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1 I D C V E N D O R S P O T L I G H T S t o r a g e T rends: Delive r i n g M a n a g e m ent and I n t e l l i g e n c e T h r o u g h C l o u d S e r vi c es April 2013 Adapted from IDC's Worldwide Storage and Big Data Taxonomy, 2013 by Ashish Nadkarni and Laura DuBois, IDC # and Shared Nothing Architectures A Blueprint for Software-Based Scale-Out Solutions by Ashish Nadkarni, IDC # Sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems IDC expects storage to continue to be a hot market in Major trends such as Big Data and cloud will continue to spur innovation. With the economy looking a bit better, many businesses may increase their spending; in particular, companies will turn increasingly to the public cloud to manage the growth of unstructured data as well as control costs. This Vendor Spotlight explores the trends in cloud-based storage services and discusses the role that Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) plays in this important market. Introduction File-based storage (FBS) and object-based storage (OBS) solutions continue to see increased demand from all corners of the storage market today. This demand spans multiple industries and sectors with newer use cases and delivery models and is bringing about a convergence between these two sets of technologies. Existing use cases such as information digitization, data retention policies, and globally dispersed information sharing (to name a few) all aimed at controlling the insatiable appetites for data consumption are increasingly moving to file- and object-based storage (FOBS). Pressures created by four fundamental IT trends cloud, mobility, social business, and Big Data are expected to create additional (and nearly unprecedented) demand for storage supporting unstructured data. Given the emergence of newer use cases for file- and object-based storage such as server and desktop virtualization, machine-generated content repositories, and streaming data FOBS solutions that were once meant only for unstructured data are being used for semistructured and structured data. In addition, newer delivery models such as public or private cloud based storage are increasingly relying on object-based storage as the platform, with data accessed via newer interfaces such as HTTP/REST or via traditional file-based interfaces such as Network File System (NFS) and Common Internet File System (CIFS). Technologically, file-based and object-based storage solutions are converging. File-based storage solutions are increasingly becoming object aware with the adoption of metadata-based parallel, clustered, or distributed file systems and newer object-based data interfaces. Object-based solutions on the other hand are becoming increasingly file friendly with the adoption of file-based interfaces. The ongoing expansion of business-critical information, diverse data sets, divisive data sources, and rich content within extended enterprises continues to change the storage dynamic in a wide range of industries and organizations. Organizing this expanding universe of file- and object-based information as efficiently as possible and at the same time extracting value from it are becoming core business mandates. IDC 1491

2 A muted revolution is occurring in IT environments everywhere: Expansive data. Businesses are storing more data in their environments. Much of it is data that they analyze or plan to analyze in order to gain a competitive edge. The expanding data sets include not only structured data but also semistructured data (generated by machines) and unstructured data (generated by humans). Unlike archival data, which is basically cold data, these data sets need to be routinely analyzed and therefore need to have proximity to a compute layer. Newer applications, use cases, and delivery models. Along with server and desktop virtualization of mission-critical applications, newer applications spanning Big Data, social, and mobile use cases are fast entering mainstream IT. Newer cloud-based infrastructure-as-a-service offerings are being adopted across a broad range of industries to supplant their on-premises infrastructure. Advancements and standardization in hardware speeds and feeds. Gone are the days of slower and proprietary hardware and interconnects (which allowed for healthy fan-out ratios in most shared storage infrastructures). Newer hardware platforms are made of faster CPUs, memory, and disks and can be connected via ultrahigh-speed networks. The Internet has become fast too, allowing businesses to distribute their workforce geographically. These developments are pushing the envelope on shared storage networks when it comes to certain types of use cases such as cloud storage, content repositories, geodispersed data access, and analytics for semistructured and unstructured data types. Benefits For many organizations, unstructured data audio, video, digital images, social media, and so forth continues to grow unabated. At the same time, IT departments are facing budget and resource constraints, limiting the ability of storage administrators to effectively manage data growth. Complex storage environments make it difficult for organizations to identify and access data, which could hinder their ability to leverage the data for analytics or to create business intelligence. Moving to the cloud can introduce availability and security risks, particularly for organizations that have regulatory requirements. In these environments, organizations need to leverage existing storage infrastructures and services to turn business-critical data into valuable intelligence. Private, public, and hybrid cloud models can enable organizations to choose the right option for all their data and content while allowing them to manage, find, and access the data they need when they need it to support the business. As content, data, and analytics requirements grow, various cloud services enable organizations to scale their solutions and to more effectively transform their data into intelligence. Additional benefits of cloud services include the following: With no infrastructure to purchase up front, organizations can get capex and opex spending under control. The cloud services ecosystem includes enterprise-tested platforms and technologies that deliver high levels of reliability and security. A variety of sophisticated cloud storage services that organizations need to manage their complex data storage and management requirements are available, freeing up resources to focus more on the business IDC

3 Market Trends Many suppliers are designing solutions that move the computing and data fabrics closer to each other in a converged infrastructure model. Suppliers with existing solutions are trying to make their solutions more versatile and appealing to a diverse set of workloads. They aim to create blueprints to enable their customers to take advantage of these solutions to create private cloud environments, content repositories, and data-as-a-service delivery platforms. In addition, storage vendors should help their clients make the transition from a support perspective as they augment shared nothing architectures in their environments. One of the key differentiators between true object platforms and scale-out file-based solutions with object interfaces is how they manage data dispersal. The more robust the object platform in terms of its dispersal capabilities, the better suited it is for cloud and cloud-like deployments in which data may be ingested and/or analyzed concurrently across multiple locations globally. Like it or not, all storage vendors are becoming cloud vendors (at least for sync-n-share services) and, more importantly, application providers. From a buyer perspective, organizations have to look at their suppliers for another set of services in addition to the datacenter-centric services that they are used to. IT departments dealing with end users will now have to deal with datacenter storage solutions. The proverbial BlackBerry admin will be calling storage vendors asking for support for a user's tablet app. A key characteristic of the FOBS market that continues to differentiate it from the traditional blockbased storage market is that the potential use cases are diverse enough to require specialized solutions. This is particularly true within the scale-out FOBS market where specialized solutions are rampant. To cater to diverse workloads and applications, often specific to certain industries, suppliers frequently offer specialized scale-out solutions with varying degrees of file and object awareness. Considering Hitachi Data Systems Hitachi Data Systems approach to the cloud is to allow customers to choose from a variety of cloud delivery and purchase models, all from a single vendor. All of the solutions are built on an object-based storage model with sophisticated metadata capabilities delivered through Hitachi Content Platform (HCP). HDS facilitates transitions to the cloud by: Enabling customers to implement their own private clouds. These customers choose to build their own cloud using Hitachi Data Systems proven platforms and technologies. Hitachi Data Systems Global Services provides customers with access to a collection of file tiering, file serving, and archiving solutions already built and ready to use. Delivering hosted private, public, and hybrid cloud solutions. Customers can choose from two options: Hitachi Cloud Services is an enterprise-level, public and enterprise-to-cloud offering owned and managed by HDS that provides a set of sophisticated cloud storage services as well as REST API support that enables interoperability with enterprise applications and other cloud environments. This offering is available in the United States today and will be available in additional geographies in the near future. Customers choosing a private cloud but wishing not to incur additional capex expenses may take advantage of Hitachi Data Systems Managed Service Solutions. In this case, HDS remotely hosts a private cloud located on-premises at the customer's site IDC 3

4 Partnering to expand options for customers in different areas, including vertical and ISV applications, portal technology, and cloud delivery experience and expertise. Two partner programs are in place today: Hitachi Cloud Service Connection. This program enables HDS channel partners to deliver a comprehensive set of "infrastructure as a service" and "platform as a service" options from an extensive service catalog. Designed for small and medium-sized end-user organizations, this program is available in Asia/Pacific countries today and will be available in Europe and other geographies in the near future. Hitachi Cloud Service Provider Program. In this program, HDS works with a cloud service provider to deliver value-added services to customers. The partner maintains the hosting environment and provides self-service capabilities for service provisioning, subscription management, and billing. Organizations can work directly with HDS or with the cloud service provider to acquire and use services, paying for only what they use. HDS will continue to enhance both the functionality and the "cloud enablement" of its platforms to make its cloud solutions even more scalable, reliable, and secure. It will also expand its partner activities to provide more of its cloud options through a wider variety of channels. Doing cloud right requires more than just quality platforms and software. Many customers need consultative services and support to assess their needs, data management requirements, and existing IT environment so they can make the right decisions and acquire the skills and processes they need to follow through. Hitachi Data Systems Global Services offers experienced storage consultants, proven methodologies, and a comprehensive services portfolio. HDS claims that it has the storage expertise needed to understand the latest storage technologies and complex IT architectures and knows how to align technology with business requirements. The company's goal is to deliver the best fit with a high-performance solution tailored precisely to customers' business objectives. HDS offers customers a full range of support and services, including assessments, planning and implementation, and integration and management. The company is expanding its cloud services offerings. Challenges HDS has helped customers create their own private clouds (either enabling customers to build their own clouds using HDS technologies or providing customers with an onsite solution owned and managed by HDS) for some time. The company is expanding its offerings to include public cloud solutions, delivered by HDS and through partners. This represents a new direction for the company, and it may take some customers time to think of HDS as a cloud service provider (many customers see HDS solely as a vendor of storage products). HDS is expected to demonstrate its readiness to deliver quality cloud solutions to customers and its channel partners as a means to overcome this challenge. One way to achieve this goal is by sharing real customer successes as well as success with fulfillment over time. From the market perspective, some organizations are hesitant to move their data to the cloud. Many organizations will make their first step a private cloud in which they can maintain stronger control over their data. HDS public cloud solutions may not attract them immediately. However, as organizations gain both trust in cloud solutions and experience with their benefits, they may consider leveraging public cloud solutions as part of their strategy IDC

5 Conclusion As data requirements grow, organizations will increasingly look to the cloud for cost-effective ways to store, manage, and leverage the data they need to run their businesses. The solutions they choose must incorporate both object-based storage and strong metadata capabilities that support multitenancy and the ability to find and access the data that users need regardless of where that data resides. Ultimately, customers also want to be able to choose the cloud delivery model that best suits their access, security, scalability, and compliance needs. HDS offers customers the ability to work with a single vendor, as well as its partners, to implement a cloud solution based on the services the customers need and the cloud delivery model that is right for them. If HDS addresses the challenges highlighted in this paper, IDC believes the company has a significant opportunity for success. A B O U T T H I S P U B L I C A T I ON This publication was produced by IDC Go-to-Market Services. The opinion, analysis, and research results presented herein are drawn from more detailed research and analysis independently conducted and published by IDC, unless specific vendor sponsorship is noted. IDC Go-to-Market Services makes IDC content available in a wide range of formats for distribution by various companies. A license to distribute IDC content does not imply endorsement of or opinion about the licensee. C O P Y R I G H T A N D R E S T R I C T I O N S Any IDC information or reference to IDC that is to be used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written approval from IDC. For permission requests, contact the GMS information line at or [email protected]. Translation and/or localization of this document requires an additional license from IDC. For more information on IDC, visit For more information on IDC GMS, visit Global Headquarters: 5 Speen Street Framingham, MA USA P F IDC 5