I loved this blog entry about Web 2.0 because the last paragraph is beginning to have relevance in our own world of Storage.
"The lesson to take away is that, in this cycle anyway, the hard architectural problems have been solved to a "good enough" degree, now its about making them easier to use etc. Its like post war cars – once it was sorted out how they worked, where to put the pedals etc, it became largely a styling game for quite a while."
Despite a lot of the huffing and puffing by the various vendors, I think that we are about to enter a cycle where this is true for array-based storage. Most vendors, if you have a serious and open conversation admit that their competitors arrays are pretty much good enough for what-ever you want them to do. Of course, there are a few features which differentiate but they are all catching up with each other in this space.
It will get harder and harder to choose between vendors based on features; it is going to come down to useability, manageability and reliability.
The array is heading towards functional maturity and after this year is done, I'm expecting the battle-ground to move to the skies.
I’ve argued for a long time about the commoditisation of the storage array. It helps for vendor negotiations, makes developing a service catalogue easier, and with a little planning means as you rightly mention, most arrays are up to the job. What will be relevant, as you say, Martin, is manageability/reliability etc. Reference my post on DMX-4 being the worst for wastage; also my post on having a consistent interface; most relevant as we move forward…
I think the analogy is broken.
Think of the pedals and steering wheel like your access protocols. NFS, CIFS, FC, iSCSI etc.
They all work the same way from a user’s perspective but are different depending on the manufacturer of the car. Some might have fly by wire, some might use speed sensitive steering etc. But the all look and feel pretty much the same. Underneath the covers however they are all different and you can’t be buying spares for a BMW and expect to fit them into your Ferrari.
Everything else is the vendor specific bells and whistles. Switchgear, dimming headlights, satnav, folding mirrors. It’s all the management consoles, GUIs and so on. Different for each and you can work them out with a bit of playing around.
All that really matters, is performance, handling and mpg.
Would you like your skins in Dark Walnut or Avocado Green?