SoftwareDefinedChat

ONe is making sure you have DP and DR covered. Many SDS products don't have that. IBM does

servers! storage folks are sometimes not attuned to buying servers - a bit foreign sometimes

Full coverage from scaling to performance to protection to DR

What about organizational issues? Is everyone "ready" for this?

first challenge is knowing where to start .. second is knowing what workloads to leverage this new approach

I suspect fear of something different is a challenge..."we've always done it this way" can slow down or inhibit new approachs

the funny thing is, they don't need to be "ready" they already HAVE it and don't know it...

SDS is flexible by nature and often iterative in practice. Some of the common challenges that I hear from clients for SDS varies from data protection to managing complex workloads and more. No one SDS product offering provides all capabilities

Titally agree Eric - there's alwasy uncertainty

Yes, they are ready for this. Storage is a huge pain. SDS doesn't eliminate that pain but makes is MUCH less intense

products like IBM Storwize have been "software defined" for years ... products like IBM Spectrum Scale are delivered as appliances with our partners and they too are "software defined"

The idea that server and storage purchases become essentially the same thing will be a challenge for some and an opportunity for others

Anyone who thinks storage is "easy" doesn't understand it. But with SDS storage gets way easier than it is today

SDS products intelligently manage differing workload types by placing data on optimal storage types and tiers.

Yup, I think there's pressure to find a better way....and, as was said much earlier, storage has been subject to s/w management for ever (just differently placed and less easy to use!)

Back in the day, DBA's were worried about RAID because they liked to know where on the platter their database was laid out. Seems there will be some who are nervous with a SDS paradigm. But cloud may be breaking down the old walls.

Correct. In short, right storage for the righr workload and SDS makes is much easie to do that

@zoginstor I will reuse that sentence

@RonRiffe Good analogy!

Data migration. It's what any new storage solution faces, but for some reason the anxiety is higher in SDS. Probably because of the lack of awareness and "trust factor."

the real challenge is the willingness to embrace the next transformational technology shift in data storage and data management - SDS is that next wave - clients who embrace it now will be positioned to compete better in the future

Yes Rob - anything new tends to lead people to look for issues before opportunities - I think it's the human condition!

As @calgoIBM said, anxiety should be less because many (most?) are already doing some SDS. They just don't know it and perhaps that's the big challenge of defining SDS

True but storage is so darn hard people should be running to SDS.

Doesn't solve world hunger but does make it way, way easier to do storage

Some workloads customers will still want dedicated HW and nothing wrong with that

SDS just gives you a level of flexibility of deployment that has not existing in storgae

And a good SDS solution will embrace that traditional hardware, no leave it out in the cold

@zoginstor so, you're saying they can have it their way?

Yes you can have it their way

We have SDS available right now from IBM.

Full family from file to block to BU to DR

1st step is a mental one... realize you can do a ton with SW, and commodity HW

Channel parntners who know how to use it and install for any customer - huge or small

pick a tier 2 use case - try it.

But Eric - how does someone know if they are ready/appropriate?

Need to look at their apps, workloads and use cases.

Any mid-large enterprise is ready now

One question would be to look at how well you are managing storage today. If you don't have effective open cross-storage management, starting there would be a good choice with IBM Spectrum Control

look for a new project, one that needs speed, and take a chance on purchasing storage software to do more than just be a file system or backup solution ... try SDS as the primary storage mechanism for your next project!

then, pick an area that has been giving you headaches for years. and deploy a piece of SDS to help. if it works, your a hero. if it fails, you just have the same headache you've always had!!!!

SDS is all about flexibility and choice and IBM SDS makes it easy with industry, battle hardened Storage SWFT

ensure we have it avail for free download to start a simple POC, gain confidence, move to real deployment, maybe dev/test first

@Chris_Saul - good point .. SDS entry point to maximize efficiency of existing data storage hardware .. sounds like a job for Spectrum Control!

As @zoginstor implies, one great thing about IBM Spectrum Storage is that it is so comprehensive. So you can start and expand in ways that suit your business. There is no wrong path to take

@steve_woj Woj is right, get over the mental hump... Look at the large public cloud datacenters. Fields of common building blocks all managed with software. On-premises datacenter need to understand the CAN... and then pick a pilot to start with

I do agree that for most people a "dip your toes" approach works for most...

As on a previous question. Use cases most be very clear on #softwaredefined implementations and shared! So IT managers can bump into solutions to their issues

Clients should convince their purchasing team that they can save some money, get some great capabilities, and as @steve_woj

Demo's, POC's, and existing customers already using SDS from IBM

If you're doing a parallel infrastructure for private/hybrid cloud... or infrastructure modernization... start there. otherwise, tier 2 like Eric said. You can also do tier 3 if you're risk averse... just point BU software at it.

@englishmdp You've obviously been to a North Sea resort in your youth!

said, you can be a hero

Try & Buy programs are generally good way to start.

Excellent way to get started with our SDS is all of the demos we have on IBM.com

And, of course, checking the all the exisging case studies