We live in an information age, where individuals and organisations create and save more data then ever before. Such information means companies have the power to create a competitive advantage from knowledge – but only if they can store, access and use data.
Information comes from a diverse range of sources. Organisations and individuals create huge amounts of quantitative data on a daily basis, whether that is in the form of sales figures, purchase orders or audit records. Qualitative data, such as opinions, interactions and observations, provides another treasure trove, much of which is sourced through social and collaborative technologies.
Yet just as the amount of quantitative and qualitative data continues to rise, so does the requirement for smart answers to fast-evolving business challenges. Customers, in the information age, are more demanding than ever before. A bad experience, such as a slow response to a service enquiry, can mean clients switch to an alternative provider. And the combined power of mobile and broadband means it is simple for customers to search and source a new partner.
Researcher IDC says traditional legacy IT cannot keep up with the demands of the business, particularly with regard to delivering new services efficiently and rapidly. The new good news is that IDC suggests there is evidence of enterprise IT moving away from unmanageable virtualised systems, siloed servers, storage, information and processes. More firms, says the researcher, are beginning to embrace integrated infrastructures.
IT leaders must be on their guard. They must work closely with their partners across the business to understand how information can be used to match organisational objectives with customer demands. By taking a tight grip on information storage and retrieval, c-suite executives can start to make better use of the vast amounts of data their organisations create on a daily basis. So, how can IT organisations match storage technology to the business’ data performance and retrieval needs?
Ensuring the right stuff is in the right place
When it comes to storage, time is quite literally money. IT organisations that are able to deliver fast access to secure information are likely to be able to steal a march on their competitors. That head start can translate into faster decision making processes, better service for customers and long-term sales growth.
IT leaders must look to supply the type of storage platform that moves beyond traditional technologies and which provides next-generation capabilities. Storage has often been the unsung hero of the traditional IT set-up. Great storage provides a reliable partner that helps the business keep its information safe and secure. But while scalability and reliability will always be paramount in regards to enterprise-grade storage, modern businesses need a new type of storage to excel in the information age.
Agility and flexibility have become the watchwords for CIOs charged with creating modern IT platforms. Analyst Garner suggests the technology priorities of businesses have evolved and are now focused on what it refers to as ‘the nexus of forces’. The analyst says these four forces – cloud, mobile, social and information – are now at the core of CIO spending strategies.
With new technologies transforming how business is completed, analyst Aberdeen Group says organisations must take advantage of trends like cloud and big data in order to optimise service delivery for both internal end-users and external customers. And to make this change, CIOs and their c-suite peers must pay attention to how information is stored and accessed.
As Forrester recently concluded in regards to information management and the need for organisational transformation: “Existing data management platforms and strategies are not designed for an agile business or the digital age.” Storage, in short, needs to evolve to the point where it becomes a business enabler, rather than an obstruction. It needs to be more agile, more efficient, and simpler than ever before. The storage and retrieval of information needs to be measured in minutes, not weeks or months.
Moving to the new age of data performance and retrieval
Help comes in the form of flash storage, an electronic non-volatile computer medium that can be electrically erased and reprogrammed. Such flash storage comes in the form of solid-state drives (SSDs) and solid-state array (SSAs), which consist of multiple drives and are capable of delivering significant improvements in performance.
Gartner expects spending on SSAs to grow approximately five times between 2014 and 2017. During this period, the total number of vendors and products will increase by 50 per cent, but 20 per cent of the current vendors will exit the market. Businesses will not able to take a risk and it is, therefore, essential that CIOs pick a trusted partner to help them move into the new age of high-performance storage.
In its analysis, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) says the market is rapidly maturing in terms of both organisations’ understanding of flash technology and solid-state storage options. The analyst says users who view storage as a strategic tool and competitive differentiator are four times as likely to use solid-state storage as those who see storage as a mere afterthought. However, ESG warns that since solid-state storage is still a relatively new technology, it is easy for vendor assertions to be passed off as facts.
ESG research suggests flash storage can be used in a range of applications and implementations, whether they are run on physical or virtual machines, and whether they exist in a traditional data centre or a cloud operation. Solid-state applies everywhere, and one of its key attractions is that, in most implementations, workflows do not need to be changed. The analyst says the two major generic applications for flash are in areas of high-intensitylow-latency needs, such as virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and e-commerce applications; and acceleration needs, such as databases, online transaction processing (OLTP), and messaging infrastructures.
Creating a next-generation storage platform
ESG suggests systems built on traditional storage architectures are invariably not designed to handle solid-state storage or flash-based media, but are being used with these new storage types regardless of this fact. CIOs should note that the results from using a traditional storage base can be unimpressive. ESG refers to performance bottlenecks and a frustrating inability to live up to the full potential of the new flash-based technology, due to restrictions that are inherent to the system and existing architecture.
On the other hand, purpose-built, flash-based storage offerings from start-up vendors may have architectures that are optimised for solid-state storage and flash-based media. However, ESG warns technology decision makers that many of these offerings do not necessarily deliver the storage functionality that business users demand, such as thin provisioning to business-critical tools, including resiliency and high availability. “With so many ‘shiny objects’ in this space, all of which promise to ‘wash whiter’, it’s all too easy to lose focus on what really matters: IT architecture and business results,” warns ESG in its market assessment.
A true next-generation storage platform from a trusted Tier One specialist provides consistently high performance, with assured quality of service, for block, file, and object-access workloads. High performance should not be the only consideration for savvy tech leaders who are looking to offer the best possible storage solution to the rest of the business. CIOs should also look to focus on lower storage costs, usable capacity and accelerated de-duplication.
Gartner says HP’s 3PAR storage architecture is sufficiently flexible to exploit SSD media, complete with purpose-built SSA features. The analyst says HP provides a cost-effective approach, as well as robust reliability that can be supported with solid warranty terms, including a five-year SSD warranty and six 9s (99.9999%) availability guarantees. Gartner also refers to HP’s extensive channel presence, global sales ability and a substantial customer base, which is complemented by worldwide support.
ESG suggests HP has “an intelligent and credible take”, which makes its thought leadership on the potential future of the technology worthy of attention. ESG pays particularly attention to the cutting-edge nature of 3PAR technology, referring to the de-duplication and indexing of metadata, through to the thin provisioning approach. Much of this technology, says ESG, is patented HP intellectual property and a majority of the newer functionality has been developed by HP Labs.
“The fact that other vendors have similar-sounding attributes should not make users assume all things are equal,” suggests ESG in it assessment of the solid-state storage market. “To use an analogy, if you are buying a car and only ask whether the car has an engine, you could end up with a two-cylinder hybrid or a Formula One V-8. They are both called ‘engines’, but have very different capabilities.”
In conclusion, individuals and organisations continue to create and use ever-increasing amount of information. Business leaders that rely on this knowledge must be prepared. Storage remains a crucial element of this preparation but CIOs must do more than rely on traditional, enterprise-grade approaches. Competitiveness in the digital age requires a flexible and agile strategy for storage. By partnering with a trusted provider for flash storage, IT leaders can ensure that high performance in data retrieval becomes a business standard.