2020Predictions50vendorsJanuary2020
PhilippeNicolasStorageNewsletter
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 2
ListofCompanies
Summaryofvendors’predictions 4
Actifio(AshAshutosh,CEO) 5
Atempo(Lucd’Urso,CEO) 6
BambooSystems(TonyCraythorne,CEO) 6
Caringo(AdrianHerrera,VPMarketing) 6
Cloudian(NeilStobart,VPGlobalSystemEngineering) 7
Clumio(ChaddKenney,VP&ChiefTechnologist) 8
Cohesity(LynnLucas,CMO) 9
Commvault 9
CTeraNetworks(AronBrand,CTO) 10
DataDynamics(PiyushMehta,CEO) 11
DataCore(GerardoDada,CMO) 11
Datrium(SazzalaReddy,CTO) 12
DDN(AlexBouzari,CEO) 12
DriveScale(TomLyon,ChiefScientist,BrianPawlowski,CTO&DeniseShiffman,CPO)13
ExaGrid(BillAndrews,CEO) 13
FujiFilmRecordingMediaUS(PeterFaulhaber,President) 14
Hammerspace(BrendanWolfe,VPProductMarketing) 14
HitachiVantara(HuYoshida,CTO) 15
HYCU(SimonTaylor,CEO) 16
Infinidat(StanleyZaffos,SVPProductMarketing) 17
iXsystems(MikeLauth,CEO) 18
Kaminario(EyalDavid,CTO) 18
Kaseya(MichaelSanders,GMofUnitrendsandSpanning) 19
Komprise(KrishnaSubramanian,President&COO) 19
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 3
LightbitsLabs(EranKirzner,CEO) 20
MemVerge(CharlesFan,CEO) 21
Minio(AnandBabuPeriasamy,CEO) 22
Nasuni(RussKennedy,CPO) 22
NGDSystems(ScottShadley,VPMarketing) 23
Panasas(CurtisAnderson,SeniorSoftwareArchitect) 23
PavilionDataSystems(VRSatish,CTO) 24
Portworx(MurliThirumale,CEO) 24
PureStorage(MattKixmoeller,VPStrategy) 25
Quantum(EricBassier,SeniorDirectorofProductMarketing) 26
Qumulo(MollyPresley,GlobalProductMarketingDirector) 27
Reduxio(JacobCherian,CMO) 27
ScaleComputing(AlanConboy,officeoftheCTO) 28
Scality(PaulSpeciale,CPO) 28
SpectraLogic(MattStarr,CTO) 29
StorCentric(SuryaVaranasi,CTO) 29
StorMagic(BruceKornfeld,CMO&GM-Americas) 30
StorONE(GalNaor,CEO) 31
StrongBoxDataSolutions(FloydChristofferson) 31
TalonStorage(JaapvanDuijvenbode,ProductDirector) 32
Virtana(TimVanAsh,SVPProducts) 33
Weebit(CobyHanoch,CEO) 34
WekaIO(AndyWatson,CTO) 35
WesternDigital(PhilBullinger,SVPandGM) 35
Zadara(JeffFrancis,Sr.EnterpriseSolutionsArchitect) 36
Zerto(GijsbertJanssenvanDoorn,TechnologyEvangelist) 37
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 4
Summaryofvendors’predictionsAfewdaysfollowingthe2019vendors’factsandreviewpublication,wepublishour«classic»annualvendors’predictionsfor2020.Wecollect50opinionsandconsolidatethemtofindsomemajorstrendsanddirectionsforthestorageindustry:1. Withoutanysurprise,Cloudarrives#1invariousflavors(multi,hybrid,on-
premises,private,edge)2. NewdevicesandconnectivityaroundFlash,NVMe(oF),SCM/PM,QLC3. Kubernetesofcourseandcontainers4. AnalyticsandAI5. Objectstorage
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StorageNewsletter 5
Actifio(AshAshutosh,CEO)1. AIwilldominatenewappsandmakedatare-useevenmoreimportant
Whilethesingularityhasnothappenedyet,we’reapproachingitinsoftwaredevelopment.Asdatabecomesmoreheavilygoverned,controlledandcollected,machinelearningwillbeapredominantwayforittobeleveraged.Gartnersaysenterpriseadoptionofartificialintelligenceandmachinelearning(AI/ML)hastripledinthelastyearalone,andthat37percentoforganizationshavenowembracedAI/ML.IDCpredictsthatby2025,atleast90%ofnewenterpriseappswillembedAI/ML.Data-powereddecisions,includingtheuseofroboticprocessautomation(RPA)willeclipsehuman-powereddecisionsintermsofthevolumeofdecisionsCloudvendorslikeGoogleandIBMhavedramaticallyloweredthebarrierstoadoptionanduseofAI/ML,levelingtheplayingfieldfororganizationsofanysizetobecomedata-driven.We’veseenthisphenomenonmorerecentlywithgenesplicingthatreducedthecostfrommillionsofdollarstoaround$20.MIT’snewSchwarzmanCollegeofComputingwilllaythefoundationforcomputingasabasicskill,justasmathis,andfurtherenableexponentialadoptionofcomputingineverydaylife.Similartotherapidevolutionoftestdatamanagement(TDM)fromanesotericpracticemorethan10yearsagotoaubiquitouspartofeveryorganizationtoday,Iseetheriseofanalyticsdatamanagement(ADM)asthenewprocessforrapidadoptionofAI/MLandimprovingtheaccuracyofdata-drivendecisions.Onethingiscertain:allthismachinelearningwillplayamajorroleinmakingdataanevenmorestrategicasset.
2. Hardwarelock-inisback...pretendingtobesoftware
Thereisanewgenerationofdeduplicationappliancevendorslookingtodisplacemonolithic,previous-generationhardwareplatforms.Buttheybringsomeofthesamedangersthatcustomerscametoregretwiththelegacystoragevendorsofthepreviousera.Thewolvesaredressedinthesheep’sclothingofbuzzwordslike“scale-out”and“software-based”butmakenomistake:usersarelockedintoexpensive“certified”hardware.Nothingscalesoutmorethancloudobjectstorage(whichiswhatActifioleveragesforstoringbackupswhilestillprovidinginstantmountandrecoveries).Atrulymoderndatamanagementplatformshouldrunonanycomputeorstorage,on-premisesorinthecloud,andworkwithawidevarietyofperformanceandcapacityrequirements.In2020,moreITteamswillrecognizethetrapandembracemulti-cloudcopydatamanagementandcloudobjectstorage.
3. Anotherelectionyearofdatainsecurity
Hacking,ransomwareanddataleaksareallegedtohaveplayedacentralroleintheU.S.electionprocessof2016.Manycandidatesarebackonthecampaigntrailin2020,someforthefirsttimeandotherswithlegacyelectioninfrastructure.Inordertocaptureandstoresensitivedonorinformation,thesecandidateswillneedtodigdeepintotheirdatabasestofindthepersonalidentifiableinformationtoreachout.Tomaintainthebestdonorexperienceandthemosteffectivefund-raisingandvoterturnoutoperationswhileimprovingsecurityanddataprivacy,campaignmanagerswillturntosoftwareplatformsthathelpthemensurethatcampaigninformationstayssecurefromintrusion,private,up-to-date,andimmediatelyaccessibleforstrategicuses.InNovemberwewillseeifDARPA’s$10millioncontractcommitmenttosecure,open-sourceelectionsystemhardwareprototypeswillhaveapositive
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 6
effect.Giventhevolumesofinformationthatwillbestored,itwillneedtobeabletosecurelyandrapidlymanagethedata--andrecoveritquicklyandefficientlyinthecaseofabreach.Confidenceintheintegrityofthevotingprocessisthebackboneofafunctioningdemocracy.
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Atempo(Lucd’Urso,CEO)1. NewDataManagementsolutionsfueledbyAItotacklethechallengeoftheexplosion
ofunstructureddatavolume2. Cyberattackswillcontinue,tapeshouldbeagoodchoice3. LocalvalueaddedMSPstoaddressdataanddigitalsovereigntychallenge
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BambooSystems(TonyCraythorne,CEO)Theserverindustryisinconstantgrowthmode,withdatacentersever-expanding.Theseunabatedincreaseshavecenteredaroundtheindustry’scontinuedrelianceoninefficientlegacyserverarchitecture,resultinginthecostofoperatingdatacenterstogreatlyexceedwhatitcoststobuildthem.Datacenterpowerconsumptionisnowaglobalissue.Theinefficienciesinlegacyserverarchitecturedesignmeanthattoday’sdatacenterscurrentlyproduce2%oftheworld’sgreenhousegasemissionsandcollectivelyconsumeover3.5%oftheworld’spowerproduction.Infact,itispredictedthattheservermarketwillovertaketheairlineindustryingreenhousegasproductionnextyear.Somethingmustbedoneandinthenearfuture.Wepredictwewillsoonseemoreenergyefficientdatacentersolutions,withnew,groundbreakinglowpowerchipdesigns,asthisisnowapressingeconomicandecologicalpriority.
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Caringo(AdrianHerrera,VPMarketing)1.Archiveswillprovideincreasedbenefitsandvaluebeyondjustcheapanddeepstorage.2.ObjectstoragewillblurthelinesbetweenPrimaryandSecondarystorageforusecasesthatrequireenhancedthroughput.3.On-demandusecaseswillincreasetheneedfora3tierstorageapproachincorporatingNAS,onpremisesobjectstorageandcloudarchiveoronpremisestape.
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2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 7
Cloudian(NeilStobart,VPGlobalSystemEngineering)1. Edgecomputingwillturnthehybridcloudmodelonitsside
Thehybridcloudstoragemodelischaracterisedbytheabilitytoseamlesslymovedatabetweenon-premisesandpubliccloudenvironments.Thisdatamobility,combinedwiththeflexibilityandscalabilityhybridstorageprovides,hasmadeitthesolutionofchoiceformanybusinessesworldwide.However,thehybridstoragestrategywillbeturnedonitssidein2020asmomentumbehind“EdgeComputing”continuestobuild.AsaresultoftherapidgrowthoftheInternetofThings(IoT)and5Gnetworks,datacollectionandtheprocessingofAIapplicationswillbeneededattheedge.Analyticswillhavetobeappliedneartowherethedataisbeingcreatedandwheresensorsarelocated–e.g.trafficsignals,surveillancecamerasandsmartcars.Assuch,therewillbeanincreasingneedforadifferentformofhybridstorage–onethatfulfillstheneedforrobuststorageneartheedgeofthenetworkandenablesbusinessestomoveanalyseddatasetsbetweentheedgeandon-premisesorpubliccloudsystems.
2. ProcessingAIandMLworkloadswillrequireobjectstorageAsdatavolumescontinuetogrow,oneofthekeychallengesfacingbusinessesishowtounlockthefullstrategicvalueofthisdata.Thisisespeciallytruewhendealingwithartificialintelligence(AI)andmachinelearning(ML)workloads.That’swhy2020willseemoreorganisationscapitalisingonobjectstoragetocreatestructured/taggeddatafromunstructuredinformationandusemetadatatomakesenseofthefloodofdatabeinggenerated.Withobjectstorage,dataisdefinedwithunconstrainedtypesofmetadataandlocatedfromasingleAPI.Thisisincontrasttotraditionalfilestorage,whichdefinesdatawithlimitedmetadatatags(suchasthefilename,datecreatedanddatelastmodified)andorganisesitintodifferentfolders–makingitmuchlesssearchableandhardertoanalysethanobjectstorage.Forexample,atraditionalX-rayfilewouldonlyincludebasicmetadatalikecreationdate,owner,locationandsize,whileanX-rayobjectcouldincludemetadatathatidentifiesthepatient’sname,age,injurydetailsandwhichareaofthebodywasX-rayed.Thisextradetailmakesitmucheasiertolocateviasearch.Simplyput,objectstoragearchitecturesmakeuseofmetadatainwaystransitionalfilestoragedoesn’t,makingitinstrumentalinhelpingtoprocessgrowingAIandMLworkloads.
3. Momentumbehindtheuseofprivatecloudsinhybridinfrastructureswill
growToday,whenpeopletalkaboutthecloud,theyusuallymeanthe“public”cloud.Thiswillchangein2020.Theterm“cloud”willbecomemorenuancedasmorebusinessesdeployprivatecloudsandorganisationsincreasinglypursueahybridcloudstoragestrategythatgivesthemthebestofbothworlds.
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 8
Organisationsinindustriessuchashealthcare,mediaandscientificresearchthathavelarge-scalestoragerequirementsalreadyfaceuniquechallengesinmanagingcapacity-intensiveworkloadsthatcanreachtensofpetabytes.Byprovidingthescaleandflexibilitybenefitsofpubliccloudplatformsalongwiththeperformance,access,securityandcontroladvantagesofon-premisesstorage,privatecloudplatformsaddressthesechallenges.Althoughthepubliccloudprovidesbusinesseswithagilityandconveniencewhiledecreasinginfrastructureexpenses,itcanalsocomewithsignificantbandwidthandaccessibilitycosts.Assuch,in2020moreorganisationswilltakeadvantageofprivatecloudsinahybridcloudinfrastructure–storingfrequentlyuseddataon-premwhilecontinuingtoutilizethepubliccloudforcloud-nativeapplicationsanddisasterrecovery.Ultimately,businessescan’taffordtorestontheircloudlaurelsoverthecomingyear,as2020islikelytobeanotheryearofsignificantchange,Whetherit’srecognisingtheneedforedgecomputing,embracingobjectstorageoradoptinghybridinfrastructures,theonusisonbusinessestoprepareforwhat’scomingtheirway.
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Clumio(ChaddKenney,VP&ChiefTechnologist)1. ContinuedGrowthinSaaS
SaaSwillcontinuetobetheeasybuttonforenterprisestoremovethecomplexityofon-premisesinfrastructurewithoutneedingtorearchitectexistingapplications.Copyingthecomplexityofon-premisesinfrastructuretothecloudisnolongeraviableoption.IDCestimatestheglobalmarketforSaaSapplicationsrevenuesisexpectedtobemorethan$185billionby2022.
2. NewPoliciesRequireNewMethodologies
EnterpriseswillbechallengedtomeetthedemandsofnewdataprivacypoliciessuchasGDPRandCCPA.Therewillbeaheighteneddemandfornext-generationdataprotectionsolutionsandmethodologiesthatsupportthesepoliciesandenablefine-graincontrolovertheirdataassets.
3. AnalyticsWillComeFromNon-TraditionalSources
Formanyenterprises,backupisjustaninsurancepolicy,butin2020enterpriseswilldemandvaluableinsightsfrombackupdatainwaysthatwereneverpossiblewithtraditionalon-premisesbackupsolutionsofyesterday.
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2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 9
Cohesity(LynnLucas,CMO)1. MoreandmoreCIOswillrelyonconsumertechnologytorespondtocritical
dataincidentssmarterandfasterConsumerizationofITwillbecomeevenmorecommonplacein2020.ITteamsindatainfrastructuremanagementwillincreasinglyrelyonsmartphoneappstocollaborateandrespondtoissuesquicklyandeffectively.Theywillrequiremobileaccesstoinstancesofdataon-premisesandinthecloudenablingthemtohave24x7visibilityacrosstheirinfrastructure.ThisinfrastructurewillenableITleaderstotakeactionfaster,whichiscriticalduringtime-sensitiveoccasionssuchasapotentialoutageorbreach.
2. In2020,theon-premisesvsclouddebatewillbemuchclearerNodoubtthatcloudwillremainakeypartofbusinessITspendasthepubliccloudmarketisexpectedtogloballygrowto$299.4billionby2022.However,atthestartofthenewdecade,largeenterpriseorganizationswillhaveamuchclearerroadmapofwhatworkloadsshouldbeinthecloudandwhatshouldbeon-premises–andwillrelyonsoftwarethatcaneasilynavigatebetweenthetwoenvironments.And,forthosewhoarestoringdatainpubliccloudenvironments,moreorganizationswillensuretheyaretakingresponsibilityforbackingupthatdatainthecloudtoavoiddatalossordisruptioninserviceintheeventofacloudoutage.
3. Poordatamanagementpracticeswillcausebrandreputationnightmaresfor
morelargeenterprisesMillionsofconsumers,businesses,andpublicsectoragenciesaregeneratinganimmenseamountofdatadaily.Whilethebulkofthiscontentareimagesandvideo,whichcontainmassiveamountsofinformation,notfarbehindisdatacreatedfrommachines,databaseandapplicationusage.Managingallofthisdatacanbeincrediblychallengingandoversightscanleadtodataloss,outages,servicedisruptionsandcomplianceviolations–allofwhichcantarnishbrandreputationsinamatterofminutes.Intheyearahead,wecanexpectmoreenterprisestoundergoPRnightmaresiftheyhavenottakennecessarystepstobeexceptionalstewardsoftheirdata.
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Commvault
1. ExpectCCPAtoFuelaDataCollectionandProcessingBacklash(NigelTozer,SolutionsDirectorEMEA)TheCaliforniaConsumerPrivacyAct(CCPA)willhighlightdatacollectionandmonetizationintheUS,justastheGeneralDataProtectionRegulation(GDPR)didinEurope.ThiswillfuelabacklashondatacollectionandprocessingintheUS,especiallyaroundpoliticaladtargetingduringthe2020electionyear.CompaniessuchasFacebookandGooglewillcomeundergreaterpressuretodistancethemselvesfromthisarea,anddataanalysiscompaniesthatarenowlargelyunheard
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 10
ofwillbeinthenewsforthewrongreasons.
2. DataAnalyticsMovestotheTopoftheCompanies’PriorityList(MattTyrer,TechnologyEvangelist)Datavolumescontinuetogrow,butwe’reknowinglessandlessaboutthatdata–whichisahugerisk.In2020,thefocusonanalyticswillbedrivenbyincreasedregulatoryandcompliancepressures,risksfromdatabreachesandransomware,andtheneedtoproperlyclassifydataforAIandMLprojects. Without“clean”dataofvalue,theseAIandMLprojectswillstumble.Dataanalyticswillsupportintelligentdecisionmaking,feedAIandMLinitiatives,andstrengthencompliancestanceswithinorganizations. Expectmorebusinessestobehittingthispointintheirdatamaturity,whereanalyticsprojectstakepriority.
3. Multi-cloudAdoptionWillIncreaseDemandForMoreDiverseDataProtectionCapabilities(PennyGralewski,SolutionsLead)Asorganizationsadoptmorecloudsfordifferentorganizationalrequirements,theneedforfast,flexibledataprotection-abletoprotectadiversesetofdataworkloads-willincrease.Organizationsarechoosingdifferentcloudsfordifferentusecases,sotoday’sdataprotectionplatformsneedtoaccommodateawidevarietyofcloudusecases,includingPlatformasaService(PaaS),containers,andmassivedatabaseslikeMicrosoftSQLServer,MySQL,PostgreSQL,Splunk,SAPHANAandOracle.
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CTeraNetworks(AronBrand,CTO)1. Thedeclineofcentralisedcloudcomputing
Thefirst-generationmodelofcentralizedcloudcomputingandstoragehasnowrunitscourse,andmostofthenewopportunitiesforenterprisedatamanagementresideattheedge.
2. DatagrowthoutsidethedatacentreConsiderthat75%ofenterprisedataiscreatedinbranchoffices,onmobiledevicesandbyIoT-enabledsmartdevices.Suchdatagrowthoutsidethedatacenteristhenewreality,andit’screatinganeedforenterprisestodeploycomputingpowerandstoragecapabilitiesatthenetworkedge,akaedgecomputing.
3. Powerfuledgecomputewillresultinmoredesirabledevices
Ifyoutakeyourvoice-basedhomevirtualdigitalassistantfromAmazonorGoogle.Morepowerfuledgecomputepowerwouldmakethesedevicesevenmoredesirable,including:• Improvedresponsetime:yourAmazonEcho,GoogleHomeorothersmart
speakerwouldperformspeechrecognitionlocallyanddeliverafasteranswer• Offlineavailability:whetherthereisastorm,apowercutoracloudservice
outage,yourdevicewillstillbeupandrunning,or‘always-on’evenwhenthenetworkisoffline
• Improvedsecurityandprivacy:byminimisingtheneedtosendsensitiveinformationtothecloud,dataprivacyrisksarereduced
2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 11
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DataDynamics(PiyushMehta,CEO)1. Storagemanagementwillbecomepartofabroaderinfrastructure
managementstackStorageadminswillneedtolearnmoreskillstiedtocomputeandnetworkingasyouwillseemanagementofthesestackstoconsolidate.
2. DatamanagementwillcontinuetobekeyfocusforstoragecompaniesLegacyandnewentrantsinthestoragelandscapehaverealizedthatadiscisadiscandparityoffeatures/functionalityasitrelatestostoragehavebecomea‘must’inordertobeinthegame.Thedifferentiatorisgoingtobethosethatcanhelpcustomerswithabetterdatamanagementsolutionthatcanhelpextractbusinessvalueoutofthedatathat’sbeencreated.
3. Multi-cloudwillbecomemoreprevalent.
Publiccloudvendorswillhavetoprovideaccessandallowforanecosystemofleveragingdatatobemovedacrossprovidersbasedonusage.Theegresschargeswillneedtodecreaseasdatamobilitywillcontinuetobearequirementforenterprisesforavarietyofusecases.
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DataCore(GerardoDada,CMO)1. StorageUnification
Fordecades,theindustryhashaddiscretestoragesystemsforhighperformanceandforlower-coststorage,oftenfromdifferentvendors–averyhardware-centricapproach.2020willseebroaderadoptionofunifiedsoftware-definedsystemsthatmakeintelligentdecisionsoneachpieceofdata,placingitinthetieritbelongsgivenitsperformanceandcostrequirements—optimizingperformance,utilization,andcostdynamically.
2. IntelligentDataPlacementElementsincludingrichermetadatamanagementandAIwillempowerdataintelligence,whichwillincreasinglyenablesoftwaretodriveautomateddecisionsonthevalueofdataandwhereitshouldbeplaced–includingautomaticmovementtothecloud.
3. ShiftfromHardware-CentricModelWillAccelerateAdoptionofSoftware-DefinedStorageThehardware-centricmindsetisnotsustainableanymore.ITwillincreasinglystopthinkingaboutstoragesystemsasdiscrete,media-centricsystemsfrommultiplevendors,asthesecreateislandsofstoragethatbecomedifficulttomanage,inefficientintermsofcapacityutilization,andnearlyimpossibletomovedataefficientlyfromonesystemtoanother.Astheindustryrealizesthatit’sthedatathat
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StorageNewsletter 12
mattersandnottheactualstoragesystem,software-definedstorageplatformsthatcontrolwheredataisplacedwillbecomefarmorevaluablethanthetypeofhardwareormedia.Theindustrywentthroughthistransitionforcomputeyearsago;it’stimethatstoragecatchesup.
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Datrium(SazzalaReddy,CTO)1. Ransomwarewillinnovatefasterthanmechanismstopreventit
Duetoitsinsaneprofitability,theproliferationofnon-stateandstateactors,andcybercrimes(includingransomwareattacks)willcosttheworld$6trillionannuallyby2021.EverybusinessshouldinvestigatedeployingaquickdatarecoveryinfrastructurethatcanhelpinstantlyrollbacktheITenvironmenttoitspre-ransomwarestateandrecoverfromanattackunharmed.RansomwarerecoverywillbecomeabudgetlineitemforthemajorityofCIOsin2020.
2. MainstreamenterpriseswillfinallyembraceDRtothecloud
In2020,mainstreambusinesswillbecomeopentoleveragingthecloudasaDRsiteandwillstartshuttingdowntheirphysicalDRsitesbecausenewcloudDRtechnologieswillmakeitpossibletoleverageon-demandcloudresourcesduringadisasterwhilekeepingcloudcostslowduringthestateofnormalbusinessoperations.
3. SaaSification2020
VMwarevSphere’smovetothecloudwilltriggertheriseofCloud3.0.AllproductsintheenterprisearebecomingSaaSproductsifthey’renotalready.Theconvenienceandon-demandeconomicsofSaaSproductsinthepubliccloudmakeitanunstoppabletrend.VMwarehas300K+customerswithabout70+millionVMsdeployedandhasbecomeavailableasaSaaSplatformonmostpublicclouds.Withoneoftheworld’sbiggestenterpriseon-premplatformsrapidlytransitioningtotheSaaSworld,it’sinevitablethatalltheotherthird-partyproductsintheVMwareecosystemwilltransformaswelland“SaaSify.”
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DDN(AlexBouzari,CEO)1. AI-Enabled,IntelligentInfrastructureswillgetdeployedatmassivescaleanddisrupt
theHighPerformanceComputingIndustry.2. Multi-Cloud,flexibledatacenterarchitectureswillstarttobringtrueoperational
simplicity,efficiencyandagilitytotheEnterprise.3. In2020DDNwilldeliverafullrangeofnewintelligentinfrastructuresolutions
ideallysuitedforEnterpriseandHPCcustomers’demandingAI,IoT,Multi-Cloud,BigDataandMixedWorkloadsatScale.
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StorageNewsletter 13
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DriveScale(TomLyon,ChiefScientist,BrianPawlowski,CTO&DeniseShiffman,CPO)1. Thenewprivatecloudwillbecreatedwithelasticbare-metalinfrastructure
WhileVM-deployedapplicationswillcontinuetomovetothepubliccloud,morebare-metalprivateclouddatacenterswillbecreatedin2020torunperformance-sensitivebare-metalandKubernetes-nativeapplications.Thisisbeingdrivenbythegrowthandinvestmentindata-intensiveappsandtheneedforscale-outdatacenterarchitectures.
2. 2020WillbetheyearoftheSmartNICSmartNICshavebeenusedforafewyearsbycloudproviderstooffloadnetworkswitchingandencapsulation,butin2020we’llseeSmartNICsforstorageapplicationsandinprivatedatacenters.Amazon’sNitroSmartNICwasthefirstwithNVMestoragecapabilities,butnowbothMellanoxandBroadcomhaveannouncedsimilarcapabilitiesintheirchips,whilehigh-flyingstartupsPensandoandFungiblearebuildingsystemsrevolvingaroundSmartNICcapabilities.WhySmartNICsnow?Aren’tthesejust“front-endprocessors”?ThemostcompellingfeatureofSmartNICsisthattheyprovideaseparatesecuritydomainthatcleanlyseparatesusercodefromprovidercode.InthesedaysofCPUvulnerabilitieslikeSpectreandMeltdown,itmaynotbesafetoassumethecorrectnessofanysecurityboundarieswithinaCPU.
3. 2020willbetheYearofKubernetesandpeoplerealizetheyhavealotmoreworktodotodeployKubernetesfortheirdataintensiveapplications.TherealitiesofadoptingcontainerizationforpersistentstoragewillcontinuetodriveKubernetesevolution.WhiletheintroductionoftheCSIAPIforKubernetesmakesiteasierforstorageproviderstointegrateintoK8s,requirementsforcostefficientscaleoutapplicationdeploymentontopofinexpensivecommodityhardwareremainsachallengeinhowbesttodeploytheseapplicationsoverK8s.
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ExaGrid(BillAndrews,CEO)1. PubliccloudssuchasAmazonAWSandMicrosoftAzurewillcontinuetogrowbut
notattheexpenseofthecorporatedatacenter.Mostcorporatedatacentershaveconcludedthatthepubliccloudscostmorethanrunningtheirowndatacentersandtherefore,thecorporatedatacentersareonlydoingspecificprojectswiththepubliccloudproviderssuchasarchivedata(untoucheddata),developmentoperations(devopps)forburstablecompute,etc.
2. Thesmallbusinesses(SMB)willgotocloudsolutionsbutnotthepubliccloud.TheyareturningtotrueMSPs(managedserviceproviders)thatcanprovidemorehandsonvalueadd.SMBsshouldnotbeoperatingdatacentersastheydon’thavetheIT
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StorageNewsletter 14
expertise.ItisbetterforSMBcustomerstooutsourcetoMSPs.
3. ThemovetoKerberosandContainerswillslowlybegintoshowupinproduction.Todatemosthavebeenpilottesting.OvertimecontainerswillbethewaveofthefutureduetoIOT(internetofthings)andotherdistributeddata.
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FujiFilmRecordingMediaUS(PeterFaulhaber,President)1. Software-definedtapeforobjectstoragewillemergeasapopularsolution,
providingtheinterfacetodownloaddatafromobjectstoragesystemstocompatibletapesystemsusingstandardS3APIs.Userswillbeabletowriteobjectsdirectlytotapeinnativeform,inaself-describing,openformat.Asaresult,objectstorageuserscanleveragethevaluepropositionoftapeincludinglowestTCO,reliabilityandlongtermarchivability.
2. AccordingtoIDC,therapidlygrowingDataSpheremeansdemandforpersistentstoragewillbeinthemulti-zettabyterangein2020ThebigdatagrowthdriversincludingIOT,AI/ML,HDvideo(4k,8k),surveillance,gamingandotherappswilldemandcost-effective,longtermtapestorage.
3. Newhyperscaledatacentermarketswillemergein2020ledbyinternetand
cloudserviceprovidersinmarketslikeChinaandIndiaThiswillcauseashiftinregionalstoragefromUSA-centrictoglobaldemandandpresentnewopportunitiesfortapemarketgrowth.
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Hammerspace(BrendanWolfe,VPProductMarketing)1. PeoplewillmovedataoutofHDFSandontoNFSenvironmentsastheylookto
updatetheirapproachtobigdataanalytics.
2. WewillseealotmorecompaniesmovingstatefulapplicationsintoKubernetesandlookfortechnologiestohelpthemprotectandmanagetheassociatedpersistentdata.
3. Thethreebigcloudswillrampupthefightformorefootprintinon-premisesdata
centers.
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2020Predictions
StorageNewsletter 15
HitachiVantara(HuYoshida,CTO)1. TheDemandForLargeScalableEnterpriseStorageArraysWillIncrease
Theincreasingdemandforcorestorageischanging.Capacitywillbedrivenbybigdataanddatalakesaswellascopiesrequiredforexploratory,training,andgovernancepurposes.Thetrendtowardcontainerswillgenerateswarmsofworkloadswhichwillrequireinstantstorage.IoTwilldrivereal-timeapplicationswhichwillneedlowlatencies.ThefasterspeedofNVMedeviceswillexposebottlenecksinsmallerstoragecontrollersandfasterNVMe-oFfabricswillenableincreasedconnectivitytoservers.Corestoragewillalsoneedtoconnecttoedgeandcloudandintegrateasonepoolofmanagedstorage.Largescalablestoragearrayswithfullenterprisecapabilitieswillbethemosteconomicalwaytoaddresstheserequirements.
2. EdgetoCoretoMulti-CloudReplacesDiscussionsAroundPublic/Private/HybridCloudBynowthediscussionsaroundpublic/private/hybridcloudhavebecomemootasdigitaltransformationhasdrivenuserstoacombinationofdifferentcloudimplementationsforagilityandscalability.Digitaltransformationhasalsodrivensmartapplicationstotheedgeformobilityandreal-timeprocessing.Thishasincreasedthecomplexityofstoragemanagementasusersseektobalancetheirbusinessrequirementsacrossthismulti-vendor,multi-tierstoragelandscapeinanexplodingdataenvironment.Businessrequirementshavealsoincreasedincomplexityduetoloomingcyberthreats,increasingregulationsaroundprivacyandtransparency,regionalrequirements,anddemocratizationofdatausage.Theonlywaytomanagethisenvironmentistotakeanopen,holistic,edgetocoretomulti-cloudapproachtostorageanddatamanagement.
3. EdgeComputingWillSeeGreaterAdoptionwithDataOpsPackagesForThe
EdgeTheintroduction5GandIoTwillbringmorefocustotheedgeandthiswillbethenewbattlegroundforcloudserviceproviderswhoarelookingtoextendtheirreachbeyondthecloud.Theargumentsforedgecomputingarecompelling:Lowlatencyforapplicationslikeautonomousvehiclesandtelemedicine,IntegrationofOT(operationaltechnology)andIT(informationtechnology)forimprovedbusinessdecisions,andashortercontrolloopforbetterQoS.However,theedgeislikethewildwest.OT(OperationalTechnology)facilitieslikefactoriesandmanufacturingsiteswereruninaclosedenvironmentandlackthedisciplinesthathavebeenhonedbyITwhereapplicationanddatahadtoexistinasharedandopenenvironment.Theprotocols,networksandsystemsontheedgeareverydiverse,andlowcost,whileITsystemsarestandardizedandgenerallyhighercost.AnedgegatewaymustbeusedtointegratethetwotypesofsystemsanddatatorealizethevalueofcombiningOTandIT.Toolslikeavatars,asoftwarerepresentationofthephysicalmachinewillhelptobridgethegap.Whiletechnologyisimportant,edgesuccessdependsonthebusinessusecase.AsoftwarepackagelikeLumadaEdgeIntelligencecanreducethetimetovaluebyprovidingactionable,real-timeinsightstohelpcriticaloperationsbemorepredictableandmanageable.Itprovidesthecapabilitiesforlocaldataoperations,machinelearning,streaminganalyticsandstandaloneIoTapplicationsolutions.WhenpairedwiththepowerfulservicesfromexperiencedIT
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andOTprofessionals,customerscandevelopacomprehensiveDataOpsstrategythatmanagesassetsholisticallyfromtheedgetocoretomulticloud.
***
HYCU(SimonTaylor,CEO)1. Multi-CloudsExpandinUse
Itcomesasnosurprisethatmulti-clouduseisnowbecomingmainstreaminenterprisesglobally.Weareseeingasmanyasfourormorecloudplatformsinusewithourcustomers,regardlessofsizeandgeographicallocation.And,thisgoesformissioncriticalandnumerousenterpriseworkloads.Tosupportthisrequirestheneedforamulti-vendorandmulti-disciplinarystrategyforcloudusageforITtoday.Thisechoesapredictionfromlastyearwhereweseemorecustomersthatwillneedsolutionsthatworkacrossmultipleclouds,betheyon-premisesorpublic.Wewillcontinuetoseevendors“marketing”theirsolutionsas“multi-cloud”butcustomersaremuchsavvierandtrulyunderstandthevalueinacloud-nativesolutionrunningasaserviceonanycloud.Thiswillbetheyearwherecustomerslookforwaystohelpthemmanagetheirdatathewaytheywantit,intheircloudofchoicewithasolutionthatmakesittheirstocontrol.
2. SimplicityIsMoreThanJustaBuzzword
Customersaresmarterthaneverbefore.TheyunderstandthefullvalueofeliminatingcomplexityfromtheirITinfrastructure.It’samajorreasonwhycompanieslikeNutanixaresosuccessful.TheyhavefoundawaytoeliminateunnecessaryredundancyandstreamlineITinfrastructureandoperationsinto1-clicksimplicity.Thatisthedrivingforcebehindinnovationinthenext-generationplatformsintheindustrytodaythatincludeAWS,AzureandGoogleCloudPlatforminthePublicCloudspaceandNutanixandVMwareinon-premisesEnterpriseCloudspace.Whilecustomerscontinuetotrytoconsolidatearoundtheplatformsthatdeliverthemostvaluefortheenterpriseworkloadstheyneedmanaged,protectedandrecovered,theywanttodothiswithsimplicityinmind.Noadditionalhardware,softwareorinfrastructurerequired.And,thatrunnativelyasaserviceonthecloudplatformofchoice.Therewillbefewerstandalonecompaniesin2020iftheydon’taddressthisfundamentalcustomerneedforsimplicity.
3. BuiltforPurposeMakesaDifference
Whenweintroducedtheideaofbeingpurpose-builtforacustomer’scloudplatformofchoice,firstforon-premisesandnowforpubliccloud,itwassignificant.Noonedatamanagementandprotectionplatformcandoitall.Wefundamentallybelievedandstillbelievethatthosesolutionsthatcomplementtheunderlyingcloudplatformofchoicewithoutcompromisingthereasonthecustomerselecteditarecritical.Asmoreandmoreofthemajorityofworkloadsmovetothecloudovertime,itmakesadifferencewhencustomersselectanddeploydatamanagementandprotectionsolutionsthatarebuiltforpurpose.Thatmeanstheydomorethanjustlookandfeelliketheplatformtheyarehelpingtoprotectandsupportbutthatrunnatively,deployasaservice,arelightweightandkeepapplicationconsistencyintact.Thisin
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turnwillhelpcompaniesmakethemostoftheirITinvestmentsandallowthemtocontinuetofocusoninnovationanddrivingvaluefortheirowncustomers.
***
Infinidat(StanleyZaffos,SVPProductMarketing)1. 5Gin2020:AcceleratingtheVolume&VelocityofDataCollected
2020willbetheyear5Gentersthemainstream.ThenewwirelessstandardwillstartgeneratingrealvalueforcompaniesdeployingIoTprojects.Gartnerpredicts66%oforganizationswilldeploy5G,and59%willincludeIoTcommunicationsintheusecasefor5G.CompaniesdeployingIoTprojectswillneedtoplanforthedatadelugethatiscoming.They’llneedtosetupinfrastructureandprocessestofilterthedata,pre-analyzeit,categorizeit,storeitanddisposeofit.Companiesthatplanwellandallowforsomeflexibilitywillexecutesuccessfulprojectsatreasonablecosts.Thosethatdon’twillspendonlywhattheycanbutbelimitedinthevaluetheyunlockinthelimiteddatatheycaptureandstore.
2. AIApplicationsin2020:UsheringintheAgeof‘SmarterStorage’
Artificialintelligence(AI)workloadswillcontinuetogeneratebusinessvaluein2020.But,fororganizationstoincreasetheirrelianceonAI,storagevendorswillneedtomakeiteasierforAIapplicationstoaccessmoredatafaster,inturnhelpingthesystemslearnfasterandunlockthevalueofthedata.Asweenter2020,datasetsaregettingbiggeranddemandsforinstantaneousdecisionmakingarebecomingmoreprevalent.Thisputsstressonthetrainingsystems.Expectmoredemandforsmarterstoragesystemstomatchtheescalatingintelligenceoftheapplicationsthemselves.We’llseemoreinvestmentsintoolslikesoftware-definedswitchestoopenupmorepathwaysforhardcoreanalytics;QoSfunctionstodoleoutinformationmorestrategically;scale-outsystemarchitectures;andtheabilitytodeliverdatawithlowerlatency.
3. Containersin2020:CreatingaMoreCompetitiveStorageEnvironment
In2020,containersandmulti-cloudimplementationswillcontinuetoaccelerate.Moreenterpriseswillpushtocreateflexiblecomputingenvironmentswheremultiplecloudsservespecificstrategicpurposes.Theywillembracetheflexibilitycontainerspromise,creatingset-upswherecontainerscanmovefreelybetweenpubliccloud,privatecloudandon-premisesenvironments.IncreaseduseofcontainersandKuberneteswillhelpcreateamorecompetitivestorageenvironment.Beingabletoportworkloadsseamlesslyamongdiverseenvironmentswilldiminishthestrengthofvendorlock-inandputpressureonincumbentstoragevendorstoinnovateinareasthatimprovefinancialandoperationalefficiency:loweracquisitionandownershipcosts;improvestaffproductivityviamoreautonomicoperation,cloudintegration;andnewpricingandserviceofferings.
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StorageNewsletter 18
iXsystems(MikeLauth,CEO)1. Software-Defined-Storage(storagesoftwarethatcanoperateonthirdparty
serverhardware)willbethebasisfornearlyallnewstorageproductsThelinesbetweenblock,fileandobjectstorageareincreasinglyblurred.Usersarebenefittingfromtheagility,expandabilityandcoststructuresofSoftwareDefinedUnifiedStorage.
2. OpenSourcestoragewillslashthestoragecostsofmanyorganizationsDataisstillgrowing,butSSDandHDDstoragecostsarenotreducingasquickly.UserswillincreasetheirdeploymentsofOpenZFS,HDFS,Gluster,Minio,etc.onindustrystandardhardwarewithoutthevendorlock-inandcostsassociatedwithproprietarystacks.EnterprisegradesupportofOpenStoragesoftwareisthekeyenablerofthistransition.
3. HybridCloudswillbethestoragerealityofeverylargeorganization
Theperformanceoflocalstorageandthelongtermdataretentionofgeo-distributedcloudsarenecessarypartners.Cloudserviceshavereplacedtapeasthethirdcopyofdata.Datasecurity,storagecosts,andmigrationflexibilityarecritical.
***
Kaminario(EyalDavid,CTO)1. Companieswillfinallyenableatruehybridcloudstrategy
Migratingmission-criticalapplicationstothecloudisdifficult.Byleveragingacommonsetofsharedservicesthatenablecompaniestodecouplethemanagementandmovementofdatafromtheinfrastructureitrunson,companieswillbeabletoimprovebusinessagilityandreducetheriskofmovingtothecloud.
2. DataSciencewillbedemocratizedWiththeexplosionofdataandtheriseofartificialintelligenceandmachinelearning,ITorganizationswillhavemorewaystoquicklyanalyzeandmakesenseofinfrastructuredata.Thiswillmakeiteasierforstakeholdersthroughouttheorganization,whotypicallydon’thaveaccesstothisinformation,toleverageit.
3. UserExperiencewillbevastlyimproved
5Gwillenableeverything/everywhereedgecomputingthatmaketechnologiessuchasAR/VRandsmart,connecteddevicespossible.WIFI6,meanwhile,willofferusersmorerobustoutdoornetworkoperationsandhighperformanceindenseenvironments.Thecombinationofthetwomeanslagging/unavailableservicewillbecomeathingofthepast.
***
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StorageNewsletter 19
Kaseya(MichaelSanders,GMofUnitrendsandSpanning)bothKaseyacompanies1. Pricingandinnovation
Therewillbeamajorplateauinstorageandcomputeinthecloudasweareapproachingalotofthephysicallimitsofourcurrenttechnologyfasterthanwethought.Theupcomingstoragecrunchisspeedingupinnovation;Microsoftandothervendorsareexperimentingwithinnovativesolutionslikeglassstorage.Iftheydon'tcomeupwithasolutionquickly,however,cloudstoragepricesmightstarttogoup.Inadditiontothestoragelimits,there'stheCPUside.In2020expectmoreworkloadstogetpushedbacktotheedge.Thismeansmoredevices(endpoints)willneedtobeprotectedinthecomingyears.
2. Theriseofmulti-cloudtoolsetsMulti-cloudisalreadyarealityin2019,butit'stakenawhileforthemanagementpracticesofoperatingmultipleworkloadsacrossmultipleservices,regions,andcloudvendorstomature,whilethepressuresonbusinesscontinuestobuildtodomorewithless,andyetcompaniescontinuetohaveto"DIY"itthemselves.Andasworkloadsstarttodominatethedecisionsbehind"whichcloud"tomakethebestuseofeachvendor'sofferings,expectincreaseddemandfortoolsetsthatcanoperatenativelywithdifferentcloudvendors.Sadly,cloudmanagementportalstodayaregenerallylimitedtodiscoveryorcostoptimizationusecasesandfailtotackletheday-to-dayoperationalmanagementpainexperiencedbytoday'sCloudOpsandDevOpsteams.Asanexampleoftherisingcomplexityinthecloud,AmazonWebServicesalonehas250differentservices(May2019),eachwithitsownmanagementconsoleandsetofAPIs.
3. DRaaSisNowMainstreamDisasterRecovery-as-a-Service(DRaaS)isnowmainstream.LargeorganizationshaveadoptedDRaaSatthehighestrates,however,Iexpectin2020toseetheadoptionofDRaaSbysmallandmid-sizedorganizationstodrasticallyincreaseasorganizationsdiscoverthatnotallDRaaSservicesrequiretheirITdepartmentstobecomeexpertsinhyper-scaleclouds.Asaresult,SMBswilloutsourceDRaaStoexpertsatafixedpriceandwithlittlerequirementfortheirtimeortechnicaloverview.
***
Komprise(KrishnaSubramanian,President&COO)1. EdgeBuildoutOntheRise
Edgebuildoutisalreadyhappening,anditspaceisacceleratingwithtrendslikeInternet-of-Things(IoT),self-drivingcars,andbiometrics.IDChaspredictedthatby
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StorageNewsletter 20
2023,50%ofallenterpriseITinfrastructurewillbedeployedattheedge–upfrom10%today.Moreappsaregeneratingtonsofdataattheedge,raisingthequestionofwhydatashouldnotbebetterunderstoodandmanageddirectlyattheedge.Imagineifyoucouldanalyzedata,figureoutwhatdataisusefulandneedstobebroughtbacktothedatacenter,anddirectlyprocesstherestofthedataattheedgeitselfwithouthavingtofirstmoveitall?Thisiswhyedgedatamanagementwillriseinimportancein2020.
2. Multi-CloudGainsTractionMostenterprisesusingthepubliccloudalreadyhaveahybrid/multi-cloudstrategy,andenterprisesareincreasinglychoosingtodiversifytheircloudstrategyacrosstwoormoreclouds.Infact,ForresterResearchfoundthisyearthat62%+ofpubliccloudadoptersalreadyusetwoormorecloudplatforms.Asthistrendcontinues,enterprisesin2020willneedasimplewaytounderstandandmanagetheirdatasprawlacrosscloudsandthehybridenterprise,leadingtogreaterdemandforcross-clouddatamanagementsolutionsthatarenottiedtoanyparticularcloudorstoragevendor.
3. AI-DrivenIntelligenceGrowsForthelastcoupleofyears,ArtificialIntelligence(AI)andMachineLearning(ML)havebeenabigthemeandthistrendiscontinuingtogrow.Whilethesehaveinitiallybeenmoreofmarketingbuzzwords,thepotentialofAIindatamanagementisclear–howcanyoumanagesomethingyoudon’tunderstand?ByusinganalyticstodriveAI/ML,analytics-drivendatamanagementsolutionscancontinuetoleveragetheunderstandingofdatatodrivebettermanagement.Watchformoreexcitingdevelopmentsinthisspacethatleveragedeepanalyticsanddatalakesacrossdifferentstoragerepositoriestohelpyoubettermanageyourdata.
***
LightbitsLabs(EranKirzner,CEO)1. Cloudproviders,bothlargeandsmall,willmovetodisaggregatedstoragewhere
storageishandledseparatelyfromcompute,andawayfromtraditionaldirect-attachedstorage(DAS)architecturewherestorageislocatedwiththecomputenodes.Fromthetop-tiercloudproviderstotheenterpriselevel,thetrendwillbemovingfromtraditionalall-flasharraysorstoragecontrollerstomoreofacloud-likearchitecture.AndmoreenterpriseswilladoptofNVMe/TCPasopposedtoNVMeoverotherfabrics.
2. Flashpriceswillcontinuetodropastheydidin2019,makingitincreasingly
affordableandpushingmoreandmorecompaniestoadoptflashastheirpreferredstoragemediaforitsaffordableprice/performance.NewerNVMe/TCPtechnologieswillfurtherenhancetheappealandbenefitsofflashbyhelpingtoreducelatency.Emergingflashsolutions,includingQuadLevelCell(QLC),QTC,SLCandMLCflash,willalsoseeincreasingmarkettraction.QLCwasintroducedin2019andthereforehadonlyminimalmarketadoption.Thatwillchangein2020,particularlyamong
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StorageNewsletter 21
companiesthathavedeployedGlobalFlashTranslationLayers(GFTL)toovercomeQLC’sinherentissues.
3. AsKubernetescontinuesitssuccessfulassaultonthedatacenter,morecompanies
willlookforstorageforcontainerizedenvironmentsthatmoveawayfromtraditionalKubernetesdeploymentswithDASintomoreflexibleandreliablesolutionsforpersistentcontainerstoragethatNVMe/TCPcanprovide.
***
MemVerge(CharlesFan,CEO)1. DataCenterArchitectureredefined:StorageClassMemorywillmakewayfora
memory-centricdatacenterWithanincreasingdemandfromdatacenterapplications,pairedwiththeincreasedspeedofprocessing,therewillbeahugepushtowardsamemory-centricdatacenter.Computinginnovationsarehappeningatarapidpace,withmoreandmorecomputationtech–fromx86toGPUstoARM.ThiswillcontinuetoopenupnewtopologybetweenCPUandmemoryunits.Whilearchitecturecurrentlytendstobemoredisaggregatedbetweenthecomputinglayerandthestoragelayer,Ibelieveweareheadedtowardsamemory-centricdatacenterverysoon.AnewMCI(memory-convergedinfrastructure)layerpoweredbyStorageClassMemory(SCM)willboastalargercapacityofmemoryforapplicationsalongwithpersistencethatmakesstoragetierobsolete.SCMwillbethemostdisruptivenewhardwaretechnologywithinthedatacenterarchitecturenextyear.OvertimeweexpectMCItoreplaceboththeexistingmemorytierandtheperformancetierofstorageandwillbecomea$10billion+dollarmarket.Thistransitionwilltake5-10yearstocompleteand2020willbethefirstyearwestarttoseeanyimpact.
2. StorageClassMemorytechnologywillevolveandthemarketwillexpandThisyearmarksyear0ofstorageclassmemory(SCM),withIntelshippingOptaneDCPersistentMemoryinQ2.Overthenext2-3years,Ibelievetherewillbeothermajorsemiconductorvendorsenteringthemarket,whileIntelcontinuestoimproveitsOptanetechnology.WeexpectIntelOptaneDCPersistentMemory’scapacitytodoubleanditscostwilldroptohalf,every18months.InadditiontoIntel,wewilllikelyseeearlyexamplesfromadditionalplayersinthismarketinthenext2-3years,effectivelyvalidatingthisnewmarketforSCM.Intel,inparticular,planstoreleasegen2ofOptanebytheendof2020–Iexpectwewillseesignificantimprovementintermsofdensityandspeed.
3. Datareasoningwillbeoneofthemostcriticalskillsnext-generationITstaffers
willneedtopossessITishavingacomingofagemoment.Itisslowlyimprovingintermsofdeploymentofmaturedatascienceandmachinelearningwithintheenterprise.ITstafferswillneedtounderstandallfacetsofinfrastructureandoperationalizeplatformswell.Asbigdatacontinuestogrow,ITstafferswillalsoneedtobeabletoreasonaboutdataandpullactionableinsights.
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StorageNewsletter 22
***
Minio(AnandBabuPeriasamy,CEO)1. Appliancevendorshitthewallin2020resultinginplummetingvaluations.Shifting
toasoftwareonlymodelisnotwindowdressingaroundpricing.ItrequiresaDNAchange.
2. Moderndatabases(therevenueengineforSANandNAS)goobjectstoragenative.
Thisisarealthreattothetraditionalenterprisestoragevendors.3. The“standards”associatedwiththecloudareincreasinglydefinedbyopensource.It
willbecometheprimarystrategyforthelargestplayersinthespace-fromVMware,Microsoft,AmazonandGoogle.
***
Nasuni(RussKennedy,CPO)1. Prepareforevenfasterexponentialdatagrowth
Dataisalreadydoublingevery2-3years.In2020,therateofdatagrowthwillsignificantlyaccelerate,drivenbyhigherresolutionmobilephonecameras,thegrowthof4Kvideo,increasedvideosurveillance,genomicsresearch,IoTmachinedata,3Dmedicalimages...andsomanymore.Boththenumberandsizeoffileswillincreaseataneverfasterrate,andITorganizationsneedtopreparenowtostore,protectandprovideaccesstoitall.
2. Anticipatecontinued“cloud-washing”byincumbentstoragevendorsIncumbentvendors’storagesystemsweredesignedforon-premisesenvironments,butascompaniesmovemoreoftheirworkloadstothecloud,themarketforon-premisesgearisshrinking.Unfortunately,vendors’effortstoconnectorportthesesystemstotheclouddoesn'tnecessarilymakethingsmoreefficientoreasiertouse.Andinsomecases,itactuallymakesIThardertomanage,especiallyifapplicationsanddataarestillpartlyon-prem,andyou’retryingtoprovideaccesstousersaroundtheworld.
3. Consolidationofcloud-basedcompanieswillaccelerateTheincrediblesuccessandgrowthofAWSandAzurehaveothercompanieseagertocarveouttheirownsliceofthecloud.Asaresult,cloud-friendlytechnologiesarehighlycoveted,especiallybylarge,traditionalITvendors.ExpecttoseealotmoreM&Ain2020ofcloud-basedcompanies,whichwerecentlywitnessedthroughtheacquisitionofVeeamin2020.
***
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StorageNewsletter 23
NGDSystems(ScottShadley,VPMarketing)1. MoveLessandAnalyzeMoreattheEdge
NVMehasprovidedameasureofreliefandproventoremoveexistingstorageprotocolbottlenecksforplatformschurningoutterabytesandpetabytesofdataonaregularbasis.But,isthatenough?EventhoughNVMeissubstantiallyfaster,itisnotfastenoughbyitselfwhenpetabytesofdataarerequiredtobeanalyzedandprocessedinrealtime.ThisiswhereComputationalStoragecomesinandsolvestheproblemofdatamanagementandmovement.ComputationalStorage,especiallythewaywemarrytheuseofNVMeSSDsandcomputepower,addsanalyticalpowerandspeedsothatresultscanbeaccomplishedrightawayandwherethedataisgenerated.
2. Better5GConnectivity
In2020,moreedgerelateddeviceswillbeneededtoprocessmassivedataworkloads.Theadventof5Gisnodifferent.Asmorecelltowersarebuilttosupport5G,therealsoneedstobemorecomplexinfrastructureateachbaystationthatcanmanagethedata“inandoutofthebox”sothatuserdataisoptimallyutilized.ComputationalStoragewithitssmallformfactorsandaddedcomputepowercanpackananalyticaluppercutpunchinthelimitedsizeandpowerenablededge-datacentersthatliveateachofthesenewcelltowerplatforms.Byprovidingadditionalcomputetotheconfinedresourcesthatexistisparamounttosuccessfulgrowthofthisspace.Insteadofrequiringevenmorehardwareandpowertotheserver,theadventofhighcapacityComputationalStorageprovidestheneededoffloadtothesystemtoallowforgreatdeployments.
3. SimplifytheTrafficFlowofContentDeliveryNetworks
Streamingserviceshavecontinuedtodominateheadlinesthisyear,withtherecentlaunchesofAppleTV+andDisneyPluscombinedwithNetflix,HuluandAmazonPrime’sincreasinginvestments.Thisposesamajorhurdleforthecontentdeliverynetworks(CDNs)–andwhereComputationalStoragecanbeamajorasset.WhileatypicalCDNtrafficflowinvolveslotsofdatamovementandprocessingspreadoutoveravarietyofedgeinfrastructure,ComputationalStorage,cansimplifythisflow.
***
Panasas(CurtisAnderson,SeniorSoftwareArchitect)1. TheimportanceofTotalCostofOwnership(TCO):HPCstoragesolutionsmust
delivervaluefarbeyondtheinitialpurchasepriceAstherequirementsforHPCstoragesystemsarebecomingmorediversewiththeadditionofnewworkloadssuchasArtificialIntelligence(AI),thereisanincreasingneedtostartlookingattheoverallimpactontheorganisationoftheongoingcostofoperations,userproductivityandthetimetoqualityoutcomes.Inadditiontoevaluatingtheprice/performanceratio,buyerswillneedtostartpayingcloseattentiontoarangeofpurchasingconsiderationsthatgobeyondtheinitialinvestment.Thoseincludethecostofunplanneddowntimeintermsofapplication
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StorageNewsletter 24
userproductivity,thecostofcomplexityandtheheadcountrequiredtomanageit,andtheneedforresponsivesupportformission-criticalinfrastructuresuchasyourstorage.
2. AsEnterprise’sAIprojectsgraduatefrom“exploratory”to“production”theywillleavethepubliccloudsforlesscostlyon-premisessolutions,fundingaboominHPCinfrastructurebuild-out,buttherequirementsforthatinfrastructurewillhavechangedbasedupontheircloudexperiencePubliccloudsaregreatforlearningandexperimentation,butnotforhigh-utilisationproductionoperations.Publiccloudswill,however,havealargeinfluenceonthenextgenerationofon-premiseinfrastructurethatisbuilt.Theneedforthelowesttime-to-solution,quicklytakingactionbasedupontheinsightsthatAIcangiveyou,drivesAItopushtheunderlyinghardware(e.g:GPUsandstorage)ashardasitcango.Butthesimpletruthisthatthecostofadedicatedresourceinapubliccloudishigherthanthecostofowningthatresource.AnothersimpletruthisthatthevalueofAIisthecomputerderivinginformationthatyoucanactuponfrommountainsofdata.AddinthefactthatAIhasaninsatiableneedforgrowthoftrainingdata,andthatpubliccloudshavenever-endingchargesfordatastorage,andthecostsclimb.Putthosesimplefactstogetherandit’sclearthatproductionAIwillbelesscostlyifitisperformedon-premises.Theindustryhasbecomeusedtotheextremeflexibilityandsimplicityofmanagementthatpubliccloudsprovide,andtheywillwanttoretainthosecharacteristicsintheiron-premisesolutionsatthelowercostitprovides.
***
PavilionDataSystems(VRSatish,CTO)1. ConvergenceofprimaryandsecondarystorageushersNVMeasacost-effective
andperformantmediaforsecondarystorage.
2. NVMeOFbecomesthepreferredprotocolforallnewinfrastructuredeployments.
3. High-performanceedgestoragebecomesarequirementforhybridclouddeployment.
***
Portworx(MurliThirumale,CEO)1. KuberneteswillstarttobeusedtomanageITinfrastructure,notjust
containerizedapplicationsVMWare'sProjectPacificisoneofthefirstexamplesofthis,butIexpecttoseemoresuchofferingsin2020.ThemovetocontainerizeapplicationsandorchestratethemwithKubernetesiswellunderwayanddrivingrapidapplicationdeploymentandportabilityinenterprisesledbyDevOps.ProjectPacificisaboldmovetoextend
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StorageNewsletter 25
VSpherewithKubernetesandgettraditionalITadminsintothemixbyhavingVSphereandKubernetesnowmanageITinfrastructure.VMWareisbothmakingKubernetesafirstcitizenalongwithVSpherebutalsosayingKubernetesviaVSpherecannowmanagenotjustAppsbutalsoVMs,Storage,NetworkingandCompute.
2. IPOsforcompanieswith‘cult’CEOsandfounderswillbediscountedbythe
marketasbearingtoomuchriskThedaysofCEOworshipareover.HighprofileproblemsatTheranos,Uber,andmorerecentlyWeWorkhavemadeinvestorsskittishaboutrelyingoncharismaticindividuals.In2020,agoodproductbackedbyasustainablebusinessmodelwillbefarmoreattractivetoinvestorsthanamessianicCEO.
3. Weheardalotabout5Gthisyearbutnetworkcoveragefromthemajor
telecomsprovidersisspottyIexpecttoseethischangesignificantlyin2020.With5Gnetworksspanningthecountry,devicemakersandapplicationdeveloperswillstarttotakeadvantageofthenewhigh-speedtechnology.ThiswillmeannotjustrichersmartphoneappsbutalsoarangeofIoTusesthatwillreshapecomputingattheedge.
***
PureStorage(MattKixmoeller,VPStrategy)1. CustomersWillDemandASubscriptiontoInnovationwithAs-a-Service
BusinessModelsAs-a-Servicemodelshaveexistedsincethebeginningofpubliccloud.Formostconsumersofstorage,hybridcloudistherealityandthefuture-andtheyarelookingtogetthebestoutofbothworlds;todrivesimplicityandautomationfromtheiron-premiseinfrastructuresotheycanmanageitliketheymanagethecloud,andtogetthesameenterprisecapabilitiesandcontrolinthecloud,astheyhaveon-premise--bothinaflexible,subscription-basedas-a-Servicemodel.In2020,thedemandforas-a-ServiceinstoragewillincreaseandorganizationsarespeakingwiththeirwalletswithmoreinvestmentinOPEXmodels,butsuccessfulmodelsneedtobalanceboththeoperationsandpurchasingaspects.Fromanoperationsperspective,keyattributesincludestandardization(vssnowflakes),on-demandaccess,API-drivenmanagement,andlimitlessscale.Ontheconsumptionside,keytraitsincludeapayforwhatyouusemodel,burstingcapabilities(flexup/downasneeded),andanon-disruptiveevergreenexperience,servicescanbegrown/evolvedovertimewithoutdisruption.Andallthisdeliveredasa100%pay-per-monthOPEXservice.
2. ModernAnalyticsHasReachedRocketshipStatusFuelingthegrowthformodernanalyticsismoreaffordableinfrastructureoptionssuchasmorepowerfulCPUs,consumption-basedinfrastructure,availablebothon-premandinthepubliccloud,andlowerpricedflashmemory.Thereisalsoasignificantgrowthinstreamanalyticsplatforms,bothopensource(ApacheFlink,ApacheBeamandSparkStreaming)andcommercial(SplunkDSP)replacingmoreandmorebatch-basedprocessingplatforms.Modernanalyticscannowreachlarger
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StorageNewsletter 26
scalewithcloudnativeanalyticsarchitecturescomprisedofstatelessserversandcontainerandhigh-performanceS3objectstores.Additionally,theunbridledgrowthofdatasourcesincludingsmartdevices(smarthome,wearables,connectedcars,industrialinternet,etc.)willdrivetheadoptionofmodernanalyticsinordertodrivemoreinsights.
3. AIOperationsWillGoFromAdvisoryRolestoAutomatedActionAsCustomersWantaHands-FreeApproachOrganizationswillbemoreopentoAImakingdecisionsforthem.Customerswanttosetpoliciesandletthevendorsimplementthepolicies,whichispartiallydrivenbythedeclarativenatureofKubernetesandcontainermanagement.Thesimplicityofcontainerswillenableorganizationstodefineastate,andthecontainerwillbethecatalyst.Thetechnologyshouldthendriveanddeliverinsightswithinthewholeenvironment.AIwillbeappliedtoefficientlyfindingwherethepredictivemodelperformspoorlyandaugmentingdataforthatfeaturespace.ThisiscriticalforAIapplicationslikeanomalydetectionandautomaticrootcauseanalysistoscaleandbeapplicableinmorecontexts.
***
Quantum(EricBassier,SeniorDirectorofProductMarketing)1. VideoandImagesRepresentBiggestDataGeneratorforMostEnterprises
Betweensurveillancefootage,videoformarketingandtrainingpurposesacrossallindustries,andtheuseofhigh-resimageandvideocontentgeneratedbymachinesinusecasesasdiverseasmovieandTVproduction,autonomousvehicledesign,manufacturing,healthcare–webelievevideoandhigh-resimagecontentwillrepresentbiggest‘class’ofdataformostenterprises.
2. TheTapeStorageMarketwillGrow,ReversingaDecade-LongDecliningTrendTapehasemergedasakeytechnologyformassivescalecoldstorageinfrastructure–bothinthecloudandon-premise.Andwebelievethearchitecturesusedinthecloudwilleventuallymaketheirwaybackintotheenterprise.Sowebelievethetapemarketwillgrow,andcontinuetogrowoverthenext5-10years,basedonanewusecasefortapeascoldstoragefor(primarily)videoandhighresimagedata.
3. Hybrid-andMulti-CloudArchitecturesBecometheNormManycompaniesareinsometypeofhybrid-cloudstate,andcustomersareexpectingthatvendorsprovideanevenmoreseamlessexperiencebetweenon-premisehardwareinfrastructures,andcloudinfrastructures.Customerswillalsoexpectthatvendorscanofferamulti-cloudexperience,socustomersarenotlockedintoasinglecloudprovider.
***
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StorageNewsletter 27
Qumulo(MollyPresley,GlobalProductMarketingDirector)1. NVMefilestoragewillbeadoptedbroadlyforperformancestarved,low-
latencyapplicationsin2020NVMeisacommunicationsprotocoldevelopedspecificallyforall-flashstorage.Itenablesfasterperformanceandgreaterdensitycomparedtolegacyprotocols.It’sgearedforenterpriseworkloadsthatrequiretopperformance,suchasreal-timedataanalytics,onlinetradingplatformsandotherlatency-sensitiveworkloads.
2. Data-drivenbusinesseswillhavetoshiftsomeworkloadstothecloudfordataprocessing,machinelearning(ML)andartificialintelligence-(AI)drivenworkloadsEverymajorenterpriseintheworldisgoingtobecomeahybridenterprise.InindustriesacrossallmajorverticalmarketsincludingM&E,transportation,bioandpharma,customersareusinglargevolumesofunstructureddatainordertoaccomplishtheirmission.Despitetremendousdownwardpressure,ITbudgetsdon’tgrowatthesamerateastherestofbusiness.Thepubliccloudenablesawaytosolvethatproblemwithitselasticcomputeandelasticresources.
3. Scale-outFileStoragewillbecomethepreferredtechnologyforon-prem
unstructureddataactivearchivesModernfilestoragesolutionsdeliverperformanceandeconomicsinasingletiersolutionmanagedbyintelligentcaching.Objectstorageisnotthebestfitforon-premisescustomersseekingsimplicitytodelivertoperformanceapplicationsandretaincosteffectively,objectstoragewasdevelopedasaprecursortowebscaletechnologyandasthestoragemediumforwebtechnologies.Itwasmeanttobegreatfordatasetsthatapproachexabytedatalevelandaregeographicallydistributed.In2020,webelievetheon-premisesobjectstoragemarketwillevaporateandwillbecomewhollyfilebased.
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Reduxio(JacobCherian,CMO)ThetruepowerofKubernetesistoredefinetheideaofthecloudforcustomersbybreakingdowntheirinfrastructuresilos-publiccloudresources,andthecustomersownedanddedicatedresources.CustomerswillincreasinglyleverageKubernetesandcontainerstobuildinfrastructureagnosticITfortheirapplications-oneenvironmentthatcanbeinstantiatedanywhererapidlyandrunalltheirapplications.Thisiscloudinfrastructureascode.AkeyrequirementforthiswillbestoragethatisnativeandintegratedintoKubernetesandprovidesmobilityforapplicationsanddataacrossalltheinfrastructurepools,stitchingthepoolstogetherintoasinglecloud.
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ScaleComputing(AlanConboy,officeoftheCTO)1. Customersdon’twantsolutionsthatarecomplex,difficulttouse,requirelotsof
trainingandcostmorebecauseoftheadditionallicenses.
2. GartnerMagicQuadrant’snicheplayerswillcontinuedrivinginnovationwithfeaturerichtechnologiesthatsimplifyIToperations,forexamplebysupportingthegrowingedgecomputingindustry.
3. TechnologiesfromnicheplayerswillmakeVMware’squasi-vendoragnostic
approachlookincreasinglyold-fashionedLookingaheadto2020,wewillseenicheplayersstayniche.Why?Leaderswillalwayshaveaplaceofferingwell-entrenchedlegacyinfrastructure,butstayingnichemeansbeingatrendsetter.Itmeanstheofferingisdifferent,greatatwhatitdoes,andmakestechbetterandmoreaccessibletoeveryone.ThisisthereasonwhyIbelievecustomerswillcontinueinvestinginnicheplayersthatofferthetechnologytheyneedinthewaythatworksbestforthem.
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Scality(PaulSpeciale,CPO)1. Objectstorageattheedgewillbeonflash
Objectstoragewillmoveintotheedgeforapplicationsthatcapturelargedatastreamsfromawidevarietyofmobile,IoTandotherconnecteddevices.Thiswillincludeeventstreamsandlogs,sensoranddevicedata,vehicledrivedata,imageandvideomediadataandmore,withhighdataratesandhighconcurrencyfromthousandsormoresimultaneousdatastreams.TheseapplicationswillbedevelopedforcloudnativedeploymentandwillthereforenaturallyembraceRESTfulobjectstylestorageprotocols,makingobjectstorageonflashmediaanoptimalchoiceontheedgetosupportthisemergingclassofdata-centricapplications.
2. Newwaysofidentifyingpatients,customers,anddepositors
willbedevelopedin2020,asthealreadyacceleratingpaceofhackinganddatabreachescontinuestopickupspeed.Thereisenormousvalueinstoreddata.Untiltheymakethesechanges,hospitalsandmedicalproviders,forexample,willremainstrongtargetsduetothevalueofthedatatheyhold:notonlypatienthealthinformation,butthepatientidentificationthatgoesalongwithit(governmentID,birthdate,address,etc.).
3. Datastoragewillbecomemassivelydecentralised
asenterprisesleverageacombinationofon-premisesandpubliccloudITresources.Thiswillcreateaneedforaunifiednamespaceandcontrolplanetosimplifydatavisibilityandaccess.
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Moreover,corporationswilluseavarietyofpublicclouds,eachoneselectedtohelpsolvespecificbusinessproblems,therebycreatingamulti-clouddatamanagementproblem.Inaddition,theemergenceofedgecomputingwillfurtherdrivedecentralisationascorporationschoosetodeployITresources“near”theedgedevicestheymanage.Thesetrendsallhelptocreateanewandextreme“clouddatasilos”scenario,thatcanonlybeaddressedbysolutionsthatprovideglobaldatavisibilityacrossthesedistributedcloudsanddatacenters.
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SpectraLogic(MattStarr,CTO)1. Digitaldataownershipisakintotheoil/steeloftheearly20thCentury
ThinkaboutRockefeller,Carnegie,Fordandthelike,industrialgiantsofthe20thcentury.Inthe21stcenturyitwillbethedataowner.LikeDisney,whorecentlypurchased21stcenturyfoxtobecomeoneofthelargestMediaandEntertainmentcontentownersintheworld.HealthCare,OilandGasexploration,geospatial,itisnotjustmediaandentertainmentwheredataisthemostvaluableasset.Nearlyeveryindustryisseeinganacquisitionstrategythattakesintoaccountthedigitalassetownership.
2. CloudEgresscostwillstarttodriveend-userstrategiesCloudstorageisalltheragein2019,someofthelargerusersoftheseStorageasaServiceofferingsarediscoveringthatnothavingalocalcopyisthedrivingfactorintheirstoragecost,in-turnforcingacloserlookathybridcloud,especiallyhavingalocalcopywhilestillutilizingthecloudasthesecondcopy.AllowingalocalrestoreandusageofdatawithoutegresscostsandacloudbasedcopyforDRandsharing.
3. MachinelearningandAIhavemovedforwardin2019andwillcontinueinthenextdecadeThedatasetsusedtotrainthesenewsystemswillbealeadingfactorforhowfarAIcango.ItiseasyforAItofindcopyrightedmusiconYoutube,andsoonAIwillbecreatingmoreofthemusicalbackgroundwehear.Outsideofart,anotherexampleisAIusedtodevelopautonomousvehicleswilldeliversafervehiclesasrealworlddatasetsarebroughtbackandworkedthroughAIforbettervehiclesafety.LookforAItobeinnearlyeverypartofyourlifesoon.
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StorCentric(SuryaVaranasi,CTO)parentcompanyofNexsan,Drobo,RetrospectandVexata1. Intheenterprisespace,on-premisesstoragewillseeacomeback
Businesseshavebeenmovingtothecloudforprimaryandarchive/DRstorageforalongtime.In2020,on-premisesstorage,whetherforactiveorstandby,willseeacomeback–especially,ascustomersarehitwithcloud-usebillsthataredramaticallyhigherthanoriginallyanticipated.
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In2020,tobesuccessfulandprovidevaluetothebusiness,enterpriseITwillneedtobeabletostraddletheworldsofthecloudandon-premisesstorage.Softwaresolutionsthatenableswiftmobilitybetweenthesetwodomainswillbecomeincreasinglycritical.Onlyviathisbi-modelmodelwillITbeabletoachievethehighestperformance,scalabilityandcapabilities,aswellasthesafestretention,atthemostcosteffectiveprice.
2. IntheProsumerandSMBspace,multi-layereddatamanagementandprotectionwillbecomepriority#1IntheProfessionalConsumer(i.e.,Prosumer)andSMBspace,datastorageandprotectionhasalwaysbeenapriority,butcosthasbeenaroadblockforthoseseekingtoemploycomprehensiveend-to-enddatamanagementandprotectionsolutions.In2020,ProsumersandSMBswilldemandsolutionsthatenablethemtoseamlesslyandaffordablylayerfeaturesandfunctionalityontotheiron-sitestorage,suchasintegrationwithoff-sitecloudandSaaSbackupandrecoverysolutions,withflexiblecross-platformsupportforallmajorplatformsincludingWindows,Mac,Linux,VMwareandHyper-V.
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StorMagic(BruceKornfeld,CMO&GM-Americas)1. Moredataisbeingcreatedattheedgethaneverbefore
In2019,moredatawascreatedattheedgethaneverbefore,andthatwillcontinueinto2020andbeyondduetoamassmovementawayfromtraditionaldatacentersandpublicclouds.Theoverallstoragelandscapeistransforming,andmorecustomersnowprefertoprocessandmanagedataattheedgeofthenetworkbecauseitismoreefficientandcost-effective.
2. KeymanagementadoptioninedgeHCIenvironmentswillincreaseSecurityisagrowingconcernatedgecomputingsites,wherethereistypicallynoITstaffmemberandnophysicalsecuritypresent.Asserverscontrunetogetsmallerinsizetheriskoftheftdramaticallyincreases.CIOs-particularlyinthehealthcare,financeandretailmarkets-willbeginintegratingdataencryptionwithkeymanagementtofullyprotectdatamanagedattheirremotesitesandbranchofficeslocatedattheedge.
3. Virtualizationenhancementswillbeintroducedtosupportphysicallysmaller
environmentsAsITfootprintscontinuetoshrink,virtualizationisn’tjustforyourgrandfather’sdatacenteranymore.Smaller-sizedserverswillcontinuetohitthemarketata2U,orsmaller,footprint.Softwarecompanieswillrespondwithlightweightvirtualstoragesolutionsthatofferalow-costentrypointtosuitthesesmallerhardwareproductsandjustifyROIandITprojectsasawhole.
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StorONE(GalNaor,CEO)1. PriceperTB
Dramaticallyreductionduetobettersoftwaresolutionwithlesshardwarerequired.Whatwehaveseenin2019andweexpectwillcontinuethrough2020isinefficientutilizationthatplagueslegacystoragearchitectures.Thiswillonlygetworseascustomersstillaren’tgettingtheratedspeedandcapacitythattheypayfor,thatthedrivesarecapableof.Endusersareincreasinglyfrustratedbythis,andfrustratedhavingtooverbuy.In2020companieswilllookformoreefficiencyandbetterresourceutilization,foralowerfootprintandtoachievetheperformanceanddensitythey’repayingfor.
2. BuiltincompletedataprotectionandbackupwillemergeaspartofstoragesolutionsNolongerwillorganizationshavetomaintainmultiplesystemstogetcompleteenterprisedataprotectionandperformance.NOneedtopurchase,integrateandmanagestandalonesystemsfordataretention/protection,backup,anddataintegrity.Inaddition,dataprotection(RAID)levelsbasedpervolumeandnotthesameRAIDfortheentirestoragesolution.Andnomorecompromisingondataprotectiontogethighperformance.Builtindatareliabilitywillbeamandatoryrequirementaspartofanystoragesolutionandwillbealloftheseserviceswillbeincludedwithoutextracost.
3. In2020allenterprisestorageserviceswillfinallybeavailableinthesamesolutionAllthestorageprotocols(block,fileandobject)willbeincludeandalldrivestypes(NVMe,SSD,HDD,andOptane)willbesupportedinthesamesolutionwiththeabilitytosimultaneouslyrundifferentprotocolsonthesamedrives.Storagemanagerswillhavethefullflexibilitytomanagealltheirstoragerequirementsandtogrowondemandaccordingtotheirneeds.Asingleenvironmentcanmanageanyusecase–performance,capacity,protocol,drivetypeanddataprotectionbasedpervolume.
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StrongBoxDataSolutions(FloydChristofferson)1. Datamanagementacrossstoragetypesisthebiggestemergingproblem
• Thisismadeworsebyexponentialgrowthofunstructureddata• Increasinglydatamanagersdon’tknowforsurewhattheyhave,andwhereit
shouldbekept,orifitcanbedeleted• Solutionsfocusedonintelligentcross-platformmanagementofdataareneeded
toaddressthis2. Theproliferationofstoragetypes,includingmultiplecloudandsoftware-
definedchoicesmakestheproblemworse
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• ThisaddscomplexityandcosttoITadministrators• Causesthemtorelyonmultipletools,andmanageuserexperience• Oftenleadstooverprovisioning,anddifficultytocontaincostsortakefull
advantageofthesavingstheyseekfrommoreeconomicalstoragechoices3. On-premcloud(object),plustheincreasingpubliccloudofferingscause
protocolproblemsfortraditionalfile-basedworkflows• Theabilitytobridgemultiplevendorsolutionsforon-premandoff-premwithout
addingcomplexityoruserdisruptionbecomeskey• Theabilitytounderstandthedataitself,andletdataintelligencedrivedata
placementenabletruestorageoptimizationandcostsavings• ThisalsoreducestheloadonITstaff,whichhasotherwisebecomearapidly
growingoperationalexpense.StorageanddatamanagementOPEXareabout5xtheacquisitioncostsforstorage,whichthereforeneutralizescostsavingsachievedbymorecosteffectivestoragechoices
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TalonStorage(JaapvanDuijvenbode,ProductDirector)1. In2020,wewillseeacontinuedbutevenstrongerpivottoanenterprisehybrid
cloudstrategy,onethatleveragesacombinationofon-premisesstorageandcloudstorage.Dependinguponthenatureoftheworkload,thedatacharacteristics(i.e.size)orcompliancefactors(GDPRetc.)candriveaparadigmofregionallylocatedcloudstoragefootprints,accessedbyusers/locationsinproximitytothatstorageresource.Backup/DRusecasesarethesimplestandmostforgivingintermsofongoingoperationalcomplexity,andassucharewheremanyenterprisesgetstartedintheuseofmulti-cloudstorageresources.
2. Also,wepredictthat2020willseeenterpriseslookingatavariedfootprint,with
differentfunctionssupportedfromdifferentvendors.FromabusinessperspectivemostlargerenterprisesdonotwanttosacrificenegotiatingleveragewithregardstotheirOPEX-basedinfrastructure.Thereareadvantagesingoingallinwithonevendor.Intoday'spay-as-you-goworld,anenterprisecouldachieveavolumediscountbysendingeverythinginthedirectionofonecloudprovider.Ittakesworktoregularlyreviewiftheorganizationisgettingthebestdeal,andswitchingcostsarehigh.Bymaintainingafootprintwithdifferentproviders,customersstaycurrentwithpricingpolicies/promotions,andhaveeasierflexibilityindirectingworkloadstoresources.
3. Compliancewillonlycontinuetobeanincreasinglyimportantfactorinthemulti-
clouddecision.Forlargerorpublicly-tradedcompanies,therequirementtoemploybestpracticesofriskmitigationwilldriveamulti-cloudapproachtospreadingtherisk.Forglobalcompanies,theneedtokeepcertaindataassetsincertaingeographicdomainswillfactorintotheequation.
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StorageNewsletter 33
Virtana(TimVanAsh,SVPProducts)1. Cloudisnotcheaper,andoverprovisioningmustbebroughtundercontrol
In2019organisationscametotherealisationthatcloudisnotnecessarilycheaper.Thisdrovetheneedforvisibilityandcontrolofcloudexpensefromthestarttopreventescalatingcosts.Cloudcostmanagementhasbecomeafull-timeroleasorganisationshavetriedtofigureoutandgetahandleoncosts.2020willseethecontinuedmaturationofthecloudstorywithafarmoreconsideredapproach,focusedoncostoptimisationandcostcontrol.Arguably,costhasalwaysbeenadriverforcloud,butthehighestprioritiesin2020willbedeterminingtherealcostofcloud,anddevelopingeffectivecostgovernance.Insteadofrushingworkloadstothecloud,organisationswillseektounderstandtohowtheycanoptimisetheirworkloads.Itwillstartwithrightsizingoftheirworkloads,thendecidingwhetheritisacandidatetomovetothecloud,orremainon-premises.Enterpriseswillbegintoseethevalueandsavingsthatcanariseasaresultofintelligentworkloadmanagementanddatadecision-making,leadingtomoreeffectiveoutcomesintermsofcostandperformance.Organisationsin2020willlooktoreduceoreliminatetheoverprovisioningofpubliccloudresourcesthattheysawin2019,whichresultedfrompoorvisibilityintoworkloadsandtheirresourceconsumption.Forexample,AWSLambdarequiresthepurchaseofasetmemoryallocationregardlessofwhetheritisneededorused,resultinginatendencytovastlyoverprovisionmemory.Thishasbeenimpossibletoachieve,withcostandperformancebeingmanagedbyseparatetoolsandteams.In2020,Hybridapplicationsandworkloadswillcontinuetoconsumedigitalinfrastructureacrossbothprivateandpubliccloud.Theneedforasinglepaneofglassthatprovidescontinuousvisibilityintocosts,andwhileassuringperformancewillbemandatorytoassureeffectivecapacitymanagementandoptimizationacrosshybridcloud.BearinginmindtheconsiderabletransformationtakingplaceinITenvironments,thecriticalissuein2020forCIOs,willbeseekingtounderstandhowtogovernITspend.
2. Hybridandmulti-cloudwilldemandconsistentlevelsofvisibilitytomitigate
riskThestartof2019wasallaboutmulti-cloud.Now,wearehearingpeopletalkhybridapplicationsrunninginthehybridcloudbecauseitcrossesmultipleclouds,inadditiontothedatacentre.Soitisprettyclearnowthathybridisatermusedtodescribeanenvironmentwithcomponentsofapplicationsandtheinfrastructuresupportingitthatspreadacrossprivateandpubliccloud.Thereisdebateoverwhetheritincludesoneormorecloudproviders,andoneormoreprivatedatacentres,butineitherscenario,anythingthatresidesovermultiplecloudsstillneedstobeproperlycontrolled.Thelackofcommonmetricsandgranularityhascontributedtoperformanceandreliabilityproblemsacrosshybridinfrastructures.Everyoneislookingforthesinglepaneofglass,andthiswillbeanon-goingtopicfor
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atleastthenextthreetofiveyears.Thehybridenvironmentisdefinitelywhereeveryonewillbepivotedtowardsfrom2020andonwards.
3. Theimpactofcontainersonsharedinfrastructurewillstarttobeunderstood
ThereisnodoubtthatKuberneteshasbecomethedominantorchestrationplatformforthecloud.AshighlightedbyIBM’sacquisitionofRedHat,andVMware’sacquisitionofPivotal,whichpositionedVMwaretodeliverenterprise-gradeKubernetes-basedportfolio.Inobservingthematurationofthemarketoverallduring2019,wesawthatinfrastructureteamshadlearnedfromthevirtualisationexperience.Withnumerousvirtualmachinesrunningontopofhypervisor,itwasverydifficulttoseewhichVMswereresponsiblefortheworkloadsbeinggeneratedagainstthebackendinfrastructure,ascenarioknownasthe‘blendereffect’.Goinginto2020,thischallengeliesattheheartofinfrastructureteams’concernsaroundcontaineradoption.Althoughtheexpectationisthatalargepercentageofon-premisecontainerswillbelong-lived,theabilitytodynamicallyscaleupandscaledowncoulddramaticallyimpactinfrastructure.Organisationslookingtodeploycontainersintheirdatacentresmustconsiderandmanagetheimpactandperformanceoftheirinfrastructure,otherwisethemovetocontainerisedapplicationsanddeploymentwilllikelyfail.In2020ITteamswilladoptsmart(AI-powered)hybridinfrastructuremanagementplatformsthatwillnotonlyhelpthemunderstandwhatapplicationsaregeneratingtheworkloads,butalsohowworkloadsimpacteveryphysicalelementoftheinfrastructure.
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Weebit(CobyHanoch,CEO)1. We’llstarthearingofmoreReRAMcommercialdeals
2. Chinawillcontinueitsverystrongpushintomemoryandstoragewithbig
investmentsandpotentiallyalsoacquisitions3. Neuromorphiccomputingresearchwillmovetocenterstage
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StorageNewsletter 35
WekaIO(AndyWatson,CTO)1. SmartNIC’s(NetworkInterfaceCards)
fromcompanieslikeMellanox,withcomprehensivelyextensivecapabilitiesforoffloadingwillbringaboutrevolutionarychangesintheinfrastructurelandscapeforthemostdata-hungryapplications.Storagesolutionsabletoleveragethisimportantnewnetworkingtechnologywillpushtheenvelopeintermsofbothperformance(i.e.,greaterthroughputandlowerlatencydataaccess)andimprovedscalability.Initiallythehighercostwilllikelylimitadoptiontoonlythemostdemandingenvironmentsbutovertime(2021andbeyond)wecanexpecttoseeSmartNICsdeployedmorewidely.
2. SCM(StorageClassMemory)willhaveabigimpactnowthatIntelhasatlonglastdeliveredtomarketOptaneDCPersistentMemory.Sub-microsecondlatencyforpersistentstorageatmeaningfulscale(upto768TBinaclusteredfilesystemisalreadybeingpromisedbyatleastonesoftwareprovider)willrevolutionizetheindustry.Ifnothingelse,thisnew“TierZero”willenablenear-instantaneouscheckpointing(andrecoveryfromthosecheckpoints).SCMcanalsobeusedtoextendmemorycomplements,andthisisalreadyimpactinghowengineersarethinkingaboutin-memorydatabasesandothermemory-intensiveapplications.AnyoneskepticalaboutthiscomingtectonicshiftneedlooknofartherthanMemVergeorLevyx(orotheremergingsoftwarecompaniesinthishotnewspace)whoarealreadyofferingearlyaccesstotheirsoftwarewhichallowsapplicationstobenefitfromSCMwithoutanymodifications.Andas“TierZero”isredefined,theadjacentTierOnewillalsobeimpactedbyintensifiedperformanceexpectations;atWekaIOourflash-nativefilesystemisready,willingandabletoassistourcustomers’explorationofSCM.
3. Mythirdandfinalpredictionhereisafamiliaronefromlastyear:flashstoragepricingwillcontinuetofallfasterthanHDDstoragepricing.ThistimeI’llgofurtherandpredictthatbyQ42020therewillbelarge-capacitySSD’s(probablyQLC-based)whichareirrefutablylessexpensiveper-GBthanmeaningfulHDDalternatives.ConsideringthatSSD’salreadyincurlowerOpEx(consuminglesspower,requiringlessA/C,failinglessoften,etc),2020maybetheyearwelatercollectivelyrememberasTheCrossover.
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WesternDigital(PhilBullinger,SVPandGM)1. In2020,newdatacenterarchitectureswillemergetomanagethegrowing
volumeandvarietyofdataIntheZettabyte-scaleAge,datainfrastructureneedstobere-architectedtoaddressthegrowingscaleandcomplexityofworkloads,applicationsandAI/IoTdatasets.Theseconstructswillinvolvemultipletiersofworkload-optimizedstorageaswellasnewapproachestosystemsoftware.ZonedStorage,anopen-sourceinitiative,willhelpenablecustomerstotakeadvantageofzoneblockmanagementacrossbothSMRHDDsandZNSSSDsforsequentially-written,read-centricworkloads.In2020,
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StorageNewsletter 36
we’llseeasubstantialamountofapplicationandstoragesoftwareinvestmentinZonedStoragetohelpdrivemoreefficientstoragetiersasdatacentersareredefinedintheZettabyte-scaleEra.
2. In2020,tieringofdataleveragingdevice,mediaandfabricinnovation,willexpandnotcontractTherewillcontinuetobestrongexabytegrowthinread-centricapplicationsinthedatacenter,fromartificialintelligence,machinelearning,andbigdataanalyticstoavarietyofbusinessintelligenceandaccessiblearchiveworkloads.Theseat-scaleusecasesaredrivingadiversesetofperformance,capacityandcost-efficiencydemandsonstoragetiers,asenterprisesdeliverincreasinglydifferentiatedservicesontheirdatainfrastructure.Tomeetthesedemands,datacenterarchitecturewillcontinueadvancingtowardamodelwheredatastoragesolutionswillbeconsistentlyprovisionedandaccessedoverfabrics,withtheunderlyingstorageplatformsanddevicesdeliveringtoavarietyofSLAs,alignedwithspecificapplicationneeds.AndwhilewecertainlyexpecttoexpandthedeploymentofTLCandQLCFlashintheseat-scale,high-growthworkloadsforhigherperformanceusecases,therelentlessdemandforexabytesofcost-effective,scalablestoragewillcontinuetodrivestronggrowthincapacityenterpriseHDD.
3. In2020,fabricsandcomposablewillformasymbioticrelationshipEthernetfabricsarebecomingthe“UniversalBackplane”ofthedatacenter,unifyinghowstorageisshared,composedandmanagedatscaletomeetthedemandsofincreasinglyvariedapplicationsandworkloads.In2020,we’llseeincreasingadoptionofcomposable,disaggregatedstoragesolutionsthatefficientlyscaleoverEthernetfabricsanddeliverthefullperformancepotentialofNVMedevicestodiversedatacenterapplications.Composablestoragewillsignificantlyincreasetheagilityandflexibilityinhowenterprisesprovisionandoptimizetheirdatainfrastructuretomeetdynamicapplicationrequirements.
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Zadara(JeffFrancis,Sr.EnterpriseSolutionsArchitect)1. XaaS(everything-as-a-service)willaccelerate,takingmarketsharefrom
ownershipmodelsMany3-5yearITrefreshcyclesarecomingdueatatimewhenmultipleoptionsformature/stableXaaSoptionsexist,plustherateoftechnologychangeisaccelerating.Itwillmakelesssense–bothfinanciallyandtechnologically–tocommittoarigidplatformforaspanofmultipleyears.
2. BaaSandDRaaS(BackupandDR-as-a-service)willgrowinadoption,asmorecustomersstarttoimplementtheirfirstoffsiteandtrulyon-demandBackupandDRcapabilities.BaaSandDRaaSbringreliability,convenienceandaffordabilityinanon-demandfashion.Thecombinationofbackupsuitesubscriptionsandstorage-as-a-servicemakesitpossibleforenterprisestomeettheirbusinesscontinuityandcomplianceneedsinarapid,reliableandhassle-freefashion.Additionally,theeconomicsforDRareradicallyimproved,ascostsfor
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StorageNewsletter 37
computeandadditionalstorageonlyapplyfordaysof“test”and“actualDR”vs.buyingandmanagingthatinfrastructureallyear.
3. DatastoreswillincreaseinsizepartiallyduetotheincreasinguseofAI/MLmodelswithlargepoolsofunstructureddata,andpartiallyduetotherapidlydecliningcostforstorage.Managedstorageofferings(storage-as-a-service)bothinthepubliccloudandon-premises(privateclouds)makeitfeasibleandaffordabletoimplementextremelylargedatastores(fromhundredsofpetabytestoexabytes)andextractvalue,insightsandmonetaryvaluefromthelargerdatasets.
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Zerto(GijsbertJanssenvanDoorn,TechnologyEvangelist)1. Growthinadoptionofhybridandmulti-cloudsolutions2. Customersincreasinglyutilisingmanagementsystemsfordisasterrecovery
andbackupasaservice3. Completevisibilityoverallworkloads,dataandcostsbecomesvitalasthe
needforflexibilityrisesOneofthethingsIbelievewe’llseein2020isthetrueadoptionofthingslikehybridandmulti-cloudsolutions–butthedifferenceinthisupcomingyearwillbethatcustomersandorganisationswillreallybegintolookformoremanagementlayersontopoftheirsolutions.Alotofcompaniesalreadyhavethingslikebackup-in-the-cloudandDRaaSsomewhereelse,sowhatthey’renowlookingforisauniformmanagementlayerontopofthattogivevisibilityoncost,aswellasaknowledgeofwherealldataislocated.It’simportanttoknowwheredatalives,whetherworkloadsareprotected,andwhethertheyneedtomoveworkloadsbetweendifferentcloudsifandwhenrequirementschange.