When you purchase any OS today, it doesn’t come locked to specific hardware (sorry Apple). I can purchase Microsoft Office and it doesn’t care if I’m running it on a Dell PC, an Acer/Supermicro/HP. If you use applications like Salesforce you aren’t worried about the hardware. They are totally independent of the underlying hardware, and each is sized according to the job at hand. You buy hardware to fit your budget, on aesthetics, or its gaming performance (if you are my son). You buy software similarly and largely because it provides a function you need. So then why are so many people still buying storage hardware and software that are tied together?
Now, there are things I purchase that I expect to be fully integrated. I don’t want to have to assemble a car by myself – the major parts are not typically standard and I don’t want to have to understand how to assemble an automobile. However, today’s enterprise class storage products use the same devices, same processors, motherboards, add on cards that you find in any industry standard servers. They run on variants of, or even standard versions of common operating systems. Why are they bundled with a proprietary set of software? Most companies already have the talent to install, setup, customize and manage their IT infrastructure (in fact, you are forced to because those same Storage vendors aren’t going to do it for you). You have the expertise to create solutions that match your needs. You don’t need to be forced into a bundled solution.
Not only does it not make sense technically, it doesn’t make sense economically. Why face 3 year leases after which you need to replace your storage subsystems (including software) and often face the daunting task of migrating all of your data? It’s archaic and barbaric. There is an alternative.
Software-defined. In this case, Software-Defined Storage (SDS). The ability to merge the best storage functionality with the best underlying hardware and then maintain the currency and validity of that software and hardware with no impact on your data. Stay current, stay competitive. Sounds like a no brainer.
Storage functionality is a software value and function. It has to be. You can’t stay current much less competitive if anything other than the most critical functions are in the hardware (hardware that anyone can purchase). Installing storage functionality software shouldn’t be any harder than installing an OS – and it isn’t with NexentaStor.
This gives you the flexibility to keep up with the emerging trends in the Hybrid-multi cloud revolution/shift due to Big Data getting even Bigger w AI/ML/Robotics/Cyber … You don’t need to engage in long negotiations on bundled storage solutions that won’t keep pace with the rate at which data is accumulated, changed and used. You wouldn’t take weeks to roll out a new server – you can’t afford the delays. Your data is passing you by.
With Nexenta you have all the features and functions, all the performance with all the flexibility and hardware independence you expect at every other level in your IT infrastructure. You’re not buying a car, you’re enabling your business. Go software defined.
-Bill Fuller, Vice President, Engineering