Software is the basis for flexibility and smart storage virtualization and management software can improve the utilization of storage resources so that you optimize and right-size to meet your needs. Hardware-defined by definition is rigid and inflexible therefore it leads to purchasing more than you want since you don’t want to underestimate your needs. Software can also allow the latest innovations like Flash-memory SSDs to be easily incorporated into your infrastructure without having to “rip and replace” your existing storage investments.

1. VIEWPOINT OPINION
Software-defined Storage Makes
Economic Sense and FreesYou
From Hardware-defined Lock-in!
What does “software-defined” really mean?
Beware of Storage HardwareVendors’ Claims
ThatThey Are “Software-defined”
It has become “it’s about the software, dummy” obvious. But watch what the sales
pitches claim. You’ll see storage hardware heavyweights leap for the “we are really
software” bandwagon, claiming that they are “software-defined storage,” hoping to
slow the wheels of progress through their marketing talk. But, it’s the same old song
they sing every year.They want you to ignore the realities driving today’s data centers
and diverse IT infrastructures – they want you to not change from your past buying
practices – they want you to buy more hardware! They want you to forget that the
term “software-defined” is being applied selectively to what runs only on their storage
hardware platforms and that when you buy their feature set it will not work across
other components and vendors storage systems. Beware, their clever sales pitches may
sound like “software-defined” but the end objective is clear: “buy more hardware.”
Software is the basis for flexibility and smart storage virtualization and management
software can improve the utilization of storage resources so that you optimize
and right-size to meet your needs. Hardware-defined by definition is rigid and
inflexible therefore it leads to purchasing more than you want since you don’t
want to underestimate your needs. Software can also allow the latest innovations
like Flash-memory SSDs to be easily incorporated into your infrastructure
without having to “rip and replace” your existing storage investments.
In other words, hardware-defined is the mantra for storage hardware vendors
who want you to “buy more hardware” and repeat the same process every year
versus getting the most value from your investments and “future-proofing”
your infrastructure. Software-defined means optimize what you already
have, whereas “Hardware-defined = Over Provisioning and Oversizing.”
Author: George Teixeira
CEO, President & Co-founder,
DataCore Software. Mr. Teixeira
creates and executes the overall
strategic direction and vision for
DataCore Software.
About DataCore Software
DataCore Software is a leader
in software-defined storage. The
company’s storage virtualization
software empowers organizations
to seamlessly manage and scale
their data storage architectures at
a fraction of the cost of solutions
offered by legacy storage
hardware vendors. Backed by
10,000 customers sites around
the world, DataCore’s adaptive
and self learning and healing
technology takes the pain out
of manual processes to create
significant cost savings, improved
utilization, significant uptime and
greater performance of a storage
environment.
www.datacore.com

2. 2
Software IsWhat Endures
Beyond Hardware Devices
that “Come and Go”
Think about it.Why would you want to
lock yourself into this year’s hardware
solution or have to buy a specific device
just to get a software feature you
need?This is old thinking, and before
virtualization, this was how the server
industry worked.The hardware decision
drove the architecture.Today with
software-defined computing exemplified
byVMware or Hyper-V, you think about
how to deploy virtual machines versus
are they running on a Dell, HP, Intel or
IBM system. Storage is going through
this same transformation and it will be
smart software that makes the difference
in a “software-defined” world.
SoWhat Do UsersWant
From “Software-defined
Storage,” and CanYou Really
Expect It to Come From a
Storage HardwareVendor?
The move from hardware-defined to a
software-defined virtualization-based
model supporting mission-critical
business applications is inevitable and
has already redefined the foundation
of architectures at the computing,
networking and storage levels from being
“static” to “dynamic.” Software defines
the basis for managing diversity, agility,
user interactions and for building a long-
term virtual infrastructure that adapts
to the constantly changing components
that “come and go” over time.
Ask yourself, is it really in the best interest
of the traditional storage hardware
vendors to go “software-defined”
and avoid their platform lock-ins?
Remember OneThing:
Hardware-defined = Over
Provisioning and Oversizing
Fulfilling application needs and providing
a better user experience are the ultimate
drivers for next generation storage and
software-defined storage infrastructures.
Users want flexibility, greater
automation, better response times and
“always on” continuous availability.
Therefore IT shops are clamoring to
move all the applications onto agile
virtualization platforms for better
economics and greater productivity.
VIEWPOINT OPINION
non-stop business; prevent
100% UPTIME
DataCore’s Compelling Business Value
Real-World Customer Results
SQL Database Response Times
13
135
PERFORMANCEINCREASE
5
4
3
2
1
0100%
COST SAVINGS
500%
90%
75%
Customers Report up to:
BEFORE AFTER
WithDataCore
500%
Faster
75% SAVINGS
Savings from longer useful life;
no hardware lock-in and open
market ‘buying power’
90 UTILIZATION
reclaim space, lower & defer
buys, get full use of assets
compared to the norm of 30%
500 FASTER
Faster Performance and
-
UTILIZATION
UPTIME
FASTER

3. 3
The business criticalTier 1 applications
(ERP, databases, mail systems,
Sharepoint, OLTP, etc.) have proven to
be the most challenging. Storage has
been the major roadblock to virtualizing
these demandingTier 1 applications.
Moving storage-intensive workloads
onto virtual machines (VMs) can greatly
impact performance and availability, and
as the workloads grow, these impacts
increase, as do costs and complexity.
The result is that storage hardware
vendors have to over-provision,
over-size for performance and build
in extra levels of redundancy within
each unique platform to ensure
users can meet their performance
and business continuity needs.
The costs needed to accomplish the
above negate the bulk of the benefits. In
addition, hardware solutions are sized for
a moment in time versus providing long
term flexibility, therefore enterprises and
IT departments are looking for a smarter
and more cost-effective approach
and are realizing that traditional
“throw more hardware” solutions at
the problem are no longer feasible.
Tier 1 Apps Are GoingVirtual;
Performance and Availability
Are Mission Critical
To address these storage impacts,
users need the flexibility to incorporate
whatever storage they need to do the job
at the right price, whether it is available
today or comes along in the future. For
example, to help with the performance
impacts, such as those encountered in
virtualizingTier 1 applications, users
will want to incorporate and share SSD,
flash-based technologies. Flash helps
here for a simple reason: electronic
memory technologies are much faster
than mechanical disk drives. Flash has
been around for years, but only recently
have they come down far enough in
price to allow for broader adoption.
Diversity and Investment
Protection; One Size
Solutions Do Not Fit All
But flash storage is better for read
intensive applications versus write
heavy transaction-based traffic and
it is still significantly more expensive
than a spinning disk. It also wears out.
Taxing applications that prompt many
writes can shorten the lifespan of this
still costly solution. So, it makes sense
to have other choices for storage
alongside flash to keep flash reserved
for where it is needed most and to use
the other storage alternatives for their
most efficient use cases, and to then
optimize the performance and cost
trade-offs by placing and moving data
to the most cost-effective tier that
can deliver acceptable performance.
Users will need solutions to share and
tier their diverse storage arsenal – and
manage it together as one, and that
requires smart and adaptable software.
And what about existing storage
hardware investments, does it make
sense to throw them away and replace
them with this year’s new models
when smart software can extend their
useful life?Why “rip and replace” each
year? Instead, these existing storage
investments and the newest flash
hardware devices, disk drives and
storage models can easily be made
to work together in harmony; within
a software-defined storage world.
Virtual Servers
+ DataCore
531 IOPS
576 IOPS
734 IOPS
Improvement
346%
365%
538%
Workload
SQL Server
Exchange
File Server
Physical Servers
+ Disks
119 IOPS
124 IOPS
115 IOPS
Number of Exchange & SQL Users Supported
322 Physical Server + Disks
~500% MOR E
ESG Lab Report: IOPS on Physical Servers & Internal Disks
vs. Virtual with DataCore Powered Storage
1500 Virtual Server + DataCore
VIEWPOINT OPINION

4. For additional information, please visit www.datacore.com or email info@datacore.com
© 2014 DataCore Software Corporation. All Rights Reserved. DataCore, the DataCore logo and SANsymphony are trademarks or registered trademarks
of DataCore Software Corporation. All other products, services and company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
0414
VIEWPOINT OPINION
Better Economics and Flexibility
Make the Move to “Software-
defined Storage” Inevitable
Going forward, users will have to
embrace “software-defined storage” as
an essential element to their software-
defined data centers.Virtual storage
infrastructures make sense as the
foundation for scalable, elastic and
efficient cloud computing. As users
have to deal with the new dynamics
and faster pace of today’s business,
they can no longer be trapped
within yesterday’s more rigid and
hard-wired architecture models.
“Software-defined”
Architecture and Not the
Hardware isWhat Matters
Clearly the success of software-defined
computing solutions fromVMware and
Microsoft Hyper-V have proven the
compelling value proposition that server
virtualization delivers. Likewise, the
use of virtualization at the storage level
is the key to unlocking the hardware
chains that have made storage an anchor
to next generation data centers.
The value of virtualization
creates the need for
‘Software-defined Storage’
We need the same thinking that
revolutionized servers to impact storage.
We need smart software that can be
used enterprise-wide to be the driving
force for change, in effect we need a
software-defined storage platform
whose main role is to virtualize storage
resources and to achieve the same
benefits – agility, efficiency and flexibility
– that server hypervisor technology
brought to processors and memory.
Virtualization has transformed
computing and therefore the key
applications we depend on to run our
businesses need to go virtual as well.
Enterprise and cloud storage are still
living in a world dominated by physical
and hardware-defined thinking. It is
time to think of storage in a “software-
defined” world.That is, storage system
features need to be available enterprise-
wide and not just embedded to a
particular proprietary hardware device.
Summary
Be cautious and beware of vendors’
claims that deliver hardware but
talk “software-defined.”