timally, or the manual oversight of storage resources. The software that enables an SDS environment provides policy management for capabilities such as data de-duplication, replication, thin provisioning snapshots, and backup. Among the key benefits of SDS compared with traditional storage are cost efficiencies, increased flexibility with hardware implementations, and automated management. SDS is sometimes confused with storage virtualization. Whereas vir tualization involves separating capac ity from specific storage hardware resources, SDS involves separating the storage capabilities and services from the storage hardware.
NEW APPROACH, NEW SYSTEMS A number of vendors are offering what they refer to as software-defined storage products. Because these companies tend to have different definitions of SDS, the functions, capabilities and features of these products vary. However, a common theme is the use of distributed clusters of commodity machines and software that automates everything from data replication to load balancing to disaster recovery. Nexenta, for example, offers Nexen taStor, an SDS platform that provides unified file and block storage services, runs on industry standard hardware, scales from tens of terabytes to pet abyte configurations, and includes data management functionality. Among its key features are dynamic disk pools and RAID-Z1, RAID-Z2, RAID-Z3, periodic asynchronous rep lication, and thin provisioning. Optional solutions include Nexenta MetroHA, a high-availability cluster configuration of NexentaStor that provides storage redundancy, high availability and disaster recovery over metro-wide distances. Nexenta Me troHA configurations contain at least two complete copies of specified file systems or data volumes separated by geographical distance. Copies can be synchronously updated for full redun dancy and fail-over. HP offers StoreVirtual VSA Soft ware, a virtual storage appliance that provides array functionality of HP
Taking Storage Forward Kolkata’s Parth Technocomm believes that helping customers migrate to advanced storage systems is the way to go. Kolkata-based Parth Technocomm is in a transi tion phase. The company’s CEO Tejas Mehta, has ob served that in the last couple of years, the overall storage solution selling scenario has changed quite dramatically. “With the influx of hybrid cloud, VDI, and the continu ous need for data analysis, coupled with the emergence of multi-layered applica tions, most of the customers are either migrating or plan ning to migrate and upgrade their storage infrastructure,” he says. Mehta believes that the larger debate is no lon ger about a hardware or software-centric approach but more of a solution-centric approach. The point to drive home is that the IT infrastruc ture needs both hardware and software components for it to function in a con sistent and unified manner. There is tremendous potential to tap in the storage market. Modern mission-critical applications require very high IOPS and, hence, by migrat ing to flash-based storage from the tra ditional SAS and SATA, one can deliver three to four times the performance and save on costs. Also, features such as multi-level storage, snapshot and deduplication were not available earlier with traditional systems. But these are becoming an integral part of the con verged storage buying patterns. Parth has geared up for this stor age wave and has put in place best practices to help its clients successfully migrate and unified storage solutions. “In terms of business practices, we are focusing on better solution design and training for our team. We are working towards addressing a larger customer base that is looking for storage migra tion solutions,” says Mehta. With alliances with Cisco, HP,
TEJAS MEHTA, CEO, Parth Technocomm
EMC, Dell, Juniper, VMware, Citrix, Cyberoam, Fortinet, Sonicwall, among others, Parth has a portfolio range that makes it single point of contact. “We are among a few organizations who have the capability, resources and sub ject area expertise to effectively imple ment a combination of solutions, and creating an end-to-end experience for our customers,” says Mehta. Parth’s engineers are certified to de liver the most complex technical assis tance, with a pre-sales team capable of designing project-based solutions. “We leveraged this exposure to ensure suc cess in FY13-14. Our focus on training, solutioning and our POC methodology helped us create value,” says Mehta. However, the company feels that geography matters when it comes to migrating to advanced storage tech nologies. For example, the eastern India has been slower to adopt new storage technologies. But that’s chang ing. “The awareness to migrate has spread among customers in this region as well, and we are hoping to see and implement some good projects in the near future,” says Mehta.
SEPTEMBER 2014
—By Shantheri Mallaya
INDIAN CHANNELWORLD
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