Leo Leung20
Third hypothesis - storage software (not management, not replication, not backup), but managing the data like software locked inside the array, will be $5B market https://www.crowdcha...
Chris M Evans
That's a big number. I'd like to see us get to a better definition of SDS - too many non-SDS solutions out there.
Leo Leung
@chrismevans - we're talking just the software, not the gigantic Taiwanese industry that is emerging from the shadows.
Sheryl Koenigsberg
@chrismevans agreed it's overused, but @lleung's descrip of SDS as "managing data like software locked inside the array" is pretty good
Jay Cuthrell jay@cuthrell.com +1-415-763-8343
and yet... $5B seems low if you consider TAM across effective lifecycle of existing storage markets and projections for scale requirements going forward
Stuart Miniman
If SDS also shifts the hw to white box, then the $5B it is likely shifting/replacing at least $10-15B of traditional storage
Chris M Evans
@stu I don't think it all has to be white box; just decouple hardware performance from storage "object" performance.
Kasia Lorenc
@chrismevans "I'd like to see us get to a better definition of SDS" --> +1 seems each company has their own definition of SDS
Stuart Miniman
OK - what do we need for "real" SDS? sw that is independent of hw, simple deployment, 1-click scalability, what else?
Chris M Evans
I feel better placed than say 2 years ago to create a definition, I see more substance around what performance decoupling means and how we should expect storage to be "driven".
Jérôme Lecat
@chrismevans SDS definition 1) storage infrastructure can be configured via API AND 2) it is delivered in SOFTWARE which can be deployed on STANDARD servers.
Chris M Evans
@stu Not quite - storage object performance that is separated from the hardware e.g. LUN/volume etc gets 1000 IOPS irrespective of hardware speed etc.
Chris M Evans
@jlecat 100% on the API piece. Management (provisioning etc) driven by API not a sysadmin. But that API needs to be (a) rich (b) native, not a false wrapper around an old product.
Jérôme Lecat
@chrismevans The $5B is for the software portion, if you ask how much value of the storage industry is going to shift, it is more $30B or $40B, moving from dedicated HW to standard servers and margin pool reduction (means cheaper for customers!)
Storage Godfather (HPEStorageGuy)
kasia @chrismevans Vendors making up their own definition for a storage trend is nothing new: storage virtualization, ILM (remember that one), SDS. BTW, what happened to the ILM company?
Leo Leung
@chrismevans - FOP - it's any hardware - super dense if you like (approaching 100 drives in a 4U), super fast if you like, super cheap if you like
Jérôme Lecat
@chrismevans Yes Chris on API, my point is SDS needs to be SOFTWARE. HW product that call themselves SDS are just SDS-washing....
Stuart Miniman
@jlecat if $5B shifts $30-40B, is there any way that the current large players can "win" at such different economics?
Leo Leung
@chrismevans - false wrapper around old product - stop talking about JJ Abrams like that
Leo Leung
@HPStorageGuy - ILM... wasn't that Quantum?
Jérôme Lecat
@stu Some large players will adpat quickly ("elephant can dance") others will just die (in the form of merger probably)
Storage Godfather (HPEStorageGuy)
I think every storage vendor talked about it but the guys in Hopkinton made it their corporate slogan; can't remember if it was alongside "Where information lives" or before it.
Storage Godfather (HPEStorageGuy)
And much to my embarrassment, I was marketing employee number 2 at HP. I learned a lot from that experience.
Chris M Evans
@HPStorageGuy I seem to remember Veritas talking ILM around 1996.
Jérôme Lecat
@shd_9 Agreed.
Storage Godfather (HPEStorageGuy)
@chrismevans They started with HSM. They may have been the first to use it, don't remember now. I know Compaq was using some other acronym and we changed it to ILM post merger.
Storage Godfather (HPEStorageGuy)
Totally off topic, but some taxi twitter account in Barcelona tweeted me that Uber is illegal in Spain. So don't take an Uber ride in Spain or risk jail time! LOL