Comments on: SNW & NAB: IOPS vs bandwidth http://storagemojo.com/2008/04/23/snw-nab-iops-vs-bandwidth/ Data storage info & analysis Fri, 08 Aug 2008 21:06:59 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6 By: Charles Soto http://storagemojo.com/2008/04/23/snw-nab-iops-vs-bandwidth/#comment-194592 Charles Soto Thu, 24 Apr 2008 13:39:47 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/2008/04/23/snw-nab-iops-vs-bandwidth/#comment-194592 This is a Good Thing(tm). Storage as a "market segment" has always been the wrong focus. Storage is little more than a place for servers (and to a lesser extent, workstations) to keep their stuff. I've been very happy with the "storage leaders" embracing software differentiators, as its data management tools that bring real value (ASICs and spiffy backplanes are run of the mill). Unfortunately, storage leaders got used to storage premiums and sell that software at a premium. Meanwhile, server teams have already been through the commoditization phase and see software as a means to drive sales of their servers. Once again, we're seeing general purpose servers taking over many of the duties we once required expensive software on expensive arrays to perform, and they're mostly doing it with open standards. As a result, commodity storage built around open standards (iSCSI, pNFS, CIFS, etc.) are going to explode. This will allow us to put money back into the real value generating solutions - things that improve workflows in our respective industries (I manage IT for a college of communication, so we have a lot of broadcast/film). I look forward to when "storage" isn't really considered enough of a specialization that it requires dedicated blogs to follow. Not that your blog isn't appreciated :) This is a Good Thing(tm). Storage as a “market segment” has always been the wrong focus. Storage is little more than a place for servers (and to a lesser extent, workstations) to keep their stuff. I’ve been very happy with the “storage leaders” embracing software differentiators, as its data management tools that bring real value (ASICs and spiffy backplanes are run of the mill). Unfortunately, storage leaders got used to storage premiums and sell that software at a premium.

Meanwhile, server teams have already been through the commoditization phase and see software as a means to drive sales of their servers. Once again, we’re seeing general purpose servers taking over many of the duties we once required expensive software on expensive arrays to perform, and they’re mostly doing it with open standards. As a result, commodity storage built around open standards (iSCSI, pNFS, CIFS, etc.) are going to explode. This will allow us to put money back into the real value generating solutions - things that improve workflows in our respective industries (I manage IT for a college of communication, so we have a lot of broadcast/film).

I look forward to when “storage” isn’t really considered enough of a specialization that it requires dedicated blogs to follow. Not that your blog isn’t appreciated :)

]]> By: scalability.org » Blog Archive » Interesting … http://storagemojo.com/2008/04/23/snw-nab-iops-vs-bandwidth/#comment-194331 scalability.org » Blog Archive » Interesting … Wed, 23 Apr 2008 20:54:14 +0000 http://storagemojo.com/2008/04/23/snw-nab-iops-vs-bandwidth/#comment-194331 [...] At Storagemojo, Robin Harris has an interesting take on the evolution of storage systems. SNW is the past. NAB is the future. Storage is in the midst of a massive transition from an IOPS focus to a bandwidth focus. [...] [...] At Storagemojo, Robin Harris has an interesting take on the evolution of storage systems. SNW is the past. NAB is the future. Storage is in the midst of a massive transition from an IOPS focus to a bandwidth focus. [...]

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