It is easy to be glib about such things as
storage efficiency. In principle, things are clear enough - for
example, cut through a lot of the rhetoric about
green IT in general, and green storage in particular, and we
see a picture of reducing power, cutting costs and removing
operational overheads.
In some ways it was ever thus, but from San Diego to London's
Docklands, datacentres are coming up against some hard stops. The
problem has been building up for a while.
"There is no point in such-and-such supplier coming and telling
me about their latest blades," said one CIO to me a year or so ago,
"when I cannot even get enough power into the room to run the
things. I have tried to tell them but they will not listen."
Well, now the suppliers are listening - the message is loud and
clear. Having in many cases run out of capacity, IT needs efficient
servers and efficient storage, and suppliers are queuing up to
demonstrate their own credentials.
For a start, we are seeing a most welcome level of competition
between suppliers in terms of the cost-effectiveness and power
efficiency of their base kit. In addition, there are a number of
specific technologies that are enabling better use of storage
hardware - we expect spin-down of disks to become a more general
feature of the larger arrays for example, and solid state disks
will likely also play a part in the storage architecture.
But there is far more to efficiency than a power-optimised
hardware platform. Making the best, most efficient use of storage
assets, needs software that can manage both the hardware platform,
and the data that resides there. There are a plethora of options,
from data classification, migration, archiving, indexing and
de-duplication, all of which play their part.
We also have
storage virtualisation - this has seen limited success thus
far, but looks set to achieve wider adoption over the next couple
of years we also expect more widespread use of provisioning
technologies, such that storage can be allocated as it is required
from the wider pool.
Such technologies are all well and good - but what is preventing
organisations from adopting them? This is very much a carrot and
stick question. When a business case for a new technology is being
put together, either one must present a compelling explanation of
business gains (the carrot), or an equally compelling reason why
the procurement is unavoidable (the stick).
Despite best intentions and long-term benefits,
efficiency-oriented technologies must fight for priority with all
the other possible procurements an organisation might wish to
consider at any given moment. And even if an efficiency-related
technology may look attractive in principle, it then needs to be
deployed in what is unlikely to be a green field: both
infrastructure and operational (or even political) hurdles may need
to be overcome before it can be accepted in practice.
On this last point, it has repeatedly been shown that without
the right people and processes in place, even the best technology
in the world can go to waste. This is not just about getting it
right at the top: the rank and file have a major role to play when
it comes to efficiency improvements (and, furthermore, there is
generally the will to do so, particularly if there is a green
benefit). Where organisations sometimes fall down is in ensuring
that employees are fully appraised of what is planned - at this
point the front line can feel ignored, and may offer up unnecessary
resistance as a result.
All in all, of course, it is worth looking into what technical
innovations exist that may make for a more efficient storage
architecture. But there is more to storage than technology alone.
By considering efficient storage within the wider context of more
efficient IT service delivery, organisations are more likely to
reap its benefits.
Jon Collins, service director at Freeform Dynamics, leads a
panel on Architecting for Effectiveness and Efficiency in the
keynote programme at Storage Expo
the UK's definitive event for data storage, information and content
management. The event features a comprehensive free education
programme and over 100 exhibitors at the National Hall, Olympia,
London from 15-16 October 2008.