lab review emc xtremio: a leader in all-flash tco · advanced flash technologies: ... lab...
TRANSCRIPT
ThisESGLabReviewwascommissionedbyEMCandisdistributedunderlicensefromESG.©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
TheChallenges
PurchasingstorageforanITorganizationisneveraneasytask,especiallywhentryingtomeettheneedsofbusinessunitswithdissimilarbusinessobjectivesandtechnicalstoragerequirements.Asinglestoragesystemveryrarelyfitsthebillforeverydepartment,leadingtotheneedforITdepartmentstopurchase,maintain,andadministermultiplestoragesystems.Rarelydoorganizationstakeastepbackandaddressalloftheirstorageneedsatonce.Assystemsage,theyareoftenreplacedonaone-for-onebasis,furtherperpetuatingthemanagementnightmare.
Butitiscertainlyagoalofeverybusinesstodomorewithlessandmakeinvestmentsintechnologiesthathelptoimprovethebottomlineofthebusiness.ItisnosmallsurprisethatrecentESGresearchrevealsthat,alongwithsecurityconcerns,financialimpactssuchasreturnoninvestment,businessprocessimprovement,reducedcapitalandoperationalexpenses,reducedtime-to-marketforproducts,andspeedofpaybackwereallidentifiedasimportantconsiderationsinjustifyingITinvestments(seeFigure1).1
FIGURE1.MostImportantConsiderationsinJustifyingITInvestments
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
1Source:ESGResearchReport,2016ITSpendingIntentionsSurvey,February2016.
14%
19%
19%
22%
27%
32%
35%
39%
Speedofpayback
Reductionincapitalexpenditures(i.e.,purchasesofequipmentandotherfixedassets)
Reducedtime-to-marketforourproductsorservices
Improvedregulatorycompliance
Reductioninoperationalexpenditures
Businessprocessimprovement
Returnoninvestment
Improvedsecurity/riskmanagement
WhichofthefollowingconsiderationsdoyoubelievewillbemostimportantinjustifyingITinvestmentstoyourorganization’sbusinessmanagementteamoverthenext12months?
(Percentofrespondents,N=633,threeresponsesaccepted)
EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCODate:June2016Author:AvivKaufmann,SeniorESGLabAnalystAbstract:ThisESGLabReviewdocumentshands-ontestingofXtremIOall-flashstorageandpresentsthefindingsofafive-yearTCOanalysishighlightingtheeconomicbenefitsofXtremIOwhencomparedwithall-flashimplementationsfromotherleadingvendors.
EnterpriseStrategyGroup|Gettingtothebiggertruth.™
Lab Review
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO2
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
Consolidatingmixedworkloadsonservershasproventosignificantlyimprovealloftheseimportantmetrics,andtheabilitytoconsolidatemixedworkloadsandfunctionsontoasingleall-flash-basedstoragesystemhasproventoyieldsimilarresultsaslongastheperformance,capacity,andoperationalrequirementscanbemet.ITorganizationsandbusinessdecisionmakersshouldsharethesamefinancialvision.However,whilemanystoragevendorsofferall-flashsolutions,thedesigndecisionsandtradeoffsmadebythesevendorscanresultinverydifferentsystemcapabilitiesandultimatelytradeoffsineconomicbenefitstotheorganization.Itisinthebestinterestofeverycompanytomakewiseinvestmentsinstoragetechnologiesthatcanhelpreducethetotalcostofownership(TCO)whilealsohelpingtomakeapositiveimpactinotherareasofthebusinessthathelpcontributetofinancialsuccess.
TheSolution:MaximumEconomicBusinessImpactwithAll-FlashfromEMCXtremIO
EMCXtremIOisatrueN-wayactive,multi-controllerscale-outall-flashstoragearraythatwasdesignedfromthegroundupwithagoalofleveragingflashtechnologytoconsolidateworkloadsandinfrastructuretopositivelyimpactthebottomlineofthebusiness.XtremIOdelivershighperformancewithconsistentandpredictablesub-mslatency,always-ondataefficiencyservices,andintegratedcopydatamanagement(iCDM),withaneasy-to-useinterfacedesignedtostreamlineworkflowsandautomatecomplexmanagementtasks.WithXtremIO’sscale-outarchitecture,ITorganizationscanstartsmallandthenlinearlygrowbothperformanceandcapacity,ondemand,withoutanydisruptiontohostapplications.
FIGURE2.Consolidation,Optimization,andiCDMwithXtremIO
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
HighlightsoftheXtremIOdesigninclude:
AdvancedFlashTechnologies:Enterprise-gradeflashstorage,anRDMAbackplane,andglobalin-memorymetadatatechnologywerecombinedtocreateN-wayactivescale-outclustersthatarepurposebuiltforflash,requirenotuning,andleveragecost-effectivecommodityhardware.XtremIOstoragesystemsdeliverconsistentandpredictablesub-msresponsetimesforworkloadsoneveryvolume,includingnestedcopiesofvolumes.Userdataisautomaticallyandinherentlyevenlydistributedacrossallresources,allowingforevenflashenduranceandperformancethatdoesnotdegradeathigherutilization.
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO3
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AdvancedDataServices:AlldatastoredonXtremIOisalwaysthinprovisioned,globallydeduplicated,compressed,andencryptedinline.XtremIO’sagilecopydataservicesleverageitsuniquevirtualcopycapabilities.Thistechnologyprovidesawritablecopyofavolumethatconsumesextracapacityonlyifgloballyuniquedataiswrittentothesecopies.Theycanthenberolledforwardandback,andtheydonotsufferfromorcauseaperformanceimpact.XtremIOleveragesflash-specificdataprotectionthatdelivers80+%ofrawcapacityashost-usable.ThiscombinationofadvanceddataservicesmeansthatanXtremIOarraycandelivereffectivecapacitiesthataregenerallymorethan6Xtheusablecapacityofthesystem,withmanycustomersreportingevenhighereffectivecapacities.
IntegratedCopyDataManagement(iCDM):XtremIO’sintegratedsolutionallowsorganizationstoconsolidateprimarydataandassociatedcopiesonthesamescale-outstoragesysteminapackagethatissimpletomanage,monitor,maintain,andgrow.iCDMleveragesXtremIO’shigh-performanceandspace-efficientscale-outplatformalongwithpatentedXtremIOVirtualCopy(XVC)technologythatperformsin-memorymetadataoperationstoavoidanyimpacttoproductiondataorexistingcopies.iCDMprovidesincreasedbusinessagilitythroughdeepapplicationintegrationalongwithself-serviceoptionsthatprovideapplicationadministratorstheabilitytoquicklyprovisionnewcopies,rolldataforward,androlldatabackwards,withoutassistancefromthestorageadministrator.iCDMhelpsavoidmanyofthetraditionalheadachesofdealingwithcopiesofdatawhileprovidingoperationaladvantagesthatgreatlysurpassthoseofferedbyothernext-generationall-flashofferings.
Copiesofproductiondataaresimpletomanage,arestoredonthesamesystem(the“i”for“integrated”iniCDM),consumeextracapacityonlyfornew,globallyuniquecompresseddatablocks,anddeliverthesamelevelofperformanceanddataservicesastheoriginalvolume.Copyvolumescanbenestedinatreestructureandanyoneofthem—includingtheoriginalparentvolume—canbedeletedatanypointintimewithoutaffectingothermembersofthetree.Everyvolume,includingtheparentand/orotherderivativecopies,deliversthesamelevelofperformanceanddataservices.Thisallowsdevelopment,testing,analytics,anddatawarehouseteamstoeasilyupdatecopiesasfrequentlyastheylike.XtremIOalsooffersrichcopyserviceslikerefresh/restore,scheduling,andapplication-consistency(withEMCAppSync).Theseservicescanhaveasignificantimpactonthebusiness,improvingworkflowsandboostingproductivityfordevelopersandapplicationowners.
AutomatedandSelf-serviceWorkflows:Asimple,intuitivegraphicaluserinterface(GUI)makesiteasytomanage,monitor,andprovisionstoragefromasinglepoolofstorage.Automatedworkflowscanbecreatedtoprovideself-serviceforapplicationadministrators(throughplug-insfortheirstandardapplicationconsoles),easilymanagecopydataservices,andcreateconsolidatedreports,helpingtoloweroperationalexpenseswhileoptimizingandimprovingbusinessprocesses.
WorkloadConsolidation:XtremIO’sperformance,efficiency,andautomationcapabilitiescoupledwithhighlydifferentiatedcopydatamanagementtechniquesallowfortheconsolidationofdiversetier-1workloadsandnon-productioncopies,reducinginfrastructuresprawlandmanagementcomplexity.XtremIOcanconsolidatecloud,database,VDI,softwaredevelopment,mailserver,andenterprisebusinessapplicationsthatoncerequiredmultiple,dedicatedstoragesystems,loweringcostsandprovidingbothoperationalandbusinessprocessadvantages.
ESGLabFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Earlier,ESGLabcreatedafive-yearTCOanalysismodelthatcomparedthestorage-relatedcoststhatcouldbeexpectedwhendeployingtraditionalhybridstoragearrays(dedicatedflashanddisk-basedsystems)tomeetbusinessrequirementswiththeexpectedcostsofascenarioinwhichthecompanychoosestodeployaconsolidatedsolutiononasingleXtremIOX-Brick.ESGLabalsoanalyzedsomeoftheadditionaleconomicbusinessadvantagesthatwouldberealizedwhendeployingXtremIOinsteadofatraditionalstoragesystem.AllassumptionsofXtremIObusinessbenefitsusedinthemodelwerevalidatedforaccuracythroughreal-worldXtremIOcustomertestimonials.Theresultscanbefoundinacomprehensive18-pagereportavailablefordownloadfromtheEMCwebsite.
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO4
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
ESGLabmodeledtheexpectedstoragetotalcostofownership(TCO)foramid-sizedsoftwaredevelopmentcompany.Themodeledcompanywasbasedonatypicalmid-marketsoftwaredevelopmentcompanygenerating$54Minannualrevenue.Thecompany’srevenuewasgeneratedfromcoreproductiondatabaseoperations(50%),aswellasfromthedevelopmentandmaintenanceofclient-serverapplications(30%)andSaaSofferings(20%).Thehypotheticalcompanywaslookingtoreplaceitstraditionalstorageinfrastructure,consistingofdedicatedsystemsforproduction,development,test/QA,andgo-livetesting.Theproductionandgo-livetestsystemsrequiredhigh-performance,low-latencyflashstoragesystemsthatwouldnotbeimpactedbynon-productionoperations.Thedevelopmentandtest/QAstoragesystemsdidnotrequirethesamelowlatencies,butdidrequirefullcopiesoftheproductiondatabasethatwereperiodicallyupdated(viamanualmigration)aswellasVMwareimagestohostthedevelopmentandtestenvironments.Thecompanyalsoplannedtodeploya450userVDIenvironmentwithheadroomtogrowto600userstohostpersonaldesktopsforeachemployeeoneyearaftertheinitialstorageupgrades.Figure3showsthestoragerequirementsandoperationforthemodeledcompany.
FIGURE3.StorageRequirementsofModeledSoftwareDevelopmentOrganization
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
ExtendingESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisModeltoLeadingAll-FlashArrays
TobetterunderstandhowthedesignchoicesmadeindevelopingXtremIOtranslateintobusinessvalue,ESGLabhasnowcreatedadditionalmodelsoffourleadingall-flashstorageofferingsfromfourotherstoragevendors.ESGLabusedthesamemodeleddevelopmentorganizationanddidnotchangeanyofthemodelassumptionsfromtheoriginalreportwhencomparingtheTCOofXtremIOtoall-flasharrayofferingsfromeachoftheothervendors.Everyeffortwasmadetouseconservativeassumptionsthatprovideaneutralcomparisonandprovidesomeflexibilityinpricedconfigurationstobefairwhencomparingall-flashstorageofferings.
ESGLabcalculatedthestoragerequirementsforeachsystembasedonproductiondatabasesthattotaled3.4TBofcapacityandrequired43,000IOPS.Thenecessarycapacityandperformancerequirementswerethencalculatedforeveryotheroperation(development,test/QA,etc.)basedonthenumberoffullcopiesoftheproductionDBrequired,the
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO5
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numberofretainedsnapshots,thedailychangerateofsnapshots,thegrowthofthedatabases(ESGassumeda7.5%annualcapacitygrowthrate),andtheVMwarerequirements.A20%capacityoverheadwasbuiltintotherequirementsforeveryAFAsystem,includingXtremIO.Thisoverheadwastoensurethatthesystemwasneverutilizedpast80%ofitsfullcapacity.Traditionally,oncethisthresholdwasreached,ITplannerswouldtypicallyorderadditionalcapacity.Itshouldbenotedthat,unlikeatraditionalstoragearray,anXtremIOall-flasharraycanutilizenearlyallcapacitywithnoimpacttoperformance.Table5intheAppendixsummarizesthecharacteristicsoftheproductiondatabase,andTable6summarizesthephysicalcapacityrequiredforoperationonXtremIOandtheotherall-flasharray(AFA)Vendors.
ItisESGLab’spolicytonotnamestoragevendorsinheadtoheadcomparisons,andforthisreasoneachvendorinthecomparisonisreferredtousingnon-descriptnomenclature(VendorA,B,CandD).Itshouldbenotedthatgreatcarewastakentoensurethateachstoragevendorwassized,configured,managed,andmaintainedaccordingtoknownbestpracticesandavailableinformationusingconservativeassumptionswithoutanyintenttogainanunfairadvantageforXtremIO.Forthoselookingformoredetail,ESGrecommendsadeepercompetitivediscussionwithyourXtremIOsalesrepresentative.
XtremIOVersusScale-upAll-FlashVendorAVendorAwasaleadingall-flashstoragearraythatwaspurposebuiltonproprietaryhardwarewithagoalofprovidingthebenefitsofall-flashstorageinasolutionthatissimpletomanageandmaintain.Thesystemwasdesignedusingascale-upactive/passivecontrollerarchitectureandutilizedconsumer-gradecMLCSSDsalongwithNVRAMforcaching.Thesystemperformeditsowngarbagecollection,andthusrequiredthatspacebereservedtofacilitateproperoperationofthisfunction(ESGassumed10%oftotalcapacity).
Thesystemleveragesredirect-on-write(ROW)snapshottechnologytoquicklycreateread-onlysnapshotsthatarelogicallytiedtotheparentvolume,andwhichcanonlybemadewritablebythenmakingawritablecloneofthesnapshot.Whilethereisnopenaltyforcreatingread-onlysnapshots,thereisaperformancepenaltythatisproportionaltothevolumesizewhencreating,refreshing,andrestoringwritableclones.Thesolutionsupportszeroimpactthinprovisioningfromasinglepoolofstorageforalldataonthesystemalongwithcompressionanddeduplicationusingacombinationofinlineandpost-processmethods.TomosteconomicallysatisfytheperformanceandcapacityrequirementsofthemodeledscenarioinY1,ESGLabassumedVendorAdeployedanintermediatemodelinthatfirstyear.However,oncetheorganizationdecidedtodeployaVDIenvironmentinY2,thecontrollershadtobeupgradedtothehigher-endmodel.Thisoperationcouldbeperformedquicklyandnon-disruptively,butincreasedcostofacquisition,maintenance,andpower/cooling.VendorA’ssolutionalsorequired2.1XmorecapacitythanXtremIOduetothehigheroverheadrequiredtoimplementthedataprotectionscheme,metadataandsystemdata,sparingspace,andneedtoreservespaceforgarbagecollection.ESG’sanalysispredictedthatforthemodeledscenario,anXtremIOdeploymentwouldresultinastorage-relatedtotalcostofownership(TCO)2thatwas1.4XlowerthanVendorA’s—savingthemodeledorganizationover$60Kperyearforatotalof$300Koverthemodeledfive-yearperiod.
2ESGLabincludedcostofhardwareandsoftwareacquisition,licensing,management,maintenance,power,andcoolingasstorage-relatedTCO.
AFairandCredibleModel
ESGLabusedthesamemodeleddevelopment
organizationanddidnotchangeanyofthemodel
assumptionsfromtheoriginalreportwhen
comparingtheTCOofXtremIOtoall-flasharray
offeringsfromotherleadingvendors.Everyeffort
wasmadetobeconservativeandfairwhen
comparingall-flashstorageofferings.
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO6
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WhilebothVendorA’ssolutionandXtremIOareextremelyeasytomanageonadailybasis,theaddedadvantageofXtremIO’sXVCvirtualcopytechnologyandiCDMprovidedalargetimesavingswhencreating,managing,rollingforward,androllingbackcopiesfortest,development,QA,andgo-liveoperations.XtremIOallowsorganizationstoquicklyprovidewritablecopiesofvolumesondemand,andthenrollforwardorbackchangestothesevolumesinstantaneously,evenafterthesourcevolumehadbeendeleted.ESGestimatedthatthisadvantagewouldhelpreducethetimerequiredtodevelopnewproductsandenhanceexistingproductsby15%.ESGLabalsoassumedthattheabilitytoquicklyrestoredataandthelowerlatencyandmorepredictableperformanceofXtremIOwouldresultinadditionalbenefitstothebusinessresultingfromtheabilitytorundailyanalyticsonthesameplatformfaster,andfewerperformanceandavailability-relatedissuesontheproductiondatabase.ESGLabpredictedthatoverthemodeledfive-yearperiod,theorganizationwouldrealize$186KinadditionaleconomicbusinessbenefitsbydeployingXtremIOinsteadofVendorA’ssolution.ThekeydifferencesindesignchoicesmadebyVendorAandXtremIOthathavethegreatesteconomicimpactinESGLab’sfive-yearTCOanalysismodelareshowninTable1.AsummaryoftheresultsoftheTCOanalysiscomparingtheTCOofXtremIOandVendorAareshowninFigure4.
TABLE1.ImpactofVendorA’sAll-FlashSystemDesignChoicesontheResultofModeledScenarios
All-FlashVendorADesignChoice ModeledScenarioResult
Active/passivescale-uparchitecture
Scale-uparchitectureresultedinlowerandmoreunpredictableperformanceandrequiredcontrollerupgradeinY2tosatisfyincreasedperformancerequirementsforVDIdeployment.
Morecapacityrequiredfordataprotection,system
overhead,metadata,sparing,andgarbagecollection
VendorAhadtodeploy1.6Xmorerawcapacityandutilized2.1XmorecapacitythanXtremIO,resultinginahighercostofacquisition,power,andcooling.
ROWread-onlysnapshots,nointegratedcopydata
management
VendorArequiredmoretimeandefforttosatisfythetest/devandQArequirementsofthedevelopmentorganization,resultingin1.3Xhigheradministrativecostsandlongerproductdevelopmentcycles.
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
FIGURE4.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorA
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO7
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XtremIOVersusScale-outAll-FlashVendorB
VendorB’sstoragearraywasahighlyscalabledesignthatleveragedaplatformbuiltoncommodityhardwarealongwithadvancedautomationandquality-of-service(QoS)features.Thesystemrequiredaminimumofthreenodesforoperationandscaledpredictablyasadditionalnodescontainingasinglecontrollerandconsumer-gradecMLCSSDswereaddedtothecluster.LikeVendorA’sdesign,thesystemperformeditsowngarbagecollection,requiringthatspacebereserved(10%oftotalcapacity).
Redirect-on-write(ROW)snapshottechnologywasimplementedtoprovideread-onlysnapshotsthatarelogicallytiedtotheparentvolume.Inordertogetawritablecopyofaparticularvolume,aclonemustbemade,requiringafullcopyofthemetadata.Thereisasmallperformanceimpactforusingsnapshots,andalargerimpactwhencreatingclones.Theperformancepenaltyisproportionaltothevolumesizewhencreating,refreshing,andrestoringwritableclones.Whilecreating,refreshing,androllingbackXtremIOcopiesisnearinstantaneous,VendorB’ssolutioncouldtakeasignificantnumberofminutestocompletethesesameoperations.Thesolutionsupportszeroimpactthinprovisioningfromasinglepoolofstorageforalldataonthesystemalongwithefficientinlinecompressionanddeduplication.
FournodesweredeployedinYear1thatweresizedtosatisfythecapacityrequirementsofthemodeledscenario.Atthispoint,theorganizationcouldhavechosentovastlyoverprovisionthecapacityandmeetthefive-yearneedsupfrontbypurchasinglargercapacitynodes(twicetherequiredY1capacity).ESGLabdidnotchoosethisoption,asweassumetheorganizationwouldhavechosenthesolutionthatmosteconomicallymettheY1purchasingrequirements.Inthesecondyear,anadditionalnodewasaddedtomeettheaddedcapacityrequirementoftheVDIdeployment.Becauseofthescale-outarchitectureandadvancedQoSfeatures,theperformancerequirementsoftheconsolidatedworkloadswereeasilymet.Finally,inYear5,asixthnodewasaddedtothesystemtomeetcapacitygrowthrequirements.
Inadditiontorequiringatotalofsixscale-outnodesversusonlyoneX-BrickforXtremIO,VendorB’ssolutionalsorequiredabouttwiceasmuchstoragecapacityduetothehigheroverheadrequiredtoimplementthemirroreddataprotectionscheme(50%ofrawcapacity),storemetadataandsystemdata,providesparingspace,andallowforgarbagecollectionoperations.Evenwiththeadditionalhardwareandcapacityrequirements,VendorB’sheavilydiscountedpricingwasslightlylowerthanXtremIO.Asexpected,VendorB’spowerandcoolingcostswerehigher(1.3X)thanXtremIO,asweretheadministrativecosts(1.5X).ESG’sanalysispredictedthatforthemodeledscenario,anXtremIOdeploymentwouldresultinastorage-relatedTCOthatwas1.2XlowerthanVendorB’s—savingthemodeledorganizationover$32Kperyear,foratotalof$160Koverthemodeledfive-yearperiod.
XtremIO’sXVCvirtualcopytechnologyandiCDMprovidedalargetimesavingswhencreating,managing,rollingforward,androllingbackcopiesfortest,development,QA,andgo-liveoperations.ESGcalculatedthatXtremIOadminscouldexpecttospend39%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata,thesinglemostimportanttaskforadevelopmentorganization.ESGestimatedthatthisadvantagewouldhelpreducethetimerequiredtodevelopnewproductsandenhanceexistingproductsfrom28monthsdownto24months.ESGLabalsoassumedthattheabilitytoquicklyrestoredataandthelowerlatencyperformanceofXtremIOwouldresultinadditionalbenefitstothebusinessresultingfromtheabilitytorundailyanalyticsonthesameplatformfaster,andfewerperformanceandavailability-relatedissuesontheproductiondatabase.ESGLabpredictedthatoverthemodeledfive-yearperiod,theorganizationwouldrealize$159KinadditionaleconomicbusinessbenefitsbydeployingXtremIOinsteadofVendorB’ssolution.Thekeydifferencesindesignchoicesmadeby
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO8
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VendorBandXtremIOthathavethegreatesteconomicimpactinESGLab’sfive-yearTCOanalysismodelareshowninTable2.AsummaryoftheresultsoftheTCOanalysiscomparingtheTCOofXtremIOandVendorBareshowninFigure5.
TABLE2.ImpactofVendorB’sAll-FlashSystemDesignChoicesontheResultofModeledScenarios
All-FlashVendorBDesignChoice ModeledScenarioResult
CommodityhardwareServer-basedsinglecontrollerpernode,fewerSSDslotsperrackunit,andcMLCdrivetechnologyresultindeploying,powering,cooling,andservicingmorephysicalhardwaretosatisfyrequirements.
Morecapacityrequiredfordataprotection,systemoverhead,metadata,sparing,andgarbage
collection
VendorBconsumed1.9XmorerawcapacitythanXtremIO,resultinginahighercostforpowerandcooling.
ROWread-onlysnapshots,nointegratedcopydatamanagement,timeandperformanceimpactto
createclones
VendorBrequiredsignificantlymoretimeandefforttosatisfythetest/devandQArequirementsofthedevelopmentorganization,resultingin1.5Xhigheradministrativecostsandlongerproductdevelopmentcycles.
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
FIGURE5.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorB
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
XtremIOVersusLimitedScale-outAll-FlashVendorC
VendorCwasanall-flashstoragearrayfromawell-establishedtechnologyvendorthatwaspurposebuiltonproprietaryhardwarewithagoalofprovidingtraditionalSANstorageconnectivitywithverylowlatencies.Thesystemwasinitiallydesignedtooptimizeforperformanceanddidnotincludeanyintegrateddataservicescapabilities.DataserviceswereaddedlaterthroughasetofHAstoragevirtualizationappliancesplacedinfrontofthestorage,amplifyingthenumberofstorageoperationsthatarerequired,andintroducinganewpotentialperformanceand
scalingbottleneck.Thesystemwasdesignedarounddualcontrollersinascale-upactive/activecontrollerarchitecturethat
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO9
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canalsooptionallyprovidelimitedscale-outcapabilitiesthroughanexternalscalingmechanism.Thesystemutilizesitsownproprietaryconsumer-gradecMLCflashmodulesandsystem-levelgarbagecollectionalongwithNVRAMforcaching.
Theexternalvirtualizationapplianceprovidestraditionalcopy-on-first-write(COW)snapshottechnologytoprovidereadableandwritablesnapshotsthatarelogicallytiedtotheparentvolumeandrequirecopyingmetadataandpre-allocatingsnapshotcapacity.COWsnapshotsalsoresultinalargeperformanceimpact,makingthemnon-suitableforcriticalproductionenvironments.Thesystemsupportsincrementalsnapshotsthatcanberolledforward,anddatacanberolledbackbycopyingallofthenecessarydata,resultinginatimeandperformanceimpactthatisproportionaltothevolumesize.Thesolutionsupportsthinprovisioningthroughthestoragevirtualizationappliance,resultinginanaddedperformanceimpact.AdditionalmanagementandplanningoverheadwasrequiredforcreatingexternallystripedpoolsthatarecreatedafterfirstconfiguringtraditionalRAIDgroupsandLUNsontheall-flasharray.Theexternalvirtualizationappliancedidnotsupportdeduplication,butinlinecompressionwaspossiblefornon-mission-criticalworkloadsatthestoragevirtualizationlayerwithaperformancepenaltythatwasreducedwiththepurchaseofaninline-acceleratorcard.
Duetothelimitedscalingoptionsoftheflashmodules,ESGallowedallofthecapacityrequiredforthefive-yearperiodtobepurchasedupfrontinthefirstyearforVendorC.Hadtheorganizationpurchasedasmalleramountofstorageinthefirstyear,boththeoverprovisioningofcapacityandthetotalcostofacquisitionwouldhavebeensignificantlyincreased.Thedeployedconfigurationconsistedofacontrolenclosurecontainingtheflashcontrollersandexternalvirtualizationenginesandtwostorageenclosureswithflashmodulesofsufficientcapacities.Duetothelackofdeduplication,limiteduseofcompression,theneedtooverprovisioncapacitytomeetsupportedconfigurationguidelines,andgreaterstorageoverhead(38%vs18%),VendorC’ssolutionrequiredthat3.3XmorecapacitybedeployedthanXtremIO(withupto5.2Xmoreofthatcapacityconsumed,aswell).EventhoughVendorC’ssolutionwasmoreheavilydiscountedtobetterreflectthevendor’sknownsalespractices,ESG’sanalysispredictedthat,forthemodeledscenario,anXtremIOdeploymentwouldresultinastorage-relatedTCOthatwas2XlowerthanVendorC’ssolution—savingthemodeledorganizationover$143Kperyear,foratotalof$715Koverthemodeledfive-yearperiod.
TheXtremIOsolutionwouldbeexpectedtohavesignificantadvantagesinmanagementoperationsduetothesimplicityoftheXtremIOdesignandthecomplexityofdealingwithmanagementattwolayersofstorageforVendorC(theflashcontrollers,andthevirtualizationengines).ESGLabpredictsthatmanagementcostswouldbe1.9XlowerforXtremIO.TheaddedadvantageofXtremIO’sXVCvirtualcopytechnologyandiCDMonceagainprovidedalargetimesavingswhencreating,managing,rollingforward,androllingbackcopiesfortest,development,QA,andgo-liveoperations.ESGestimatedthatthisadvantagewouldhelpreducethetimerequiredtodevelopnewproductsandenhanceexistingproductsbyfourmonths,resultinginadditionalrevenuestreamsofaround$173annuallyforthemodeledorganization.ESGLabalsoassumedthatXtremIO’sabilitytoquicklyrestoredatainsecondsinsteadofhourscouldsavetheorganizationanaverageof$29Kannuallybyavoidingdowntimewhenrestoringorrollingchangesintoproductiondatabases.ESGLabpredictedthat,overthemodeledfive-yearperiod,theorganizationwouldrealizeatotalofjustover$1MinadditionaleconomicbusinessbenefitsbydeployingXtremIOinsteadofVendorC’ssolution.ThekeydifferencesindesignchoicesmadebyVendorCandXtremIOthathavethegreatesteconomicimpactinESGLab’sfive-yearTCOanalysismodelareshowninTable3.AsummaryoftheresultsoftheTCOanalysiscomparingtheTCOofXtremIOandVendorCareshowninFigure6.
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO10
©2016byTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.AllRightsReserved.
TABLE3.ImpactofVendorC’sAl-flashSystemDesignChoicesontheResultofModeledScenarios
All-FlashVendorCDesignChoice ModeledScenarioResult
Alldataservicesrequireexternalstoragevirtualizationappliance
Externalapplianceresultsinhighercostofacquisition,power,cooling,andadministrationcostsduetoadditionalmanagementcomplexity,performanceoverheadthroughI/Oamplification,increasedlatencies,andtheintroductionofpotentialperformancebottlenecks.
Morecapacityrequiredduetolackofdeduplication,limitedusecompression,configuration
limitations,andhigheroverheadfordataprotection,systemoverhead,metadata,sparing,andgarbage
collection
VendorChadtodeploy3.3Xmorerawcapacityandutilized5.2XmorecapacitythanXtremIO,resultinginhighercostsofacquisition,power,andcooling.
ExternalCOWsnapshots,nointegratedcopydatamanagement
VendorCrequiredsignificantlymoretimeandefforttosatisfythetest/devandQArequirementsofthedevelopmentorganization,resultingin1.9Xhigheradministrativecostsandlongerproductdevelopmentcycles.
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
FIGURE6.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorC
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO11
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XtremIOVersusLimitedScale-outAll-FlashVendorD
VendorDwasanall-flashstoragearrayofferingfromatraditionalstoragevendorbasedontheirproprietarytraditionalstoragedesignrepurposedbymainlypopulatingthedriveslotswithenterprise-gradehigh-performanceeMLCorcost-effectiveconsumer-gradecMLCSSDs.Thesystemcanbedeployedusingadual-controlleractive-activescale-updesign,butincludesanoptionalarray-basedcontrollerscalingmechanismtoprovidelimitedscale-outuptofourcontrollers.Thesystemperformeditsowngarbagecollection,andthusrequiresthatspacebereservedto
facilitateproperoperationofthisfunction(ESGassumed10%oftotalcapacity).
ThesystemprovisionsstoragefrompoolsofstoragethatarebuiltontraditionalRAIDgroupsandrequiresomedegreeofmanagementtoconfigureandmaintain.(COW)snapshottechnologyisusedtoprovidereadableandwritablesnapshotsthatarelogicallytiedtotheparentvolume.Theparentvolumecanbedeletedafteratime-consumingandperformance-impactingcleanupoperation.COWsnapshotsrequirecopyingmetadataandpre-allocatingsnapshotcapacityandresultinalargeperformanceimpact,makingthemnon-suitableforcriticalproductionenvironments.Thesnapshotscanalsoberolledbackintotheparentvolumes,butthisoperationrequirescopyingthedatabacktotheoriginalvolume,resultinginbothdowntimeandasignificantperformanceimpactproportionaltothesizeofthevolume.Thesolutionsupportshardware-assistedzeroimpactthinprovisioningandinlinededuplicationwithasignificantperformanceimpact.
Toavoidrunningintocontrollerbottlenecksandtoprovidepredictablelatencyfortheproductiondatabase,VendorD’ssolutionrequiredtwoseparatestoragearrays.ThefirstarraywasconfiguredwitheMLCdrivesinRAID5andhousedtheproductiondatabaseandgo-liveenvironmentsaswellasastagingareaformovingremotecopiesbetweentheproductiondatabaseandthesecondaryarrayontheweekends.ThesecondaryarrayleveragedmostlycMLCdriveswithRAID5protectionandprovidedallofthetest,development,QA,VDI,andservervirtualizationrequirements,withoutimpactingtheproductiondatabase.Forperformancereasons,theVDIcapacitywasprovidedbyeMLCdrivesinRAID5.VendorD’ssolutiondeployed4.1Xmorecapacityandutilized6.5XmorecapacitythanXtremIOduetothehigheroverheadrequiredtoimplementthedataprotectionscheme,metadata,systemdata,andsparingspace,andtheneedtoreservespaceforgarbagecollection.Thesolutionalsorequiredsubstantiallymorehardware,includingmultiplesetsofcontrollers,driveshelves,anddrives,resultinginapowerandcoolingcostthatwas5.4XhigherthantheXtremIOsolution.ESG’sanalysispredictedthat,forthemodeledscenario,anXtremIOdeploymentwouldresultinastorage-relatedTCOthatwas2.3XlowerthanVendorD’s—savingthemodeledorganizationover$190Kperyear,foratotalof$950Koverthemodeledfive-yearperiod.
WhenVendorD’ssolutionwasfirstreleasednearly15yearsago,itwasmarketedasbeingeasytomanagewhencomparedtoothertraditionalstoragesolutions.Today’sall-flasharrays,however,aregenerallyevensimplertomanagethanVendorD.Inadditiontosimplifiedstoragemanagementfordailymanagementandmonitoringactivities,theaddedadvantageofXtremIO’sXVCadvancedvirtualcopytechnologyandiCDMprovidedaverylargetimesavingswhencreating,managing,rollingforward,androllingbackcopiesfortest,development,QA,andgo-liveoperations.ESGLabestimatedthatthisadvantagewouldhelpreducethetimerequiredtodevelopnewproductsandenhanceexistingproductsbyaconservative20%,helpingtocontributetoearlierrecognitionofrevenuestreamsandincreasedcustomerretentionforexistingproducts.ESGLabalsoassumedthattheabilitytoquicklyrestoredataandthelowerlatencyandmorepredictableperformanceofXtremIOwouldresultinadditionalbenefitstothebusinessresultingfromtheabilitytorundailyanalyticsonthesameplatformfaster,andfewerperformanceandavailability-relatedissuesontheproductiondatabase.ESGLabpredictedthat,overthemodeledfive-yearperiod,theorganizationwouldrealize$1.9M($385Kannually)inadditional
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economicbusinessbenefitsbydeployingXtremIOinsteadofVendorA’ssolution.ThekeydifferencesindesignchoicesmadebyVendorDandXtremIOthathavethegreatesteconomicimpactinESGLab’sfive-yearTCOanalysismodelareshowninTable4.AsummaryoftheresultsoftheTCOanalysiscomparingtheTCOofXtremIOandVendorDareshowninFigure7.
TABLE4.ImpactofVendorD’sAl-flashSystemDesignChoicesontheResultofModeledScenarios
All-FlashVendorDDesignChoice ModeledScenarioResult
Repurposedtraditionalstoragearchitecture
TraditionalstoragearchitecturepopulatedwithSSDsdoesnotgainmanyoftheadvantagesofapurpose-builtAFA,resultingintheneedtodeploymorehardwaretoavoidperformanceissues.Traditionallimitationsresultinhighercostofacquisition;power,cooling,maintenanceandsupport;andadministration,whilealsoprovidingfewerbusinessbenefitsthanXtremIO.
Morecapacityrequiredfordataprotection,system
overhead,metadata,sparing,garbagecollection,and
performance
VendorDhadtodeploy4.1Xmorerawcapacityandutilized6.5XmorecapacitythanXtremIO,resultinginsignificantlyhighercostsofacquisition,support,power,andcooling.Thepotentialvalueofdeduplicationwaslimitedtouseinnon-performance-sensitiveapplications.
COWread-onlysnapshots,nointegratedcopydata
management
VendorD’scomplexityandlimitationsgreatlyincreasedthetimeandeffortneededtosatisfythetest/devandQArequirementsofthedevelopmentorganization,resultingin3.2Xhigheradministrativecostsandlosingmillionsofdollarsofpotentialeconomicadvantagestothebusiness.
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
FIGURE7.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorD
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
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LoweringTCOandIncreasingEconomicAdvantagetotheBusinesswithXtremIO
Eachoftheall-flashsolutionsofferedbyVendorsAthroughDprovidedasignificantTCOandeconomicbusinessadvantageoversatisfyingtherequirementswiththetraditionalstoragesystemthatweanalyzedin2015.However,alloftheseall-flashofferingsthatESGLabanalyzedweredesignedtooptimizeafewstrategicadvantages,anddidnotofferalloftheadvantagesthatXtremIOdid.VendorAwasdesignedtobesimpletoadminister,simpletodeploy,andspace-efficient.However,theactive/passivescale-updesign,traditionaldataprotection,andROWsnapshottechnologymeantmorehardwarehadtobedeployedtosatisfytherequirements,andtheprocessofdealingwithcopiesofdatawassimplified,butnotoptimized.VendorBofferedaveryeconomicalscale-outdesignusingcommodityhardwareandadvancedQoS,butalsohadtodeploymorehardware,andlimitedROWread-onlysnapshotsmeantthatworkaroundshadtobeemployedtomanagecopiesofdata.TheflasharraybyVendorCprovidedgoodperformance.However,theneedtointegrateanexternalstoragevirtualizationsolutiontoprovideCOW-baseddataservicesgreatlyreducedtheperformancecapabilitiesandincreasedthecomplexityofthesolution.AndVendorD’srepurposingofatraditionalstoragesystemintroducedscalingbottlenecksandlackedmanyofthedesignfeaturesoftoday’sall-flasharrays,suchaslowimpactinlinecompressionanddeduplication,lowimpactsnapshotandrestorecapabilities,andsimplifiedsystemmanagement.
Thesedesignadvantagesandlimitationsareevidentwhencomparingallfiveall-flashofferingssidebyside.Theabilitytosatisfytherequirementsoftheorganizationwithlessphysicalhardwaregenerallymeantlowercostsforacquisition,supportandmaintenance,andpowerandcooling.Thesimplifiedmanagementandmonitoring,alongwiththezeroimpact,easy-to-usevirtualcopyandrefresh/restorecapabilitiesofXtremIO,helpedtominimizestorage-relatedadministrativecosts,evenwhencomparedtotheverysimple-to-useAFAinterfacesprovidedbytheothervendors.Acomparisonofstorage-relatedTCOacrossallfiveall-flashvendorsisshowninFigure8.
FIGURE8.ESGLabModeledFive-yearStorageTCOforAll-FlashVendors
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
InadditiontoofferingtheloweststorageTCOamongtheall-flashvendors,XtremIOwouldbeexpectedtodeliverthelargesteconomicadvantagetothemodeledsoftwaredevelopmentorganizationoverthefive-yearperiod.Whencomparedtomostoftheotherfourvendors,theXtremIOsolutionwouldbeexpectedtoprovidemorepredictableperformanceandquickerrecoveryfortheproductiondatabase,resultinginincreasedcustomerretention,fewerlostsales,andtheabilitytobenefitfromtheresultsofrunningdailyanalyticsonthesamesystem.Astheonlyall-flashvendortooffertrulyadvancedcopytechnology(XVC)andintegratedcopydatamanagement(iCDM),XtremIOcouldgreatlysimplifyandacceleratethejobofprovidingcopiesofdatafortest,development,QA,andgo-livetestingwithlittletonoimpactto
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theproductiondatabase.Theabilitiestoquicklyroll-forwardandroll-backchangestothesecopieshavebeenprovenincustomerenvironmentstoresultinshorterdevelopmentcyclesfornewproductsandquickerpatchingandenhancementstoexistingproductlines.ThisfastertimetoproductrevenuestreamsandincreasedcustomerretentionforexistingproductshelpsfurtherjustifyaninvestmentinXtremIO.Figure9belowillustratestheadditionaleconomicimpactthatthemodeledorganizationwouldbeexpectedtorealizebydeployinganXtremIOsolutionratherthananyofthefourothervendor’sall-flashsolutionsoverthefive-yearmodeledtimeframe.
FIGURE9.AdditionalEconomicBenefitsExpectedfromanXtremIODeploymentOverOtherAFAs
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
WhyThisMattersBynowthebenefitsofflashtechnologyarewellknownandwellunderstood.Organizationsunderstandtheadvantagesgainedbyselectinganext-generationpurpose-builtall-flasharraydesignedtotakeadvantageofthebenefitsofflashtechnologyoversimplyaddingflashdrivestoatraditionalstoragesystemwithtraditionallimitations.Understandingthedifferencesbetweendesignchoicesmadebynext-generationAFAvendors,however,ishardertounderstandwithoutperformingathorougheconomicanalysis.
ESGLabmodeledthestorageTCOandadditionaleconomicbusinessbenefitsthatcouldbeachievedbydeployingnext-generationall-flashsolutionsfromfourleadingstoragevendors.WhileeachofthesolutionsofferedsubstantialTCOsavingsandexpectedeconomicbenefitstothemodeledorganizationoverdeployingatraditionaldisk-basedsolution,asingleXtremIOX-BrickprovedtooffertheloweststorageTCOandprovidedthehighestexpectedeconomicimpacttothebusiness.WithuniqueabilitiessuchasXVCadvancedvirtualcopytechnologyandintegratedcopydatamanagement(iCDM),XtremIOhelpedprovideastorageTCOthatwas1.2Xto2.3XlowerthantheotherAFAswhilehelpingtogenerateupto$645,000inadditionalexpectedeconomicbusinessbenefitsannually.
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TheBiggerTruth
ThefunctionallinesareblurringbetweenITandtherestofthebusiness.DecisionmakersnowunderstandmoreaboutthetechnicaltradeoffsandITworkersarebeginningtounderstandtheeconomicimpactthattheirtechnologychoiceshaveonthebottomline.Duetotheirprovenperformance,space-efficiency,andsimplifiedmanagementcapabilities,all-flashstoragearraysarequicklybecomingakeycontributortothesuccessofthebusiness.Formanyorganizations,suchasthosewithsoftwaredevelopmentoperations,IThasreplacedthephysicalassemblylineforthebusinessandcanbeoptimizedthroughthedeploymentofanall-flasharraytospeedproductionoftheendproduct.Butall-flashsolutionscannotsimplybejudgedbasedontechnicalspecslikecapacity,performance,andconnectivity.Decisionmakersneedtoaskthesamequestionsoftheirall-flashinvestmentsastheydooftheirworkers:Howwillthisinvestmentmakeusmoreproductiveandimprovethebottomlineofthebusiness?
SmartorganizationsanalyzetheTCObeforemakingapurchase,whichisagreatfirststepandasolidbasisforcomparingonepurchaseagainstanother.ButTCOisnolongertheonlymetricthatmattersinmakinganintelligentdecision.ITorganizationsneedtounderstandandconveytodecisionmakerseveryaspectinwhichtheinvestmentinaparticulartechnologywillimpactthebottomlineofthebusiness.
In2015,ESGLabcreatedafive-yearTCOanalysisbasedonamodeledorganizationthatquantifiedhowXtremIOcouldbeusedtolowerstorage-relatedTCOwhilealsoprovidingsubstantialeconomicbenefitstothebusiness.Usingthesamesetofunmodifiedassumptions,ESGLabcreatedmodelstoanalyzehowfourotherleadingall-flashsolutionsfromdifferentvendorswouldsatisfythesamesetofrequirements.Whileeveryall-flashofferingprovidedasubstantiallylowerTCOwithaddedeconomicadvantagestothebusinesswhencomparedwiththeoriginaltraditionalstoragesystemsmodel,noneprovidedalowerTCOorhighereconomicbusinessbenefitastheoriginallymodeled20TBX-Brick.Infact,itwasrevealedthatthemodeledorganizationcouldexpecttorealizeapproximately1to3milliondollarsmoreincombinedstorageTCOsavingsandadditionaleconomicbusinessadvantagesoverthefive-yearperiodbydeployingXtremIOratherthananyoftheotherfourall-flasharrays(seeFigure10).
FIGURE10.ExpectedTCOSavingsandEconomicBenefitsGainedByDeployingXtremIOversusOtherAFAs
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
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ThedesigntradeoffsmadebyXtremIOprovidedalowerstoragetotalcostofownershipbyeffectivelyusingcompressionanddeduplicationtechnologies,leveraginghigherperformanceeMLCdrivesanddrive-levelgarbagecollection,withzerocapacityandperformanceimpactwhencreating,rollingforward,androllingbackcopiesofdatanearinstantaneously.Theotherall-flasharraysrequiredmorehardwaretosatisfytherequirementsduetoanumberofdesigntradeoffsincludingleveraginglegacystoragecontrollers,commodityhardware,consumer-levelcMLCdrives,andexternalvirtualizationplatformsfordataservices,andperformingsystem-levelgarbagecollection.
Next-generationall-flashstoragesystemsaredesignedwithagoalofmakingthebestpossibleuseofflashtechnologywhileavoidingmanyofthelimitingfactorsoftraditionalstoragesystems.Blocksofflashstoragemaybeapproachingcommodity,butwhatisdonewiththoseblocksofstoragecanhelptransformthebusiness.XtremIOunderstoodthiswhenitdesigneditsall-flasharray.XtremIOisdesignedaroundagoalofsolvingbusinessproblemsratherthanstorageproblems.ItisnosurprisethatESGLab’sfive-yearanalysisdemonstratedthatbydeployinganXtremIOsolutionratherthananalternativeAFA,organizationscanlowertheirstorageTCOwhilerealizingadditionaleconomicbenefitsinmanyotherareasofthebusiness.IfyourorganizationislookingtolowerstorageTCOwhileincreasingperformance,ESGrecommendsinvestinginanext-generationall-flasharray.Ifyourorganizationislookingtogetevenmoreoutofitsnext-generationall-flasharray,ESGrecommendsconsideringXtremIO.
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Appendix
StorageTCOModelAssumptions:
• Five-yearstorageTCOstudy.
• Midmarketbusiness-criticaldatabaseandapplicationdevelopmentenvironment.
• Replacingexistinginfrastructure—notanet-newdeployment.
• ExistingdatabaseandinfrastructureistobereplacedandmigratedatYear1.
• Existinginfrastructuresiloeddeploymentmodelthatresemblestraditionalmulti-systemdepictedinoriginalpaperistobereplacedwithanall-flashsolutionfromXtremIOoranothervendor.
• A600userVDIcapabilityisplannedfordeploymentinYear2(450employees+growth).
• A20%storagecapacityoverheadwasbuiltin(atypicalpractice,imposedonXtremIOforparityinTCOcomparisonwithtraditionalpurchasinghabits).
o Enforcedamaximum80%capacityutilizationonstoragearray(storageheadroom).
o Runningmanystoragesolutionsat100%capacityisunrealistic.
o Assumedcapacitywouldbeexpandedwhen<20%capacityremains.
o Note:XtremIOarrayscancomfortablyberunat95+%capacityutilization.
TABLE5.CharacteristicsofModeledProductionDatabases
15ProductionDatabasesRangingFrom25GBto500GB
#ofDB SizeofDB(GB) IOPS/DB TotalCapacity(GB) TotalIOPS2 25 1,000 50 2,0003 50 1,000 150 3,0002 100 2,000 200 4,0004 250 3,500 1,000 14,0004 500 5,000 2,000 20,00015 3,400 43,000
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
\RequirementsshowninTable5areYear1startingcapacities;theESGLabmodelassumed7.5%annualeffectivecapacitygrowthrate.
StorageTCOModelAssumptions–XtremIO
• TheXtremIOmodelconsolidatedalloftheproduction,development,testing,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsintoasinglestoragesystem.Thiswasmadepossiblebythenatureofthewritablevirtualcopies,andthescalable,consistent,low-latencyperformancedeliveredbythesystem.
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• TheXtremIOmodelrequiredfarlesscapacityduetoadvancedspaceefficiencyandthenatureofzerocapacity,writablesnapshots.
• AsingleX-BrickXtremIOclusterwassufficienttohandleallworkloadssimultaneouslywhilealsodeliveringconsistentlylowerlatencyperformancefortheproductiondatabase.
• WithXtremIO,therewasnoneedforstagingcopiesbecauseallcopiesresideonthesamesystem.
• EachcopyofthedatabaseandVMsrequiredverylittlecapacity(onlythechangeddataformanualandautomaticsnapshots)andstoredspaceefficiently.
FIGURE11.XtremIOSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
StorageTCOModelAssumptions–VendorA
• VendorA’ssolutionconsolidatedalloftheproduction,development,testing,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsintoasinglestoragesystem.
• TheYear1requirementsweresatisfiedbyamid-rangepairofcontrollers,buttheadditionofVDIinYear2forcedacontrollerupgradetohandletheincreasedperformancerequirements.ESGLabconservativelyassumedthattheorganizationonlyhadtopaythedifferenceincostbetweenthetwocontrollermodelsinyear2,withnoadditionalfinancialpenalty.
• DeduplicationandcompressionsavingsslightlylowerthanXtremIOduetopartialpost-processprocessing(DBcompression=1.5:1;VMWarededupe/compression=18:1,VDI=8:1;zerocapacitycopies).
• CombinedstorageoverheadincludingRAID,metadata,systemoverhead,andgarbagecollectionspacewasapproximately55%.
• Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementcalculatedat29.6hrs.byasingleadmin(vs23.2hrs.forXtremIO).Manymanagementtasksrelatedtodailystoragemanagement,monitoringofstorageresources,applicationsupport,andinstallationandservicingwereonparwithXtremIO.Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,percentagesmaynotindicatemagnitudeoftimesavings):
o 83%lesstimeplanningforgrowthandresourceoptimization.
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o 24%lesstimespentprovisioning/mappinganddealingwithperformanceissues.
o 36%lesstimemanagingbackups.
o 23%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata.
FIGURE12.VendorASolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
StorageTCOModelAssumptions–VendorB
• VendorB’ssolutionconsolidatedalloftheproduction,development,testing,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsintoasinglestoragesystemconsistingofscaleupnodes(singlecontroller,plustencMLCSSDspernode).
• TheYear1requirementsweresatisfiedbyfournodesprovidingabout17TBofrawcapacity.AdditionalnodeswereaddedtosupportVDIandothercapacitygrowthinYear2andYear3,bringingrawcapacitytoaround26TBforyears3-5.
• DeduplicationandcompressionsavingsequivalenttoXtremIO(DBcompression=2:1;VMWarededupe/compression=22:1,VDI=10:1;zerocapacitycopies).
• CombinedstorageoverheadincludingmirroredRAID,metadata,systemoverhead,andgarbagecollectionspacewasapproximately118%.
• •Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementcalculatedat34.8hrs.byasingleadmin(vs23.2hrs.forXtremIO).Manymanagementtasksrelatedtoplanningforgrowth,installationandservicing,monitoringofstorageresources,applicationsupport,wereonparwithXtremIO.ApplicationconsistencyandresolutionofperformanceissueswasanadvantageduetoQoS.Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,largerpercentagesmaynotindicategreatermagnitudeoftimesavings):
o 21%lesstimeperformingdailymanagementandprovisioningtasks.
o 30%lesstimemanagingbackups.
o 39%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata.
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FIGURE13.VendorBSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
StorageTCOModelAssumptions–VendorC
• VendorC’ssolutionconsistedoftwologicallyandphysicallyseparatedpoolsofstoragelocatedontwodifferentsizesofflashmodules.
• TheproductionDBandGoLiveenvironmentwasplacedacrosssixflashmodulestotalingjustover7TBofrawcapacityandallotherfunctions(test,dev,QA,VDI,andservervirtualization)wasplacedacrosstenflashmodulestotalingabout57TBofrawcapacity.
• Thedeploymentconsistedoftwoflashcontrollers,twoexternalstoragevirtualizationengines,andtwoscale-updiskenclosures.
• Compressionsavingsof2:1wererealizedfortest/devandQAfunctionsand4:1forservervirtualization.CompressionwasnotusedfortheproductionDB,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsduetopotentialperformanceimpactonorbytheexternalvirtualizationappliances.
• CombinedstorageoverheadincludingmirroredRAID,metadata,systemoverhead,andgarbagecollectionspacewasapproximately118%.
• Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementwascalculatedat40.5hrs.byasingleadmin(vs.23.2hrs.forXtremIO).XtremIOhadadistinctadvantageinmostareasofmanagementactivity,someduetothefactthatthereweretwolevelsofstoragetomanageandmonitor(flashandvirtualizedlayer).Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,largerpercentagesmaynotindicategreatermagnitudeoftimesavings):
o 83%lesstimeplanningforgrowthandresourceoptimization.
o 93%lesstimemonitoringandconsolidatingreports.
o 32%lessdailytasksystemmanagementtime.
o 36%lesstimemanagingbackups.
o 42%lesstimeservicingandinstallingcomponents.
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o 45%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata.
FIGURE14.VendorCSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
StorageTCOModelAssumptions–VendorD
• VendorD’ssolutionconsistedoftwoseparatestoragesystems,duetotheexpectedperformancelimitationsandimpactontheproductionenvironmentifcontrollersweresharedwithburstyworkloadsfromVDIandTest/Devenvironments.
• Aweeklyfull“gold”copyofproductiondatawascreatedweeklyandmirroredtosecondsystemtoserveasbaseforpropagatingcopiesforuseintest/dev,QA,andanalytics.
• TheproductionDBandgo-livesystemrequired20MLCSSDsspreadacrossfourscale-upenclosurestoavoidperformancebottlenecks.System#2providedVDIfrom16MLCflashdrivesandallotherfunctions(test,dev,QA,VDIandservervirtualization)with22cMLCdrivesallspreadoverfourscale-upenclosuresforagrandtotalof91TBofrawcapacity.
• Theproductiondatabaseandassociatedcopiesdidnotbenefitfromspace-efficiencyascompressionwasnotsupportedbyVendorD.DeduplicationwasnotusedfortheproductionDBorgo-liveenvironmentsduetoexpectedperformanceimpact,butwasusedonthesecondsystemforsavingsinservervirtualization(8:1),andVDI(4:1),andcopiesoftheproductiondatabase(#ofcopies:1).
• CombinedstorageoverheadincludingmirroredRAID,metadata,systemoverhead,andgarbagecollectionspacewasapproximately46%.
• Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementwascalculatedat80.7hrs.bytwoadmins(vs.23.2hrs.andoneadminforXtremIO).XtremIOhadadistinctadvantageinalmosteveryareaofmanagementactivity,duetothefactthatthereweretwosystemsofstoragetomanageandmonitor,andfarmorecomplexCDM.Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,largerpercentagesmaynotindicategreatermagnitudeoftimesavings):
o 98%lesstimeplanningforgrowthandresourceoptimization.
o 88%lesstimemonitoringandconsolidatingreports.
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o 25%lessdailytasksystemmanagementtime.
o 71%lesstimemanagingbackups.
o 44%lesstimeservicingandinstallingcomponents.
o 77%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata.
FIGURE15.VendorDSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
SummaryofRawCapacityRequiredByYearandITFunction
Table6comparesthephysicalcapacityrequiredforeachITfunction(includingDB,copies,VMwaredatastores,snapshotsetc.).PleaserefertoAppendixFigures12-15andFigure3forasummaryofwhatisincludedineachITfunction(eachblueboxrepresentsanITfunction,plusVDI).AllfunctionswereconsolidatedontoasingleXtremIOX-BrickorNext-genAFAwiththeexceptionofVendorD,whichrequiredtwosystems.Thedifferencesincapacityrequirementsarealsoexplainedinfurtherdetailfollowingthetable.\
TABLE6.VendorCSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
Factorsresultinginhigherrawcapacityfortraditionalstoragesolution,asshowninTable6:
• RAIDprotection/Systemoverhead:
o ~20%overheadforXtremIO(dataprotection,rebuildsparing,metadataoverhead).
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o 46%-118%forVendorsAthroughD(mixofR5,mirrored,dependingonsystem).
o MetadataisstoredinmemoryforXtremIO.
• Fullcopies,includingstagingcopies(traditional)vs.zerocapacitywritablesnapshots(XtremIO):
o VendorsA,C,andDrequiredsomenumberoffullcopiestomeettheperformanceorfunctionalrequirementsofcopieswithsnapshottechnology,andrequiredthatfullcapacitytobeallocatedforeachcopyofdata(notineverycaseforanyAFA).Thisrequiresadditionaltime,systemresources,andhumanresources.
o Althoughsnapshotsarespace-efficient,VendorArequiredafullcopyofdataforthego-liveenvironmenttoprovideequivalentperformancetoproductionenvironment,andtoavoidimpactingproductionDBperformance.VendorB,althoughusingsimilarROWsnapshottechnology,coulduseQoStoguaranteeproductionperformance.
o VendorDrequiredafull“gold”copyontheproductionarrayandasecondsystemtoserveVDI,test/dev,QA,andservervirtualizationrequirements.
• Dataefficiency:AlldataonXtremIO(includingproductionDB)isthinprovisionedandgloballydedupedandcompressedwithnoimpacttoperformance.VendorsAandBprovidedsimilarspacesavingstoXtremIO,butVendorsCandDwerelimitedinuseofspaceefficiencyduetoperformanceimpact.VendorCdidnotsupportdeduplication,andVendorDdidnotsupportcompression.
• Snapshots:SnapchangesonXtremIO,VendorA,andVendorBaregloballydedupedandcompressed,butrequiredthefullchangedcapacitybeallocatedonCOW-basedarrays(VendorsCandD).
Example:BreakdownofCapacitiesShowninAppendixTable6:Year1Prod(ProductionDatabaseandAssociatedFunctions)
AcapacitybreakdownchartsimilartotheexampleshownherecouldbederivedforeachITFunction(prod,dev,test/QA,go-live,VDI)foreachofthefiveyears(totalof25charts).PleasenotethattheprodITfunctionconsistsoftheproductiondatabaseandallrelatedfunctions(fromatraditionaldeploymentperspective),suchastheproductiondatabase,stagingandbackupcopies,snapshots,systemoverhead,RAIDprotection,etc.Inthisexample,VendorDrequiresafullstagingcopyofdatastoredonanothertierofstoragetoavoidfurtherimpacttoproductionDBlatency.
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FIGURE16.ComparisonofStorageCapacityUsedforPROD(ProductionDatabaseandRelatedFunctions)
Source:EnterpriseStrategyGroup,2016
BusinessModelAssumptions
• TotalCompanyRevenueof$54MinY1.
o $27Mfromcoredatabase-drivenonlineoperations(50%).
§ 0.2%ofpotentialrevenuelostannuallytolatency-relatedcustomerissues.
§ 3productionDBrestores/rollbackrequiredperyear(outof15+DB).
• 15to30minutesofdowntimeperrestore(otherAFAvendors).
• 1minuteofdowntimeperrestore(XtremIO).
• $333/minuteofdowntime.
o $16.2Mfromapplication/softwaredevelopmentandservice(20%).
§ 2%expectedcustomerchurnrate(duetolackoffeatureorbug).
§ 14%to20%fasterdevelopmentratewithXtremIOsolution(dependingonAFAsolution).
o $10.8MfromnewSaaSofferings(30%).
§ 2%expectedcustomerchurnrate(duetolackoffeatureorbug).
§ 14%to20%fasterdevelopmentratewithXtremIOsolution(dependingonAFAsolution).
• 10%annualrevenuegrowthrate.
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• Newproductdevelopment.
o Newproductcurrentlytakes36monthstodevelopusingtraditionalstorage.
o OtherAFAsolutionscanreducedevelopmenttimeto28-30months.
o XtremIOspeedsdevelopment,test/QA,andgo-livetestingby14%to20%vs.otherAFAs.
o NewproductonXtremIOsolutiontakes24monthstodevelop.
o Newproductgenerates$400Kinfirstyear,then20%revenuegrowthrateeachfollowingyear.
• Runningdailyanalyticsquickeronsameplatformasdataversusweeklyinvolvingcomplexcopyoperations.
o Dailyanalysisprovides15%morerevenuethanweekly.
§ Increasedcustomeridentification,retention,businessoptimization.
o Dailyanalysisreducedriskby75%vsweekly.
§ Fasteridentificationoffraud,poortransactions,adaptivepricingpolicies.
o Dailyanalysisprovides50%improvementincostreductioninitiatives.
§ Customeroptimization,businessoptimizations,operationalefficiencies.
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