Independence: [in-di-pen-duh ns], noun
Freedom from the control, influence, support, aid, or the like, of others.
Today’s enterprise IT administrators are looking to declare their independence from the legacy vendors that have dominated the technology landscape for decades. This freedom has manifested in the form of software-defined solutions.
The revolution began in the late 1990s, when VMware was founded to disrupt the server empire that had long been controlled by mainframe systems from the likes of IBM and Sun Microsystems. The battle for dominance in the server world has now clearly been won by server virtualization software- still, the war wages on in the realm of enterprise storage.
Software-defined storage companies are now fighting to give power and flexibility back to the enterprise in key areas of their data centers. These solutions range from software-only products bundled into certified reference architectures to appliances that utilize a software-based solution to provide the freedom users need.
Freedom from Vendor Control
Storage Administrators no longer have to rely solely on the limited and costly tools offered by legacy vendors. The use of API-driven solutions, like NexentaStor, allows for simple automation and management. With Software-Defined, you now have control over what a configuration looks like for your business.
However, many companies want the benefits of software-defined without the hassle of piecing together their own configurations from scratch. Solutions like the Lenovo DX8200N give you the autonomy that software-defined affords, ranging from high performance all-flash configurations to all-disk archive systems, with the ease of an appliance model.
Freedom from Influence
Legacy vendors configure solutions to be as cost effective as possible for themselves and don’t place as much emphasis on the user’s needs or price challenges. Deploying a software-defined solution lets the user choose the drives they need and the speed they desire at a lower price point than traditional vendors.
An example of this is the numerous drive and PCI card options that are available with the Lenovo DX8200N. Your options range from 200Gb solid state drives to 4,6,8 and 10TB spinning disks with connectivity options including the latest Fibre Channel (FC) and IP connectivity. The freedom to customize a solution around your needs in a simplified manner is core to Nexenta SDS.
Freedom to Choose Your Support
Choosing to liberate your datacenter with software-defined does not mean that support will be lacking. There are many open source SDS products on the market that rely solely on community support. It can often take days, weeks or even longer to get help with a problem. That is a timeframe that enterprises cannot afford.
In contrast, a mature software-defined storage solution is not complicated to support. Nexenta has developed strong partnerships with key alliance partners, such as Lenovo, which ensures customers receive full support for the entire solution through Lenovo. Ultimately, this makes it simple to implement software-defined storage with full end-to-end support that enterprises need.
Freedom to Take Back Your Data Center
At its core, software-defined is about freedom. The freedom to make your own hardware choices, the freedom to run your enterprise with reliability and dependability, and the freedom to take control of your datacenter. Nexenta puts the power back in your hands and provides your company with the tools you need to win the battle, and as you move towards a full software-defined datacenter, one day win the war.
To learn more about the Lenovo DX8200N Powered by Nexenta, register for our upcoming webinar.