Storage Effect

In the Petabyte Age, new applications are redefining “Big Storage”

Think you’re with it now that you say “terabytes” instead of “gigabytes”?  You’re behind the curve.  For some applications, a petabyte is not nearly enough.

Wired Magazine says we’re living in the Petabyte Age.  One example: the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Geneva, taking a billion “photos” of protons a second with each of six detectors. 

The LHC, expected to run 24/7 for most of the year, will generate about 10 petabytes of data per second. That staggering flood of information would instantly overwhelm any conceivable storage technology, so hardware and software filters will reduce the take to roughly 100 events per second that seem most promising for analysis. Even so, the collider will record about 15 petabytes of data each year, the equivalent of 15,000 terabyte-size hard drives filled to the brim.

Just one of many extreme data examples in this great read.  Soon, petabytes for all! Remember, scientists used to get giddy over 5 megabytes.  Dell’s David Graves at Inside IT says ”More storage please!”

Better learn to spell exabyte.

Copying a page from their PC strategy for x86 servers and storage

Newsweek’s Roger Kay makes a convincing case for Dell as a serious contender in the server space.  And they’re doing it Dell Style - coming up from below, more direct in many ways than HP.

They’ve got a lot of momentum:

• Strong success supplying Microsoft’s datacenters
• A filled-out server line up
• Services that help customers adapt Dell servers to their applications
• Data Center Services (DCS) - a cloud-building unit with Yahoo, Facebook and Baidu as customers

Why is this important to a historically PC-centric company?  Roger sees it: 

Desktops tend to yield gross margins in the 8% to 12% range, and notebooks hit 12% to 18%; servers come in at a much fatter 18% to 26%.  

Add to the server success their Equallogic acquisition and an aggressive move into 2.5″ SAS storage, and Dell is looking well positioned in the fast-growing SMB IT space.

1. Dramatic drop in storage cost per GB.  1 TB storage units are hitting consumer price points.  16 TB storage systems are hitting SMB price points. Massive quantities of storage are now within the mass market’s reach.  And It’s only going to get cheaper.
2. Increases in storage efficiency.  Deduplication, auto-storage tiering, low-power disk drives and MAID are going mainstream, dramatically increasing the ratios of usable information per $, per square foot and per Watt. 
3. Virtualization. Server virtualization from VMWare, Microsoft and Citrix, VTL maturation, and the thin client movement are goosing storage use because storage is so easily added from a central pool.  SAN scale with DAS implementation ease.

Do you buy this reasoning? I don’t. These are real trends, and positive. But they are based on the premise of “build it and they will come”.

Tune in on Monday for the real reasons storage will continue to blow the doors off projections for the next 5 years.

First order for “black box” storage takes it beyond demoware

Xiotech was the Belle of the Ball at Storage Networking World with their demo of ISE technology.  Much more significant is that customers are starting to do more than kick the tires.  Evidence: an honest-to-goodness order for ISE-based Emprise systems from Argus Information & Advisory Services.

I saw some early private screenings of this technology.  It’s special because it breaks the conventional rules of storage devices and systems.  That allows Xiotech to create the “how did they do that?” specs and support commitments that have been generating such a buzz. Not to mention the benefits of its simplicity.

Let’s see how they do with the next major milestone: volume production.

Anyone out there considering Emprise?  Fill us in on your thought process.

Storage “arms dealing”, the recession and the content revolution

Robert’s conducted a great interview with Seagate CEO Bill Watkins.  He really got Bill to open up, share what was on his mind.  Well, I guess that’s not that unusual…but it’s a great interview nonetheless!

Check it out 

Survey shows virtualized servers are to storage what salted peanuts are to an ice cold drink

Dave Simpson at InfoStor reported on Enterprise Strategy Group’s recent survey on server virtualization.  They explored how this new technology is affecting storage plans and practices.  Results:

• Over half of respondents saw storage volume increase due to server virtualization
• Only 7% saw storage volume decreasing
• Network storage performance was a bigger server virtualization concern than storage cost
• Half of respondents use multiple storage technologies for their virtual server environment (#1: FC SAN)

Server virtualization is a leading indicator for storage

A clear lesson here is that server virtualization adopters are fertile ground for storage solutions.  

How aware are you of your customer’s virtual plans? 

How familiar are you with server virtualization-friendly storage solutions like Compellent?

Servers supporting Web 2.0 are very real - and very costly

Business Week reports that Facebook’s new pile of cash will be used to buy servers.  They currently have 10,000;  they’ll get 50,000 more.  Yet they’re way behind Google and MSN in the computing arms race.

Om Malik draws some conclusions on this as well.

In Web 2.0 terms, servers mean storing as much as processing.  Traditionally servers were all about crunching the numbers.  Even today, high-end servers doing the transactional heavy lifting in businesses of all types rely on the fastest disk drives - even enterprise SSDs - but require little capacity.

Changing IT as we know it

Facebook’s investment is a stark example of how hardware in general and storage in particular are a very necessary part of our growing cyber communities.  

These are early days.  Expect continued acceleration in these kinds of investments, and watch for the consequences of such a large techno-economic shift. 

Increased competition in wifi and broadband is accelerating the need for storage

I’m writing this in a Caribou Coffee shop, a surprisingly large chain in Minneapolis that’s matched Starbucks store-for-store here.  Until recently, I would have had to get a passcode from the barista for free wifi - for an hour.  Now, it’s straight to the web, no hotel-esque stop at Caribou’s corporate web page. All free, all the time.

While I greatly appreciate the gesture, it’s no coincidence that Minneapolis just turned on its city-wide wifi service.  Not to mention the local cable company’s launch of the nation’s highest speed cable broadband package at 50Mbps.  Competition is a wonderful thing!

What does this have to do with storage?

If you’ve read my blog much, you already know the connection.  The easier it is for consumers to access content, the more they will keep.  And the more they will be offered. And so on.

There’s no slowdown in sight.  Frankly, I think we’re still in first gear.  Solutions that scale and simplify management of vast vats of content - for you and me, as well as for a Google or Amazon - will win big in the next few years. 

Content storage is now a core need for business

For solution providers, in between the consumer and the corporation there is a desperate need to do “business content” right.  For companies of all sizes it’s no longer about IT, it’s about satisfying customers.  What a chance to be a hero!

Are you seeing this in your company or home?  How’s your access? 

There’s more than one way to seed the storage clouds for profit

Storagezilla doesn’t think Amazon’s got a winner with their cloud storage business. 

Label me a Cloud Believer.  The long-term money-making details may still be unclear for Amazon, but others are raking in the profits on cloud storage.  Take Google, for instance.

Google’s not a thriving cloud storage company?  Au contrair! 

Google has nailed the Cloud concept with a Library model.  I “check out” my data when I need directions to a hip restaurant or insight on the curative properties of a green-lipped mussel.  Meanwhile, Google’s bookshelves keep expanding. Very profitably, I might add.

Maybe that’s what happens when you start out by selling books…everything looks like a book store.

I’m sure Jeff Brazos and team will get there with time.  And they won’t be the only ones!

Who out there is paying someone to keep their information?  What do you like about your service?  What needs to be fixed?

Internet storage conveys raw and tasty digital content to the masses

I had an absolutely fabulous lunch for less than $10 in Tokyo.  I love sushi, and the cheapest raw fish in Japan tastes far better than anything I can get at home in Minnesota.  If you haven’t been to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant, I highly recommend it - as much for the sights and sounds as the food. 

Because of that funky conveyor belt, this place is able to feed huge volumes of people great food at a great price. 

The internet does the same for the world’s collective creative talent.  We can take whatever we want off of the digital conveyor belt - a direct connection to the best the world can turn into ones and zeroes.  And today’s high capacity storage systems make it all possible.   

The sky’s the limit for content storage

What’s happening with content in the clouds makes 1 TB drives seem downright inadequate.  It may seem like there’s a lot online now, but volume will grow even faster in the future. Do you know it takes 720 gigabytes to store one movie for Panasonic’s futuristic 150″ TV? 

The storage industry will have its hands full making room for our insatiable digital appetite.

Now if I could just find some sushi online…