lab review emc xtremio: a leader in all-flash tco · advanced flash technologies: ... lab...

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

http://research.esg-global.com/reportaction/ITSI2016/Toc

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


HighlightsoftheXtremIOdesigninclude:

AdvancedFlashTechnologies:Enterprise-gradeflashstorage,anRDMAbackplane,andglobalin-memorymetadatatechnologywerecombinedtocreateN-wayactivescale-outclustersthatarepurposebuiltforflash,requirenotuning,andleveragecost-effectivecommodityhardware.XtremIOstoragesystemsdeliverconsistentandpredictablesub-msresponsetimesforworkloadsoneveryvolume,includingnestedcopiesofvolumes.Userdataisautomaticallyandinherentlyevenlydistributedacrossallresources,allowingforevenflashenduranceandperformancethatdoesnotdegradeathigherutilization.



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.

https://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/esg-lab-emc-xtremio-tco-analysis.pdf



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


ExtendingESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisModeltoLeadingAll-FlashArrays

TobetterunderstandhowthedesignchoicesmadeindevelopingXtremIOtranslateintobusinessvalue,ESGLabhasnowcreatedadditionalmodelsoffourleadingall-flashstorageofferingsfromfourotherstoragevendors.ESGLabusedthesamemodeleddevelopmentorganizationanddidnotchangeanyofthemodelassumptionsfromtheoriginalreportwhencomparingtheTCOofXtremIOtoall-flasharrayofferingsfromeachoftheothervendors.Everyeffortwasmadetouseconservativeassumptionsthatprovideaneutralcomparisonandprovidesomeflexibilityinpricedconfigurationstobefairwhencomparingall-flashstorageofferings.

ESGLabcalculatedthestoragerequirementsforeachsystembasedonproductiondatabasesthattotaled3.4TBofcapacityandrequired43,000IOPS.Thenecessarycapacityandperformancerequirementswerethencalculatedforeveryotheroperation(development,test/QA,etc.)basedonthenumberoffullcopiesoftheproductionDBrequired,the




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.




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.


FIGURE4.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorA




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



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.


FIGURE5.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorB


XtremIOVersusLimitedScale-outAll-FlashVendorC

VendorCwasanall-flashstoragearrayfromawell-establishedtechnologyvendorthatwaspurposebuiltonproprietaryhardwarewithagoalofprovidingtraditionalSANstorageconnectivitywithverylowlatencies.Thesystemwasinitiallydesignedtooptimizeforperformanceanddidnotincludeanyintegrateddataservicescapabilities.DataserviceswereaddedlaterthroughasetofHAstoragevirtualizationappliancesplacedinfrontofthestorage,amplifyingthenumberofstorageoperationsthatarerequired,andintroducinganewpotentialperformanceand

scalingbottleneck.Thesystemwasdesignedarounddualcontrollersinascale-upactive/activecontrollerarchitecturethat



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.



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.


FIGURE6.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorC




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



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.


FIGURE7.ResultsofESGLab’sFive-yearTCOAnalysisComparingXtremIOtoVendorD


LabReview:EMCXtremIO:ALeaderinAll-FlashTCO 13


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


InadditiontoofferingtheloweststorageTCOamongtheall-flashvendors,XtremIOwouldbeexpectedtodeliverthelargesteconomicadvantagetothemodeledsoftwaredevelopmentorganizationoverthefive-yearperiod.Whencomparedtomostoftheotherfourvendors,theXtremIOsolutionwouldbeexpectedtoprovidemorepredictableperformanceandquickerrecoveryfortheproductiondatabase,resultinginincreasedcustomerretention,fewerlostsales,andtheabilitytobenefitfromtheresultsofrunningdailyanalyticsonthesamesystem.Astheonlyall-flashvendortooffertrulyadvancedcopytechnology(XVC)andintegratedcopydatamanagement(iCDM),XtremIOcouldgreatlysimplifyandacceleratethejobofprovidingcopiesofdatafortest,development,QA,andgo-livetestingwithlittletonoimpactto



theproductiondatabase.Theabilitiestoquicklyroll-forwardandroll-backchangestothesecopieshavebeenprovenincustomerenvironmentstoresultinshorterdevelopmentcyclesfornewproductsandquickerpatchingandenhancementstoexistingproductlines.ThisfastertimetoproductrevenuestreamsandincreasedcustomerretentionforexistingproductshelpsfurtherjustifyaninvestmentinXtremIO.Figure9belowillustratestheadditionaleconomicimpactthatthemodeledorganizationwouldbeexpectedtorealizebydeployinganXtremIOsolutionratherthananyofthefourothervendor’sall-flashsolutionsoverthefive-yearmodeledtimeframe.

FIGURE9.AdditionalEconomicBenefitsExpectedfromanXtremIODeploymentOverOtherAFAs


WhyThisMattersBynowthebenefitsofflashtechnologyarewellknownandwellunderstood.Organizationsunderstandtheadvantagesgainedbyselectinganext-generationpurpose-builtall-flasharraydesignedtotakeadvantageofthebenefitsofflashtechnologyoversimplyaddingflashdrivestoatraditionalstoragesystemwithtraditionallimitations.Understandingthedifferencesbetweendesignchoicesmadebynext-generationAFAvendors,however,ishardertounderstandwithoutperformingathorougheconomicanalysis.

ESGLabmodeledthestorageTCOandadditionaleconomicbusinessbenefitsthatcouldbeachievedbydeployingnext-generationall-flashsolutionsfromfourleadingstoragevendors.WhileeachofthesolutionsofferedsubstantialTCOsavingsandexpectedeconomicbenefitstothemodeledorganizationoverdeployingatraditionaldisk-basedsolution,asingleXtremIOX-BrickprovedtooffertheloweststorageTCOandprovidedthehighestexpectedeconomicimpacttothebusiness.WithuniqueabilitiessuchasXVCadvancedvirtualcopytechnologyandintegratedcopydatamanagement(iCDM),XtremIOhelpedprovideastorageTCOthatwas1.2Xto2.3XlowerthantheotherAFAswhilehelpingtogenerateupto$645,000inadditionalexpectedeconomicbusinessbenefitsannually.



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




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.



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


\RequirementsshowninTable5areYear1startingcapacities;theESGLabmodelassumed7.5%annualeffectivecapacitygrowthrate.

StorageTCOModelAssumptions–XtremIO

• TheXtremIOmodelconsolidatedalloftheproduction,development,testing,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsintoasinglestoragesystem.Thiswasmadepossiblebythenatureofthewritablevirtualcopies,andthescalable,consistent,low-latencyperformancedeliveredbythesystem.



• TheXtremIOmodelrequiredfarlesscapacityduetoadvancedspaceefficiencyandthenatureofzerocapacity,writablesnapshots.

• AsingleX-BrickXtremIOclusterwassufficienttohandleallworkloadssimultaneouslywhilealsodeliveringconsistentlylowerlatencyperformancefortheproductiondatabase.

• WithXtremIO,therewasnoneedforstagingcopiesbecauseallcopiesresideonthesamesystem.

• EachcopyofthedatabaseandVMsrequiredverylittlecapacity(onlythechangeddataformanualandautomaticsnapshots)andstoredspaceefficiently.

FIGURE11.XtremIOSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


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.



o 24%lesstimespentprovisioning/mappinganddealingwithperformanceissues.

o 36%lesstimemanagingbackups.

o 23%lesstimemanagingcopiesofdata.

FIGURE12.VendorASolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


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.





FIGURE13.VendorBSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


StorageTCOModelAssumptions–VendorC

• VendorC’ssolutionconsistedoftwologicallyandphysicallyseparatedpoolsofstoragelocatedontwodifferentsizesofflashmodules.

• TheproductionDBandGoLiveenvironmentwasplacedacrosssixflashmodulestotalingjustover7TBofrawcapacityandallotherfunctions(test,dev,QA,VDI,andservervirtualization)wasplacedacrosstenflashmodulestotalingabout57TBofrawcapacity.

• Thedeploymentconsistedoftwoflashcontrollers,twoexternalstoragevirtualizationengines,andtwoscale-updiskenclosures.

• Compressionsavingsof2:1wererealizedfortest/devandQAfunctionsand4:1forservervirtualization.CompressionwasnotusedfortheproductionDB,go-live,andVDIenvironmentsduetopotentialperformanceimpactonorbytheexternalvirtualizationappliances.


• Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementwascalculatedat40.5hrs.byasingleadmin(vs.23.2hrs.forXtremIO).XtremIOhadadistinctadvantageinmostareasofmanagementactivity,someduetothefactthatthereweretwolevelsofstoragetomanageandmonitor(flashandvirtualizedlayer).Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,largerpercentagesmaynotindicategreatermagnitudeoftimesavings):


o 93%lesstimemonitoringandconsolidatingreports.

o 32%lessdailytasksystemmanagementtime.


o 42%lesstimeservicingandinstallingcomponents.




FIGURE14.VendorCSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


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).


• Weeklyadministrationofstorage-relatedactivitiesandcopydatamanagementwascalculatedat80.7hrs.bytwoadmins(vs.23.2hrs.andoneadminforXtremIO).XtremIOhadadistinctadvantageinalmosteveryareaofmanagementactivity,duetothefactthatthereweretwosystemsofstoragetomanageandmonitor,andfarmorecomplexCDM.Keyareasofimprovementinclude(note,largerpercentagesmaynotindicategreatermagnitudeoftimesavings):


o 88%lesstimemonitoringandconsolidatingreports.



o 25%lessdailytasksystemmanagementtime.


o 44%lesstimeservicingandinstallingcomponents.


FIGURE15.VendorDSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


SummaryofRawCapacityRequiredByYearandITFunction

Table6comparesthephysicalcapacityrequiredforeachITfunction(includingDB,copies,VMwaredatastores,snapshotsetc.).PleaserefertoAppendixFigures12-15andFigure3forasummaryofwhatisincludedineachITfunction(eachblueboxrepresentsanITfunction,plusVDI).AllfunctionswereconsolidatedontoasingleXtremIOX-BrickorNext-genAFAwiththeexceptionofVendorD,whichrequiredtwosystems.Thedifferencesincapacityrequirementsarealsoexplainedinfurtherdetailfollowingthetable.\

TABLE6.VendorCSolutionUsedinFive-yearTCOAnalysis


Factorsresultinginhigherrawcapacityfortraditionalstoragesolution,asshowninTable6:

• RAIDprotection/Systemoverhead:

o ~20%overheadforXtremIO(dataprotection,rebuildsparing,metadataoverhead).



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.



FIGURE16.ComparisonofStorageCapacityUsedforPROD(ProductionDatabaseandRelatedFunctions)


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.



• 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.

Alltrademarknamesarepropertyoftheirrespectivecompanies.InformationcontainedinthispublicationhasbeenobtainedbysourcesTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup(ESG)considerstobereliablebutisnotwarrantedbyESG.ThispublicationmaycontainopinionsofESG,whicharesubjecttochange.ThispublicationiscopyrightedbyTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.Anyreproductionorredistributionofthispublication,inwholeorinpart,whetherinhard-copyformat,electronically,orotherwisetopersonsnotauthorizedtoreceiveit,withouttheexpressconsentofTheEnterpriseStrategyGroup,Inc.,isinviolationofU.S.copyrightlawandwillbesubjecttoanactionforcivildamagesand,ifapplicable,criminalprosecution.Shouldyouhaveanyquestions,pleasecontactESGClientRelationsat508.482.0188.

ThegoalofESGLabreportsistoeducateITprofessionalsaboutdatacentertechnologyproductsforcompaniesofalltypesandsizes.ESGLabreportsarenotmeanttoreplacetheevaluationprocessthatshouldbeconductedbeforemakingpurchasingdecisions,butrathertoprovideinsightintotheseemergingtechnologies.Ourobjectiveistogooversomeofthemorevaluablefeature/functionsofproducts,showhowtheycanbeusedtosolverealcustomerproblemsandidentifyanyareasneedingimprovement.ESGLab'sexpertthird-partyperspectiveisbasedonourownhands-ontestingaswellasoninterviewswithcustomerswhousetheseproductsinproductionenvironments.

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