertical market segments including financial services, healthcare, government, manufacturing, education, IT services and other related industries. 45 percent of respondents are from organizations with less than 500 employees, 31 percent of respondents from organizations with between 500 and 5,000 employees and 23 percent from organizations with more than 5,000 employees.

DataCore’s 2015 State of Software-Defined Storage Survey was conducted in April, 2015. To view the entire report, please visit: www.datacore.com/sds2015.http://datacore.com/sf-docs/default-source/whitepapers/english/the-state-of-sds-2015-survey.pdf

Monday 4 May 2015

DataCore Software Announces Amanda Bedborough as Senior Vice President EMEA Field Operations

Amanda Bedborough’s role at DataCore has expanded to include Enterprise Programs, Channel Sales and Overall Sales Results for the EMEA region.

From: Datacentre Solutions
DataCore Software says that Amanda Bedborough has been promoted to the new position of Senior Vice President, DataCore EMEA Field Operations. Amanda previously served as the company’s executive level strategist and driver of EMEA go-to-market business initiatives. The positon was created to capture the growing market opportunity and to fulfil the increasing customer demand for the company’s SANsymphony™-V10 software-defined storage (SDS) platform, virtual SAN and hyper-converged solutions. Developing new enterprise account business and expanding our penetration of platform sales within existing accounts will be a primary focus. Amanda will be responsible for driving enterprise sales and programs, building a skilled network of value-added resellers and driving the continued infrastructure investment, new business initiatives and ongoing management of DataCore field resources throughout the EMEA region.

Amanda commented. “I’ve worked with numerous technology companies at various stages of growth and evolution and the opportunity at DataCore, in today’s era of software defined everything, is the most exciting role I have been involved with.”

Amanda Bedborough brings to DataCore over 20 years’ of experience in senior executive IT positions, creating profitable growth for technology companies such as Corel, 3DFX Interactive and STB Systems. Formerly an Executive Vice President, Global Sales & Marketing for Corel Corporation, Amanda is well qualified to assist DataCore on its next stage of transitional growth, driving our go-to-market strategy for customer acquisition and retention, today and into the future.

“Our pursuit of the growing software-defined storage market opportunities and the success of our SANsymphony-V platform and virtual SAN hyper-converged solutions made it important for DataCore to add an executive of Amanda’s calibre to build on our momentum,” said Steve Houck, Chief Operating Officer at DataCore Software. “Amanda is a proven leader and her market experience, initiative and ability to build successful sales teams, develop ‘win-win’ channel partnerships and grow enterprise business accounts will enable us to seize new market opportunities and scale our company to the next level.”