VMware is hot and VMware with storage seems to be really hot. Just look at the spate of announcements with regards to arrays which are specifically targeted at VMware; announcement after announcement in past few weeks.
But are we looking at a bubble? We are certainly getting some bizarre announcements, iSCSI flash arrays which only allegedly support VMware? And is this targeting not a huge risk?
As an end-user, I would be loathe to purchase something which was so locked into specific infrastructure stack.
I am looking for devices which allow a certain amount of flexibility in deployment scenarios. And yes, I do have some storage which is specifically targeted for specialist workloads but I am not tied to a specialist workload platform. I can change the application which generates the workload.
Building storage arrays which only target VMware seems pretty much as dumb to me as building arrays which only support Windows. There may be a short term advantage but as a strategic play, I’m not convinced.
It’s a VC check box thing.
“I’m building a storage array which supports VMware and has data deduplication”.
‘Doing a quick set of numbers here I added up all the M&A exits and it comes to Eleventy Billion Dollars. Funding approved.