Dan Frith looks at ScaleIO, a Dell EMC software-defined storage solution. He runs down the comprehensive feature list in the article, and finds that with the right hardware combination, ScaleIO can offer compelling block storage performance across a variety of use cases. Dan definitely recommends giving it a try for yourself.
Dell EMC’s Isilon All-Flash Is Starting To Make Sense
Dell EMC’s Isilon has a long history in the scale-out NAS market. Dan Frith writes up his thoughts on their latest all-flash offering. He sees this as useful in the media/entertainment vertical that Isilon already serves, where the trasition to higher resolution 4K media dramatically increases requirements. It may never be a solution for organization on a budget, but Dan sees it as well positioned for demanding workloads.
X-IO Technologies Are Living On The Edge
Dan Frith looks at X-IO’s Axellio platform, their new entry into edge computing. The platform was designed to enable processing of streaming data as close to ingest as possible, with the resulting analytics sent back to a data center. Dan thinks Axellio is well designed for that purpose, even if it might not be applicable to the legacy systems he often works with.
Axellio, next gen, IO intensive server for RT analytics by X-IO Technologies
At Storage Field Day, the delegates saw a technical deep dive on X-IO Technologies new edge computing platform, Axellio. Ray Lucchesi runs down some the notable components of the platform. This includes support for up to 460TB of raw NVMe in a 2U appliance, the ability to add two off-load modules for parallel computing or machine learning, and over 12 Million IO/sec with at 35µsec latencies.
Dell EMC’s in the Midst of a Midrange Resurrection
Dan Frith got an update on Dell EMC’s midrange Unity portfolio at Storage Field Day earlier this month. He found the line significantly more refined compared to its rather rough launch, now merging file, block or VMware Virtual Volume storage sharing in the same storage pool. The included data services also show that Dell EMC is listening to their customers. It’s a sign to Dan that midrange, while not the most exciting, is still receiving the attention it deserves.
Storage is Getting Cloudier!
Stephen Foskett shares his thoughts on the increasing cloudification of storage. He highlights NetApp’s move into Microsoft’s Azure cloud as a prime example. It’s all part of what Stephen calls the “Year of Cloud Extension”!
The Year of Cloud Extension
The idea of incorporating cloud storage into the data center has been around for a while. But Stephen Foskett thinks we’re seeing philosophically different approaches to it recently, with many companies embracing the premise of data non-locality. Stephen sees this change in the assumption from data being tied to a data center to the cloud as a transformative shift allowing for true data center transformation.
NetApp Doesn’t Want You To Be Special (This Is A Good Thing)
At Storage Field Day, NetApp’s Andy Banta spoke about the death of the specialized admin in enterprise IT. As infrastructures become automated and easier to managed, and as hardware shifts increasingly toward commodity, there becomes less of a need for these admins in an organization. Dan found it a fascinating discussion, in that it showed some of that context and consequences of the new technical solutions generally presented at Tech Field Day events.
The Purity of Hyperconverged Infrastructure: What’s in a Name?
Scott Lowe isn’t too high on the term Hyperconverged Infrastructure. For Scott, it’s basically a catch all for some combination of storage and compute in a single appliance. But increasingly, though HCI broadly offers simplicity, it can fail to meet the specific needs of an organization. Scott looks at solutions from Datrium, Dell EMC ScaleIO, and NetApp that all could be categorized as HCI, but take a fundamentally different approach.
Storage Field Day Is Almost Here
It’s always fun to see delegate’s perspective before and after an event. Brandon Graves went to his first Storage Field Day last week. He definitely seemed enthusiastic in this piece previewing the event. Looking forward to see what he took away.
Storage Field Day 13 – (Fairly) Full Disclosure
It’s always a pleasure to have Dan Frith at a Storage Field Day event. He attended last week in Denver, and made sure to write up a full disclosure surrounding the event. If you want to see the same presentations Dan did, make sure to checkout our comprehensive video coverage!
Backup and Recovery in the Cloud: Simplification is Actually Really Hard
Scott Lowe looks at the effort needed to really simplify backup and recovery to the cloud. This was inspired after seeing StorageCraft present at Storage Field Day earlier this month. For Scott, simplicity is just a mask that wraps up inherent complexity. But in StorageCraft, he saw an interesting approach to this masking. In the event of a total data loss, StorageCraft overnights disks with data that was stored nightly on their private cloud. Once received, these are then synced with the most up to date versions that occurred between the last full backup and the present time. This allows organizations to recover mission critical data from catastrophe much quicker.
SNIA Highlights Persistent Memory and Scalable Storage Management at Storage Field Day 13
SNIA looks to have an intriguing presentation in store for Storage Field Day. They’ll be discussing how convergence of memory and storage will change computing, and what SNIA is doing to promote a unified, scalable server and storage management. Definitely some big topics. Make sure to watch on the live stream during the presentation, and send in any questions on Twitter with #SFD13.
Storage Field Day 13 – Day 0
Dan Frith is on the ground in Denver for Storage Field Day. In this post, he shares the schedule of presenting companies he’ll be seeing over the next few days. Make sure to follow along on our live stream to watch with Dan!
Pure Storage Accelerate/Storage Field Day 13 – PreFlight
Matt Leib has made sure his seat backs and tray tables are in their full upright positions, and he’s ready to take off for a full week of events next week. He’ll be at a Tech Field Day Exclusive at Pure Accelerate 2017, then heading for a full slate of presentations at Storage Field Day. Make sure to check back for live streaming and full video after the events!
SFD13 Primer – Dell EMC
Max Mortillaro continues his excellent primer series on the presenting companies coming up at Storage Field Day next week. In this post, he takes a look at what to expect from Dell EMC. He reviews the company’s place in the market, and how the merger of Dell and EMC was not exempt from bumps along the way. Max is interested in hearing more about VxRail and XtremIO. Make sure to watch along on the live stream during the event to stay up to date on their entire presentation!
SFD13 Primer – SNIA
Max Mortillaro takes a look at SNIA ahead of their Storage Field Day presentation next week. He finds the breadth of the organization impressive, touching on everything from standards to community engagement. At their presentation, SNIA will focus on their standard for storage management, SwordFish, and persistent memory related activities. Make sure to check out the live stream to watch along with the delegates, and send it question via Twitter with #SFD13.
Storage Field Day 13 (SFD13) – Preview
Alex Galbraith is heading to Storage Field Day in Denver, and has a preview post about the event. He’s excited to meet with all of the presenting companies, and get into the substantive technical discussions typical of the event. Remember, watch along on the live stream, and send in any questions on Twitter with #SFD13.
SFD13 Primer – X-IO Axellio Edge Computing Platform
Max Mortillaro gives X-IO a look ahead of their Storage Field Day presentation later this month. He runs through the company’s origins as the Seagate Advanced Storage Group, before being spun out in 2007. He then goes on to give a preview of Axellio, their edge computing platform. For Max, writing the piece was an example of what makes Storage Field Day exciting: discovering new technologies and platforms, and getting excited for a technical deep dive.
Storage Field Day – I’ll Be At Storage Field Day 13 and Pure Accelerate
Dan Frith will be joining the other luminary delegates at Storage Field Day later this month. It’ll be a pleasure to have Dan joining us in Denver. Make sure to follow all the presentations on the live stream, and send in questions over Twitter using #SFD13!
