Software-defined storage makes it possible for organizations to easily scale up or down their storage capacity to meet their business needs. Software-defined data centers offers a virtualized data center infrastructure, offering organizations the same scalabiity.
The two concepts go hand in hand. We'll go over what that looks like here.
What is Software-Defined Storage
Software-defined storage (SDS) is an architecture that separates storage from hardware. SDS makes replacing, upgrading, or expanding hardware easier without disrupting operations.
For example, if an organization has a handful of servers, each server may have a different storage capacity and require different software. Software-defined storage allows you to take the storage capacity from the hardware and put it somewhere where the capacity is flexible and scalable.
SDS is part of hyperconverged infrastructure — in essence, software defines your infastructure instead of physical hardware. SDS isn't a cloud; instead, SDS is a layer that feeds data into the cloud. While SDS has cloud storage features, they aren't as comprehensive as a cloud environment.
Software-Defined Storage Solutions in Data Centers
Besides software-defined storage, there are also software-defined data centers. A software-defined data center (SDDC) is a data storage facility in which the infrastructure is virtualized and delivered as a service.
The concept of SDDC is still relatively new but is gaining in popularity. There are three major building blocks of SDDC:
- Network virtualization. The available bandwidth splits network resources into independent channels that can be assigned and reassigned to servers and devices in real time.
- Storage virtualization. Physical storage from multiple network storage devices is combined into what appears to be a single storage device.
- Server virtualization. Individual physical servers are masked from server users.
SDDC will gain to gain market share in the coming years as more companies adopt it.
Software-defined data centers use storage virtualization to pool resources and eliminate disconnection between storage systems. By virtualizing storage, organizations can provision storage from the pool.
It will no longer take weeks to add more storage capacity as it would if additional hardware is needed: software-defined storage at the data center level is easily scalable.
The Future of Software-Defined Storage in Data Center
Software-defined storage plays a crucial role in data center and edge technologies.
One trend we expect to see more of in software-defined storage and data centers is the growth of hyperconverged. Usually, in a hyperconverged storage system, a virtual data plane or hypervisor manages storage resources. The benefit of hyperconverged infrastructures is that networking, storage, and computer are kept together in one system.
Artificial intelligence is continuing to be crucial for automating storage tasks. The real-time response of AI allows for quick reactions to any potential threats.
How Anteris Can Help
We're staying in front of the data storage trends. We've seen what is coming and built out our data center to meet the future needs of our Clients.
While we might have said that software-defined data centers are a newer idea, they are the core of what we do at Anteris. SDDC entirely powers our datacenter.
We can combine hardware to create greater resilience. We can do this in various ways, such as linking onsite servers to our data center or installing edge servers on the same site so that if one fails, others are online. These solutions could easily cost up to $100,000, putting a significant strain on your bottom line. At Anteris, we've already made these investments—and more–allowing our Clients to access enterprise-level technology at a fraction of the cost.
That's the benefit of DCaaS: turning what would usually be a considerable capital expense into an operating expense.
If you're ready to talk about upgrading your IT setup or have more questions, we're here.
