SDS

Typical what we here from our customers around "Why SDS" are threefold: 1) lower cost via commodity HW 2) Scaleability into the 100s/1000s of TB and high performance 3) the flexibility of different consumption models (SW only, appliances, CI, etc)

The agility is a pretty big advantage, being able to dynanically grow and shrink the environment and tailor it for specific needs

Simplicity and agility is a big driver too

complexity reduction in #agile #hybridcloud requires software

this will impact in a huge way total cost of ownership TCO

Open ecosystems that support new platforms such as OpenStack, Docker, etc.

@furrier We typically see upwards of 60% reduction in TCO with SDS

Customers would like to rack and stack thousands of homogenous servers, on which the footprint allocated to particular aspects of infrastructure could be increased or reduced easily. This cannot be done with traditional appliance systems.

SDS provides flexibility. Customers can now pick and choose different vendors depending on their needs.

It feels like SDS is for customers who wan tthe benefit of the cloud but the long term TCO of an on premise solution or to meeet regulatory requirements.. we have seen some customers pull back from cloud to on prem

customers are looking for the infrastructure benefits of cloud

at the same time, they cannot transition completely to a public cloud environment and have some very valid reasons for staying on-prem or using a hybrid approach

First, the natural concern for customers moving to a vendor datacenter is vendor lock in. SDS provides customers portability. They can take their tech in the form of software to any cloud vendor without being locked into vendor-specific services.

Cloud lock in is a very real thing at scale... and in the long term customers find it simply isnt inexpensive

IT shops are being forced to show the cost of their operations relative to the cloud

Second, SDS provides many of the same benefits as the public cloud, within a customer's own environment.

Using SDS within data centers therefore becomes a response to that pressure as it gives IT shops granularity of costs, flexibility and agility which is a core benefit of a cloud environment

Having built and run a public cloud for a living (Microsoft Azure), we knew that there is there is no reason for the customer to have to accept the drawbacks of the public cloud model just to get the benefits of commodity architecture.

Software definied storage removes a lot of old legacy dedicated components for standards based, and allows for true hyperconvergence which removes components

distributed storage pools and flash are a perfect combination for #IoT and any edge device plays nicely into hybrid cloud operating models

Silo'ed appliances lead to massive overprovisioning.

Not to mention a more powerful server that allows for hyperconvergenc takes app servers out of the datacenter reducing power and real estate

SDS helps by making the footprint consistent across different types of storage

This is because you have to plan for spikes in usage without the ability to "borrow" infrastructure from other parts of the infra.

But with SDS, the software stack of the given component can be deployed quickly on more commodity hardware racked in the DC, leading to elastic scale.

what that means is that you have far less silos of infrastructure and therefore, less wastage, more efficiency and therefore less physical space

Open source is a fantastic thing. It has fostered innovation and democratized the technology stack created by the cloud movement. Ultimately, the customer needs something that works, and is supportable, regardless of how it was created.

We try to embrace open source standards and tools, but there is a lot of IP in our best of breed products, and frankly our customers expect us to support those. That said we have a dev team dediccated to build Open Source tools to compliment our p

What do you guys think of CEPH?

Open Source is free if your time is worth nothing! #kidding

the model for open source is evolving in a corporate structure

The value of CEPH is that it has exposed customers to the idea of SDS even for something like block storage. Let the best product win!

Open source technology + Vendor IP = best of both worlds...undeniable these two worlds are coming together and the customer wins!

Why best of breed rather than a single product that covers them all?

@mrdavidnoy architecture matters!

I have never seen a "one trick pony" that can meet the very different customer requirements for file, block and object without major trade offs... That is fantasy land!

It's called computer science. The same algorithmics don't work across the spectrum of performance, latency, and efficiency requirements.

The main pushback I hear from customers is - we are used to the turkey experience of an appliance. How are we going to get the same level of ease of admin with SDS?

As with any new technology there are concerns about risk and reliability compared to legacy systems

process changes, understanding of how to construct IT infrastructure in this new world and people expertise are all big reasons that slow adoption of SDS

The other one I hear is - support. Is there a single phone number I can call to debug my SDS product. What if there is a bug in the hardware/firmware that breaks the software? Who do I call?

@ManuvirDas Can someone answer this in regards to EMC?

Josh, what we do is we qualify hardware for the customer, based on what they are standardizing on. This is usually a fast process. It gives the customer flexibility but allows us to make a strong support statement.

Josh, does that answer your question?

Either we do it or someone else does. If customers want SDS they are going to get it. We want to provide that choice and keep people on planet EMC

who better to do it than #EMC that has focused on building best-of-breed platforms for file, block, object

No, SDS can be consumed in many different models, including SW only or appliances. The threat would be to ignore this from customers and do nothing...Choice is key!

It's about providing customers with choice, and helping do what's right for their business. SDS is right for some customers, while others prefer the appliance model.

What is interesting is the form factor of consumption

@logicalblock can you elaborate?

we see customers who want SDS but also want it combined with HW - that has led to the movement around CI and HCI

SDS allows customers flexibility in both core and edge datacenters