INTELLIGENT DATA CENTRES
INTELLIGENT DATA CENTRES
Why all flash
storage is
transforming
partner
programmes
Ben Savage, EMEA Head of Channels & Alliances, Pure Storage.
The task of managing the cost of storage, providing the right platform for workloads and
ensuring the path forward is simple and predictable has become a critical success factor says
Ben Savage, EMEA Head of Channels & Alliances, Pure Storage.
T
he key technologies today that are
enabling digital business are very
much influencing the composition
of the datacentre. Inside the datacentre,
the challenges of data management
continue to grow exponentially. The task of
managing the cost of storage, providing the
right platform for workloads and ensuring
the path forwards is simple and predictable
has become a critical success factor. This
challenge is similar for the end user,
channel partners and storage vendors.
Trends like digital transformation,
mobility, analytics and cloud, require the
right selection of storage platforms to
match the workload. Should data be on
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or off-premises; public cloud or hybrid?
Can workloads be moved easily from one
platform to another; can platforms be
easily upgraded over time; are the costs
of platforms predictable and manageable;
can costs be reduced on traditional
platforms? These are the challenges that
end customers are facing and are looking
for answers from their strategic solutions
partners and vendors.
Solution partners are looking to
make sense of the transformation
taking place across storage solutions
and data platforms. They also need to
be able to understand their customer
requirements now and into the future.
In line with what
is happening
globally, there
is a tsunami
of disruption
engulfing
the storage
industry.
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NTELLIGENT TECH CHANNELS
Partners want to engage with vendors
who can offer storage roadmaps that
are simple, predictable, repeatable,
scalable and profitable. They need
their vendor partners to be innovative
at every stage of development for the
long run. In addition, solution partners
need to be able to add their layer of
value, personalised for their customers.
Neither the partner nor the customer can
deal with additional complexity or cost
unpredictability at this stage.
The increasing importance of simplicity
and cost management around storage
has drawn attention to the limitations of
traditional storage solutions. With rapid
expansion in the requirement of data
capacity, traditional storage solutions
fast reach their performance limitations
dictated by the initial controller and
architecture technology. While storage
capacity can be added, the solution is
limited by a performance lock. To get to
the next level of performance is usually
complicated, expensive and cumbersome.
Typically, the upgrade is a new solution
and a new purchase. Data needs to be
migrated and there is downtime for
the end customer due to slow transfer
speeds. Some of the older data structures
and libraries may get affected during
migration. The migration of data can be
complex and require external professional
services. And finally, the maintenance
contract renewal is often more expensive
than the previous version; a good reason
for solution partners and end customers to
look at other alternatives.
Enter all-flash arrays. These are built
on solid-state technologies and have
near zero latency times to access and
transfer data. Recent all-flash storage
solutions from select vendors are also
helping solution partners avoid the murky
waters created by complex and expensive
‘forklift upgrades’ from traditional storage
vendors. All-flash maintenance and
service programmes involve incorporating
contractual costs to the initial performance
metric unit of the solution; that is IOPS
per GB. As the end-user solution scales
in storage capacity over time, the per unit
cost remains constant and even reduces,
Recent all-
flash storage
solutions from
select vendors
are also helping
solution partners
avoid the murky
waters created
by complex
and expensive
‘forklift
upgrades’ from
traditional
storage vendors.
ensuing from benefits of Moore’s law
applied to all-flash storage.
This predictability of maintenance and
service costs around all-flash solutions
helps partners to have confidence in
the profitability of engagements with
customers and the underlying partnership
with the vendor. For customers,
predictable maintenance and services
costs around all-flash storage is a
simplification and positive alternative to
traditional storage solutions.
Another benefit for customers created
by all-flash storage solutions is the ability
to jump the technology cycle by upgrading
the controllers of the array. Many all-flash
vendors are including an upgrade of the
controllers at fixed intervals of time under
their maintenance programmes. However,
if the customer wishes to initiate the
upgrade earlier, innovative vendor trade-
in programmes may also exist to facilitate
the seamless migration into denser
capacity solutions. Migration of data in an
all-flash environment, unlike traditional
storage solutions, can be much faster
and without downtime. These all-flash
vendors have raised the bar by innovating
the underlying storage architectures
and their associated programmes.
For the solution partner, the ability to
manage customer requirements through
a built-in upgrade programme allows
customers to deploy storage once and
keep expanding and improving it for 10
years or more, all without any downtime,
performance impact, or data migrations
and this becomes the basis of a win–win
relationship. While managing technology
growth requirements and providing
financial gains to the customer are made
possible by such programmes from
all-flash vendors, vendors also gain by
increased loyalty from solutions partners.
In line with what is happening globally,
there is a tsunami of disruption engulfing
the storage industry; we have seen a
collapse in ‘big ticket’ enterprise disk
storage and this will accelerate in the
next 12–18 months with the widespread
adoption of all-flash arrays and converged
infrastructure. For partners looking
to build a competitive advantage and
break into new accounts, this presents
an incredible opportunity. In today’s fast
changing marketplace, increased partner
loyalty remains a key differentiator for
all-flash storage vendors versus traditional
storage vendors.
Partners want
to engage with
vendors who can
offer storage
roadmaps that
are simple,
predictable,
repeatable,
scalable and
profitable.
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