By VSM News Staff

published: Wednesday, May 07 2008

Report Identifies Shifts in Fibre Channel Storage Market and Forecasts Growth for Highly Virtualized Storage Arrays.

According to the report, the Fibre Channel storage systems market is "undergoing tremendous architectural and technology transition as end user purchasing criteria shift." Taneja cites the new emphasis on price-performance, energy efficiency, capacity optimization, and simplified storage management among these shifting criteria. In addition, the report asserts that server consolidation through the use of server virtualization technologies continues to be one of the strongest drivers for change in the infrastructure. "Consolidated, virtualized server infrastructure drives the need for advanced storage virtualization capabilities," states the report.

"We have a situation where a new class of storage systems designed to provide a simpler, more efficient, high-performance alternative to traditional monolithic and dual-controller arrays are posing a serious challenge to the status quo," said Arun Taneja, Founder and Consulting Analyst for the Taneja Group. "This new breed of storage systems directly addresses the needs of the virtualized datacenter--something that traditional storage systems were never designed to do."

The report identifies key trends in the marketplace that Taneja believes are responsible for the forecasted shift away from traditional monolithic storage. These trends include the rise of storage consolidation initiatives based on ROI optimization, the prioritization of green storage in purchasing decisions, the use of virtualization and automated management to reduce OPEX, and the need for a more agile and dynamic infrastructure to support service-oriented IT. "Server virtualization and consolidation, green storage initiatives, and the need to contain OPEX costs associated with storage management are forcing users to rethink their traditional storage solutions," states the report.

In the report, "next-generation" storage is defined by Taneja as a new class of systems that meet a majority of a stated list of criteria which includes the use of clustered controller design, sub-disk virtualization, self-configuring and self-tuning storage, automated storage tiering, and "thin technologies." Thin technologies are defined as features that enable capacity to be dedicated on write, not on allocation. This includes support for "reservationless" snapshots, where only a single copy of changed volume data is stored for all snapshots associated with a given volume.

The report segments next-generation Fibre Channel storage systems into two main markets--"high-end storage" and "mid-range systems." High-end Fibre Channel storage systems are defined by Taneja as those suited for the most demanding I/O workloads and the most mission-critical datacenter applications. Products are classified as "high-end" due to their random I/O performance, partitioning and security capabilities, and scalability characteristics. According to Taneja, next-generation storage from vendors such as 3PAR represents an evolution in storage system design and offers a simpler, more efficient, high-performance alternative to traditional monolithic storage systems from vendors such as EMC, IBM, and Hitachi Data Systems. 

"We believe that the shifting priorities of datacenters and IT organizations have increased the demand for alternatives to traditional storage," said David Scott, CEO and President of 3PAR. "Particularly in the area of server virtualization, next-generation storage has been proven to reduce physical capacity needs, ensure high performance, and increase flexibility in the infrastructure. 3PAR's highly virtualized, utility-based approach is designed to integrate with server virtualization technologies to provide an alternative for customers who want to build a complete utility computing infrastructure."

A full version of the Taneja Group report is available at: www.3PAR.com

About Taneja Group

Taneja Group's mission is to provide analysis and consulting for the storage industry and strongly co-related aspects of the server industry that are crucial for the development of the next-generation datacenter. Taneja Group serves various constituencies including Technology Vendors, IT users, Venture Capitalists, Institutional Investors, and the Press by delivering research and analysis that covers all aspects of the storage industry--from hardware and software components to complete systems. For the server industry, research and analysis performed by the Taneja Group covers server blades, server virtualization, and various technologies with the potential to play a major role in the next-generation datacenter. In focusing on the needs of IT End Users in mid- to large-size enterprises and government agencies, Taneja Group reports on all vertical and horizontal markets where storage and co-related, next-generation server technologies are employed.

About 3PAR

3PAR® (NYSE Arca: PAR) is the leading global provider of utility storage, a category of highly virtualized, tightly-clustered, and dynamically-tiered storage arrays built for utility computing. Organizations use utility computing to build cost-effective virtualized IT infrastructures for flexible workload consolidation. 3PAR Utility Storage gives customers an alternative to traditional arrays by delivering resilient infrastructure with increased agility at a lower total cost to meet their rapidly changing business needs. As a pioneer of thin provisioning--a green technology developed to address storage underutilization and inefficiencies--3PAR offers products designed to minimize power consumption and promote environmental responsibility. With 3PAR, customers have reduced the costs of allocated storage capacity, administration, and SAN infrastructure while increasing adaptability and resiliency. 3PAR Utility Storage is built to meet the demands of open systems consolidation, integrated data lifecycle management, and performance-intensive applications. For more information, visit the 3PAR Website at: www.3PAR.com.