Storage News

• EMC using Samsung SSDs?

Recently I read EMC snuggles Samsung NAND into flash drives • The Register

Apparently EMC is now OEMing Samsung SSD drives. Samsung drives have pretty reliably been nothing to write home about performance wise, and the size is rather less than the drives EMC OEMs from stec (200/400 right now, while the rest of the industry only gets the 200). The interface is also interesting, although EMC can just slap a paddle card on the drive to fit into any of their Arrays.

I'm betting with the performance and size that these drives are either meant to be extremely low cost compared to the STEC, or this is for something else than the Symmetrix or Clariion.

• IBM's new midrange array

IBM Storwize V7000 Midrange Disk System - Overview

Let's look at the new features you find in your average ENTERPRISE storage array announcement these days:
1. Automated Storage Tiering
2. Thin provisioning
The missing piece seems to be deduplication.

The IBM v7000 just announced all of that in one of their midrange products, with added variable extent size (the size of space consumed on physical platters when thin luns expand).

It's a very aggressive product announcement. The variable extent size could potentially be exciting, or potentially be pointless. EMC crows its 768KB extent size for better SSD performance with automated storage teiring while HDS is stuck at 42MB. 3PAR, the industry pioneer in all things thin also is at 768KB.

I'm excited about the product, but in the back of my mind, I know why IBM sells more EMC storage than anyone else....IBM's own storage lines typically are underpowered.

• 3PAR CEO to head up HP Storageworks

HP purchased 3PAR for one or more of the following reasons:
1. Keep it out of Dell's hands
2. Have their own enterprise product to stop reselling HDS
3. Fix their conglomeration of hell that is the Storageworks department

Obviously, HP paid way too much for 3PAR. Everyone who looks at the deal will say it. But by keeping it out of Dell's hands they can help prevent Dell from growing it's presence in the enterprise class.

HDS has steadily been on the decline in sales lately, Their feature sets beyond "high performance" aren't really used and lack serious features other competitors have. If you want to be taken seriously, you can't just OEM some other company.

Finally, Storageworks is a disaster. The only product line selling well is the LeftHand acquisitions, because the HP sales force is smart enough to bundle it into sales with the blade enclosures in order to sell a total solution. HP has its own product lines and also resells HDS. If HP wants a true storage division, it's going to need to successfully integrate 3PAR, get rid of its HDS business, and turf the EVA.