Vendor Landscape: Small to Mid-range Storage Arrays

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1 Vendor Landscape: Small to Mid-range Storage Arrays Find a solution to trim the cost of performance and capacity for your lean IT staff., Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns Inc. 1

2 Introduction Virtualization and flash are changing the way companies evaluate storage. As workloads become dense, find the solution that meets performance and capacity requirements at lowest possible cost. This Research Is Designed For: IT Leaders at organizations planning to purchase consolidated network storage, such as a SAN or unified storage solution. This Research Will Help You: Align vendor strengths and limitations to your current and projected needs around storage. Understand available functionality for current mid-range SANs. Prepare an RFP and score RFP responses. Select the vendor that is the best fit for your organization. 2

3 Executive Summary Info-Tech evaluated 8 competitors in the small to mid-range storage market, including the following notable performers: Champion: NetApp leads by introducing features from its high-end storage to its flagship small to mid-range product. Dell EqualLogic s cost effectiveness combined with ease of use make it a viable option for small to mid-sized companies. Value Award: NetApp s FAS2200 line comes in at a surprisingly low price point for a mature solution. Trend Setter Award: Nimble Storage has quickly made a name for itself, due in large part to its innovative Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) architecture. Info-Tech Insight 1. Focus on current and future requirements. Don t count on your reseller to tell you what you need. Put together your list of needs and wants in an RFP. Almost half (44%) or storage purchasers switch vendors, and most of those do so because new products fell short of expectations. 2. Understand reseller and vendor support capabilities. Organizations more satisfied with their storage purchase spent almost 50% more effort evaluating support capabilities of the resellers/vendors on their shortlist than those that were dissatisfied with their purchase. 3. Think about future costs, not just up front capital. More than 35% of organizations report dissatisfaction with costs to scale performance or capacity of their solutions after their initial purchase, making it crucial to establish scaling costs with your vendor. Will you get the same discounts? What is the licensing? Do you need another controller? 3

4 Market Overview How it got here Storage became a key enabler. Over the past decade, networked storage has expanded from being a highend data management solution for large enterprises to also being a foundation for smaller scale consolidation. Industry standard technologies brought storage down market. Sufficient, less expensive technologies, such as Ethernet fabrics (iscsi and NAS) and lower cost SATA drives, brought storage to SMBs, and allowed them to capitalize on existing hardware and skill investments, rather than going to Fibre Channel school and buying a new fabric. Storage for the SMB was about ease of use and cost. With lean IT staff and tight budgets, small to midsized customers primarily focused on ease of implementation of management when buying storage. High availability and data recoverability became a given. Snapshots, site-to-site replication, and hardware redundancy (disk, ports, power supplies) continue to be must-have features across all storage solutions. Where it s going Unified storage is becoming the norm. NetApp had its early success as a niche provider of unified file and block capabilities, however most providers in the small to mid-range storage market now have it available. Dell, EMC, and Nexsan all added NAS capabilities to their storage solutions in 2011 or Performance is back on the table. Consolidation and virtualization is mainstream today, but this is creating new challenges for storage as dense virtual server infrastructures are pushing ever more I/O. Flash is today s answer. Most vendors are leveraging flash by using it as cache (in Solid State Drives [SSDs] or controller attached PCIe cards) or as a tier of storage in SSDs (typically with accompanying auto-tiering), in combination with lower cost SAS or SATA drives. VMware integration has become a must. While only one of many major virtualization vendors (see also Citrix, Microsoft and Red Hat), VMware holds dominant market share and is the de facto standard in virtualization. For help developing a storage strategy and buying process, see Info-Tech s Solution Sets on how to Mitigate Costs & Maximize Value with a Consolidated Network Storage Strategy as well as Purchase Storage Without Buyer's Remorse. For advice on modern storage challenges, such as VDI, expanding file data, and increasing VM densities, see Exploit Storage Beyond the Central Disk Array. 4

5 Small- to Mid-Range Storage Vendor selection / knock-out criteria: market share, mind share, and platform coverage For this Vendor Landscape, Info-Tech focused on vendors that deliver when it comes to small to mid-range storage. Organizations in this market demand high reliability, scalability, and competitive pricing these aspects played an important role in the vendor evaluation. Dell. Long-standing leader in iscsi solutions, Included Dell s in this EqualLogic Vendor now Landscape: offers quality unified storage solutions. Dell. Long-time leader in iscsi, Dell s EqualLogic now offers a unified storage system. EMC. This market leader raises the bar by introducing aspects of its mid-range VNX to its small to mid-range VNXe. HP. After reestablishing itself with the acquisition of LeftHand Networks, HP has rebranded LeftHand to StoreVirtual Storage and is strengthening its offerings in the small to mid-range storage market by focusing on ease-of-use and promoting its out-of-the-box storage setup. IceWEB. As a long-time specialist in the small to mid-range market, IceWEB continues to deliver storage solutions that highlight security and reliability. NetApp. Pioneers of unified storage, NetApp has seen success in the mid-market with its unified storage platform. The FAS2000 series caters to the needs of the small to mid-sized space. Nexsan. This proven small to mid-market storage provider is known for cost-effective and reliable solutions. It has added unified storage to its portfolio with its NST series. Nimble Storage. A strong newcomer in the storage market, Nimble Storage is getting plenty of attention for its innovative Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) system and simple, yet solid architectural storage design. Tegile. A new entrant to the storage landscape, Tegile delivers impressive results with its patented Metadata Accelerated Storage System (MASS) storage. 5

6 Evaluation criteria & weighting factors Criteria Weighting: Features Product Evaluation Criteria The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality. Features 25% 30% Usability Usability Affordability Architecture User-friendly interface, built-in tools for simplified management, and customer feedback. The three year TCO of the solution is economical. Demonstrated recent innovation in architectural approach to storage with several scaling options. Architecture 25% 20% Product 50% Affordability Viability Strategy Vendor Evaluation Criteria Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term. Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap. Viability 50% Vendor 15% 30% Strategy Reach Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support. 30% Channel Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong. Channel 25% Reach 6

7 The Info-Tech SMB to Mid-range Storage Vendor Landscape The Zones of the Landscape Champions receive high scores for most evaluation criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong market presence and are usually the trend setters for the industry. Market Pillars are established players with very strong vendor credentials, but with more average product scores. Innovators have demonstrated innovative product strengths that act as their competitive advantage in appealing to niche segments of the market. The Info-Tech Vendor Landscape: Tegile Nimble Storage NetApp Dell Emerging Players are newer vendors who are starting to gain a foothold in the marketplace. They balance product and vendor attributes, though score lower relative to market Champions. IceWEB Nexsan EMC HP For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape is created, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 7

8 Balance individual strengths to find the best fit for your enterprise Dell EMC HP IceWEB NetApp Nexsan Nimble Storage Tegile For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 8

9 The Info-Tech SMB to Mid-range Storage Value Index What is a Value Score? The Value Score indexes each vendor s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking. Champion On a relative basis, NetApp maintained the highest Info-Tech Value Score TM of the vendor group. Vendors were indexed against NetApp s performance to provide a complete, relative view of their product offerings. Vendors that score high offer more bang-forthe-buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower. Average Score: 52 Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes * 10 *The vendor declined to provide pricing. NetApp Nexsan Dell Tegile Nimble Storage IceWEB HP EMC* For an explanation of how Price is determined, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Value Index is calculated, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 9

10 Table Stakes represent the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn t even get reviewed Feature Short Backup Windows Site-to-Site Replication Thin Snapshot Capability Easy-to-Use Management Interface The Table Stakes What it is: The time required to quiesce data for backups is minimal. Data can be replicated between sites for failover capabilities to enable disaster recovery. Full copies of data can be created in edition to thin snapshots where only data that is modified is captured and added to the original on restore. This allows for shorter backup windows, and less disk space used. A single user interface that is simple to use, provides monitoring and trending reports, and provides drill down capabilities into virtual and non-virtual machines and servers. What Does This Mean? The products assessed in this Vendor Landscape TM meet, at the very least, the requirements outlined as Table Stakes. Many of the vendors go above and beyond the outlined Table Stakes, some even do so in multiple categories. This section aims to highlight the products capabilities in excess of the criteria listed here. If Table Stakes are all you need from your consolidated storage solution, the only true differentiator for the organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs. 10

11 Advanced Features are the capabilities that allow for granular market differentiation Scoring Methodology Info-Tech scored each vendor s features offering as a summation of their individual scores across the listed advanced features. Vendors were given 1 point for each feature the product inherently provided. Some categories were scored on a more granular scale with vendors receiving half points. Feature Unified File and Block Storage Solid State Caching SSD Tier Auto-tiering VMware VAAI VMware VASA/SRM Block Deduplication Compression Inline Compression Virtualized Array Advanced Features What we looked for: Ability to support both file and block storage, managed through a single admin interface. Vendor provides solutions that enable caching using SSDs at the array. Solid State Drives serve as a storage tier, allowing data migration to and from these drives. Policy-based automatic transfer of data between and/or among tiers of storage in the device. All relevant products support VMware s vstorage API for Array Integration up to ESXi version 5.0. Hardware compatibility with VMware APIs for Storage Awareness and Site Recovery Manager. Eliminates redundant blocks of data by identifying & deleting duplicate blocks. Encodes data on the array with fewer bits than which the data was originally encoded. Data is compressed on the fly, before it is written to disk. Array is available as a virtual machine deployable on commodity hardware. For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 11

12 Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what your organization needs Dell EMC HP IceWEB NetApp Nexsan Nimble Storage Tegile For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 12

13 Narrow down the market depending on your existing or planned fabric investment Most small to mid-range storage solutions are iscsi only, but a select few offer Fibre Channel or Fibre Channel over Ethernet 1 FCoE, iscsi, and FC support Protocol Support 2 VNX Why Scenarios? iscsi and FC support only In reviewing the products included in each Vendor Landscape TM, certain use-cases come to the forefront. Whether those use-cases are defined by applicability in certain locations, relevance for certain industries, or as strengths in delivering a specific capability, Info- Tech recognizes those use-cases as Scenarios, and calls attention to them where they exist. iscsi only VNXe For an explanation of how Scenarios are determined, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 13

14 Future proof your purchase by understanding your vendor s approach to adding performance and capacity Thirty six percent of storage buyers are dissatisfied with costs to scale their solution, whether up or out. Node-based Scaling 1 2 Scaling Capabilities Why Scenarios? In reviewing the products included in each Vendor Landscape TM, certain use-cases come to the forefront. Whether those use-cases are defined by applicability in certain locations, relevance for certain industries, or as strengths in delivering a specific capability, Info- Tech recognizes those use-cases as Scenarios, and calls attention to them where they exist. Controller Upgrade (NO array downtime) Controller Upgrade (WITH array downtime) Leveraging of Third Party Storage All vendors can add capacity through expansion shelves. For an explanation of how Scenarios are determined, please see Vendor Landscape Methodology: Information Presentation in the Appendix. 14

15 NetApp now brings flash performance to the entry level of its flagship FAS systems Champion Product: Employees: Headquarters: Website: Founded: Presence: FAS2200 series 12,200+ Sunnyvale, California NASDAQ: NTAP FY11 Revenue: $6.2 B 3 year TCO for this solution falls into pricing tier 5, between $25,000 and $50,000 $1 $1M+ Pricing provided by vendor. Overview Recognized as a leader in unified storage, NetApp has improved its FAS2200 line by adding Flash Pool SSD-based caching technology, and consolidating its management tools to further simplify administration. Strengths With a common platform and tool set across its storage portfolio, NetApp facilitates evolution from entry to enterprise. Introduction of Flash Pools brings flash performance to entry level systems where cost of Flash Cache might be out of reach. VMware integration continues to be a strong point for NetApp, with extensive block and NAS VMware API support, and one of the only vendors to bring VMware APIs for Storage Awareness and Site Recovery Manager to its entry level products. Advanced technologies and tools for thin provisioning, thin replication, thin snapshots, inline compression, deduplication, and efficient use of flash all help optimize disk utilization, as well as network bandwidth utilization. Challenges As more and more vendors are building out unified capabilities into their products, NetApp will need to push differentiation into new areas. Info-Tech customers express discontent with increases to maintenance and support costs following initial contract terms. 15

16 NetApp has been excelling in the small to mid-range since its inception, and with an appealing price point to boot Vendor Landscape What we re hearing NetApp really shined with their snap manager products, which integrated with SQL, Oracle, and Exchange. It was a big way for us to backup our major databases and get them off of tape. Michael Parker, Lead Storage Engineer, Acuity Brands Value Index NetApp was similar to the EMC... They both have 40 different line items and at the end of the day... Network & Systems Administrator, Transportation Industry st out of 7 Info-Tech Recommends: Organizations looking for flexible storage solutions for their virtual environments with a comprehensive set of available disk utilization and redundancy features should definitely consider NetApp. 16