2012: IT Executives and the Channel Will Demand Non-Proprietary, Comprehensive Storage Virtualization Solutions

A contributed article by Momchil Michailov - CEO and Co-Founder, Sanbolic

You would be hard-pressed to find anyone that does not agree that the rate at which enterprise workloads are becoming virtualized is increasing exponentially.  In fact, most industry experts agree that over 80% of server workloads will be virtualized by 2018.  In response, 2012 will mark a year in which an overabundance of products to address this space will flood the market (adding to the accumulation that already exists).  Many of these products will fall under the heading "storage."  However, while they will claim to finally solve the storage virtualization challenge - the truth is that most will only address a very small, often proprietary, piece of the puzzle.

2012 will mark the year in which IT executives, as well as the industry's top channel players, resolve to not settle for anything less than a fully comprehensive approach that will help them to avoid the challenges a poorly implemented, monitored and managed storage virtualization architecture can introduce    including: application inflexibility, inconsistent performance, inability to scale cost effectively, multiple single points-of-failure, Hypervisor lock-in, security exposures, inefficient storage utilization, and increased storage CapEx and OpEx.  They will demand solutions that deliver dramatically improved performance, extend scalability, simplify management and reduce costs within virtualized, cloud computing and virtual desktop (VDI) environments.

The solutions that will earn the confidence of the market, will be those that enable IT organizations to:

-      Remove the rigid binding between application and storage, for improved workload agility.

-      Provision storage resources to meet unpredictable application requirements, for consistent performance.

-      Centrally manage storage resources, to reduce operational overhead, and assure dynamic provision volumes, data protection policies, and quality of service (QoS).

-      Provide shared access to application data, to ensure high availability (HA).

By leveraging solutions that provide these capabilites, customers can embark upon an efficient and effective storage virtualization initiative, which among other things, can truly mark the beginning of a highly productive, and potentially profitable, cloud computing endeavor.

May I conclude by speaking on behalf of the IT executive and channel community, by quoting the ever popular lyrics made famous by the band Twisted Sister, "Oh, we're not gonna take it; no, we ain't gonna take it; oh we're not gonna take it anymore."

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About the Author

Momchil Michailov has served as CEO since 2000. Prior to founding Sanbolic, Michailov was a co founder and CEO of Number One GM, Inc. where he oversaw the company from a SAN hardware distribution start-up to a leader in the broadcast workgroup software space. The company was acquired by Autodesk in 1999.  Michailov brings over 15 years of storage expertise and has a background in technology and film production with degrees from the National Academy of Film and Art in Sofia, and the Bulgarian Economic Institute.