For decades, enterprises have maintained separate storage systems: one for frequently accessed data that requires high performance and another for infrequently used data that requires lower-cost storage options. This primary/secondary approach to storage has been problematic, often resulting in higher management overhead, difficulties migrating data on a regular basis, significant inefficiencies, and higher costs. It reflected the industry’s hardware-centric view of storage systems, which were often described by the type of media used (e.g. tape, AFAs, JBODs, etc.).
Software-defined storage (SDS) allows IT to break free from this hardware-centric universe to a world where storage is just storage. As data becomes increasingly dynamic and the relative proportion of hot, warm, and cooler data changes over time, the temperatures/tier classifications will eventually become “shades of gray,” negating the need to have separate primary and secondary storage systems.
Another common myth that SDS dispels is that you need to migrate from one storage platform to another such as file to object. These are just artificial constructs for how to interface with the data, and a system like DataCore’s is able to handle both without compromise. DataCore software makes intelligent decisions on each piece of data, placing it in the tier it belongs given its performance and cost requirements, and optimizes performance, utilization, and cost dynamically.
Interested in learning more about DataCore software-defined storage? Register for a guided technical product tour to learn how SDS makes your storage infrastructure modern, performant and flexible.
