2020 Predictions 50 vendors - Panasas€¦ · 2020 Predictions StorageNewsletter 2 List of Companies Summary of vendors’ predictions 4 Actifio (Ash Ashutosh, CEO) 5 Atempo (Luc

2020Predictions50vendorsJanuary2020

PhilippeNicolasStorageNewsletter

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 2

ListofCompanies

Summaryofvendors’predictions 4

Actifio(AshAshutosh,CEO) 5

Atempo(Lucd’Urso,CEO) 6

BambooSystems(TonyCraythorne,CEO) 6

Caringo(AdrianHerrera,VPMarketing) 6

Cloudian(NeilStobart,VPGlobalSystemEngineering) 7

Clumio(ChaddKenney,VP&ChiefTechnologist) 8

Cohesity(LynnLucas,CMO) 9

Commvault 9

CTeraNetworks(AronBrand,CTO) 10

DataDynamics(PiyushMehta,CEO) 11

DataCore(GerardoDada,CMO) 11

Datrium(SazzalaReddy,CTO) 12

DDN(AlexBouzari,CEO) 12

DriveScale(TomLyon,ChiefScientist,BrianPawlowski,CTO&DeniseShiffman,CPO)13

ExaGrid(BillAndrews,CEO) 13

FujiFilmRecordingMediaUS(PeterFaulhaber,President) 14

Hammerspace(BrendanWolfe,VPProductMarketing) 14

HitachiVantara(HuYoshida,CTO) 15

HYCU(SimonTaylor,CEO) 16

Infinidat(StanleyZaffos,SVPProductMarketing) 17

iXsystems(MikeLauth,CEO) 18

Kaminario(EyalDavid,CTO) 18

Kaseya(MichaelSanders,GMofUnitrendsandSpanning) 19

Komprise(KrishnaSubramanian,President&COO) 19

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 3

LightbitsLabs(EranKirzner,CEO) 20

MemVerge(CharlesFan,CEO) 21

Minio(AnandBabuPeriasamy,CEO) 22

Nasuni(RussKennedy,CPO) 22

NGDSystems(ScottShadley,VPMarketing) 23

Panasas(CurtisAnderson,SeniorSoftwareArchitect) 23

PavilionDataSystems(VRSatish,CTO) 24

Portworx(MurliThirumale,CEO) 24

PureStorage(MattKixmoeller,VPStrategy) 25

Quantum(EricBassier,SeniorDirectorofProductMarketing) 26

Qumulo(MollyPresley,GlobalProductMarketingDirector) 27

Reduxio(JacobCherian,CMO) 27

ScaleComputing(AlanConboy,officeoftheCTO) 28

Scality(PaulSpeciale,CPO) 28

SpectraLogic(MattStarr,CTO) 29

StorCentric(SuryaVaranasi,CTO) 29

StorMagic(BruceKornfeld,CMO&GM-Americas) 30

StorONE(GalNaor,CEO) 31

StrongBoxDataSolutions(FloydChristofferson) 31

TalonStorage(JaapvanDuijvenbode,ProductDirector) 32

Virtana(TimVanAsh,SVPProducts) 33

Weebit(CobyHanoch,CEO) 34

WekaIO(AndyWatson,CTO) 35

WesternDigital(PhilBullinger,SVPandGM) 35

Zadara(JeffFrancis,Sr.EnterpriseSolutionsArchitect) 36

Zerto(GijsbertJanssenvanDoorn,TechnologyEvangelist) 37

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 4

Summaryofvendors’predictionsAfewdaysfollowingthe2019vendors’factsandreviewpublication,wepublishour«classic»annualvendors’predictionsfor2020.Wecollect50opinionsandconsolidatethemtofindsomemajorstrendsanddirectionsforthestorageindustry:1. Withoutanysurprise,Cloudarrives#1invariousflavors(multi,hybrid,on-

premises,private,edge)2. NewdevicesandconnectivityaroundFlash,NVMe(oF),SCM/PM,QLC3. Kubernetesofcourseandcontainers4. AnalyticsandAI5. Objectstorage

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 5

Actifio(AshAshutosh,CEO)1. AIwilldominatenewappsandmakedatare-useevenmoreimportant

Whilethesingularityhasnothappenedyet,we’reapproachingitinsoftwaredevelopment.Asdatabecomesmoreheavilygoverned,controlledandcollected,machinelearningwillbeapredominantwayforittobeleveraged.Gartnersaysenterpriseadoptionofartificialintelligenceandmachinelearning(AI/ML)hastripledinthelastyearalone,andthat37percentoforganizationshavenowembracedAI/ML.IDCpredictsthatby2025,atleast90%ofnewenterpriseappswillembedAI/ML.Data-powereddecisions,includingtheuseofroboticprocessautomation(RPA)willeclipsehuman-powereddecisionsintermsofthevolumeofdecisionsCloudvendorslikeGoogleandIBMhavedramaticallyloweredthebarrierstoadoptionanduseofAI/ML,levelingtheplayingfieldfororganizationsofanysizetobecomedata-driven.We’veseenthisphenomenonmorerecentlywithgenesplicingthatreducedthecostfrommillionsofdollarstoaround$20.MIT’snewSchwarzmanCollegeofComputingwilllaythefoundationforcomputingasabasicskill,justasmathis,andfurtherenableexponentialadoptionofcomputingineverydaylife.Similartotherapidevolutionoftestdatamanagement(TDM)fromanesotericpracticemorethan10yearsagotoaubiquitouspartofeveryorganizationtoday,Iseetheriseofanalyticsdatamanagement(ADM)asthenewprocessforrapidadoptionofAI/MLandimprovingtheaccuracyofdata-drivendecisions.Onethingiscertain:allthismachinelearningwillplayamajorroleinmakingdataanevenmorestrategicasset.

2. Hardwarelock-inisback...pretendingtobesoftware

Thereisanewgenerationofdeduplicationappliancevendorslookingtodisplacemonolithic,previous-generationhardwareplatforms.Buttheybringsomeofthesamedangersthatcustomerscametoregretwiththelegacystoragevendorsofthepreviousera.Thewolvesaredressedinthesheep’sclothingofbuzzwordslike“scale-out”and“software-based”butmakenomistake:usersarelockedintoexpensive“certified”hardware.Nothingscalesoutmorethancloudobjectstorage(whichiswhatActifioleveragesforstoringbackupswhilestillprovidinginstantmountandrecoveries).Atrulymoderndatamanagementplatformshouldrunonanycomputeorstorage,on-premisesorinthecloud,andworkwithawidevarietyofperformanceandcapacityrequirements.In2020,moreITteamswillrecognizethetrapandembracemulti-cloudcopydatamanagementandcloudobjectstorage.

3. Anotherelectionyearofdatainsecurity

Hacking,ransomwareanddataleaksareallegedtohaveplayedacentralroleintheU.S.electionprocessof2016.Manycandidatesarebackonthecampaigntrailin2020,someforthefirsttimeandotherswithlegacyelectioninfrastructure.Inordertocaptureandstoresensitivedonorinformation,thesecandidateswillneedtodigdeepintotheirdatabasestofindthepersonalidentifiableinformationtoreachout.Tomaintainthebestdonorexperienceandthemosteffectivefund-raisingandvoterturnoutoperationswhileimprovingsecurityanddataprivacy,campaignmanagerswillturntosoftwareplatformsthathelpthemensurethatcampaigninformationstayssecurefromintrusion,private,up-to-date,andimmediatelyaccessibleforstrategicuses.InNovemberwewillseeifDARPA’s$10millioncontractcommitmenttosecure,open-sourceelectionsystemhardwareprototypeswillhaveapositive

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 6

effect.Giventhevolumesofinformationthatwillbestored,itwillneedtobeabletosecurelyandrapidlymanagethedata--andrecoveritquicklyandefficientlyinthecaseofabreach.Confidenceintheintegrityofthevotingprocessisthebackboneofafunctioningdemocracy.

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Atempo(Lucd’Urso,CEO)1. NewDataManagementsolutionsfueledbyAItotacklethechallengeoftheexplosion

ofunstructureddatavolume2. Cyberattackswillcontinue,tapeshouldbeagoodchoice3. LocalvalueaddedMSPstoaddressdataanddigitalsovereigntychallenge

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BambooSystems(TonyCraythorne,CEO)Theserverindustryisinconstantgrowthmode,withdatacentersever-expanding.Theseunabatedincreaseshavecenteredaroundtheindustry’scontinuedrelianceoninefficientlegacyserverarchitecture,resultinginthecostofoperatingdatacenterstogreatlyexceedwhatitcoststobuildthem.Datacenterpowerconsumptionisnowaglobalissue.Theinefficienciesinlegacyserverarchitecturedesignmeanthattoday’sdatacenterscurrentlyproduce2%oftheworld’sgreenhousegasemissionsandcollectivelyconsumeover3.5%oftheworld’spowerproduction.Infact,itispredictedthattheservermarketwillovertaketheairlineindustryingreenhousegasproductionnextyear.Somethingmustbedoneandinthenearfuture.Wepredictwewillsoonseemoreenergyefficientdatacentersolutions,withnew,groundbreakinglowpowerchipdesigns,asthisisnowapressingeconomicandecologicalpriority.

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Caringo(AdrianHerrera,VPMarketing)1.Archiveswillprovideincreasedbenefitsandvaluebeyondjustcheapanddeepstorage.2.ObjectstoragewillblurthelinesbetweenPrimaryandSecondarystorageforusecasesthatrequireenhancedthroughput.3.On-demandusecaseswillincreasetheneedfora3tierstorageapproachincorporatingNAS,onpremisesobjectstorageandcloudarchiveoronpremisestape.

***

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 7

Cloudian(NeilStobart,VPGlobalSystemEngineering)1. Edgecomputingwillturnthehybridcloudmodelonitsside

Thehybridcloudstoragemodelischaracterisedbytheabilitytoseamlesslymovedatabetweenon-premisesandpubliccloudenvironments.Thisdatamobility,combinedwiththeflexibilityandscalabilityhybridstorageprovides,hasmadeitthesolutionofchoiceformanybusinessesworldwide.However,thehybridstoragestrategywillbeturnedonitssidein2020asmomentumbehind“EdgeComputing”continuestobuild.AsaresultoftherapidgrowthoftheInternetofThings(IoT)and5Gnetworks,datacollectionandtheprocessingofAIapplicationswillbeneededattheedge.Analyticswillhavetobeappliedneartowherethedataisbeingcreatedandwheresensorsarelocated–e.g.trafficsignals,surveillancecamerasandsmartcars.Assuch,therewillbeanincreasingneedforadifferentformofhybridstorage–onethatfulfillstheneedforrobuststorageneartheedgeofthenetworkandenablesbusinessestomoveanalyseddatasetsbetweentheedgeandon-premisesorpubliccloudsystems.

2. ProcessingAIandMLworkloadswillrequireobjectstorageAsdatavolumescontinuetogrow,oneofthekeychallengesfacingbusinessesishowtounlockthefullstrategicvalueofthisdata.Thisisespeciallytruewhendealingwithartificialintelligence(AI)andmachinelearning(ML)workloads.That’swhy2020willseemoreorganisationscapitalisingonobjectstoragetocreatestructured/taggeddatafromunstructuredinformationandusemetadatatomakesenseofthefloodofdatabeinggenerated.Withobjectstorage,dataisdefinedwithunconstrainedtypesofmetadataandlocatedfromasingleAPI.Thisisincontrasttotraditionalfilestorage,whichdefinesdatawithlimitedmetadatatags(suchasthefilename,datecreatedanddatelastmodified)andorganisesitintodifferentfolders–makingitmuchlesssearchableandhardertoanalysethanobjectstorage.Forexample,atraditionalX-rayfilewouldonlyincludebasicmetadatalikecreationdate,owner,locationandsize,whileanX-rayobjectcouldincludemetadatathatidentifiesthepatient’sname,age,injurydetailsandwhichareaofthebodywasX-rayed.Thisextradetailmakesitmucheasiertolocateviasearch.Simplyput,objectstoragearchitecturesmakeuseofmetadatainwaystransitionalfilestoragedoesn’t,makingitinstrumentalinhelpingtoprocessgrowingAIandMLworkloads.

3. Momentumbehindtheuseofprivatecloudsinhybridinfrastructureswill

growToday,whenpeopletalkaboutthecloud,theyusuallymeanthe“public”cloud.Thiswillchangein2020.Theterm“cloud”willbecomemorenuancedasmorebusinessesdeployprivatecloudsandorganisationsincreasinglypursueahybridcloudstoragestrategythatgivesthemthebestofbothworlds.

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 8

Organisationsinindustriessuchashealthcare,mediaandscientificresearchthathavelarge-scalestoragerequirementsalreadyfaceuniquechallengesinmanagingcapacity-intensiveworkloadsthatcanreachtensofpetabytes.Byprovidingthescaleandflexibilitybenefitsofpubliccloudplatformsalongwiththeperformance,access,securityandcontroladvantagesofon-premisesstorage,privatecloudplatformsaddressthesechallenges.Althoughthepubliccloudprovidesbusinesseswithagilityandconveniencewhiledecreasinginfrastructureexpenses,itcanalsocomewithsignificantbandwidthandaccessibilitycosts.Assuch,in2020moreorganisationswilltakeadvantageofprivatecloudsinahybridcloudinfrastructure–storingfrequentlyuseddataon-premwhilecontinuingtoutilizethepubliccloudforcloud-nativeapplicationsanddisasterrecovery.Ultimately,businessescan’taffordtorestontheircloudlaurelsoverthecomingyear,as2020islikelytobeanotheryearofsignificantchange,Whetherit’srecognisingtheneedforedgecomputing,embracingobjectstorageoradoptinghybridinfrastructures,theonusisonbusinessestoprepareforwhat’scomingtheirway.

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Clumio(ChaddKenney,VP&ChiefTechnologist)1. ContinuedGrowthinSaaS

SaaSwillcontinuetobetheeasybuttonforenterprisestoremovethecomplexityofon-premisesinfrastructurewithoutneedingtorearchitectexistingapplications.Copyingthecomplexityofon-premisesinfrastructuretothecloudisnolongeraviableoption.IDCestimatestheglobalmarketforSaaSapplicationsrevenuesisexpectedtobemorethan$185billionby2022.

2. NewPoliciesRequireNewMethodologies

EnterpriseswillbechallengedtomeetthedemandsofnewdataprivacypoliciessuchasGDPRandCCPA.Therewillbeaheighteneddemandfornext-generationdataprotectionsolutionsandmethodologiesthatsupportthesepoliciesandenablefine-graincontrolovertheirdataassets.

3. AnalyticsWillComeFromNon-TraditionalSources

Formanyenterprises,backupisjustaninsurancepolicy,butin2020enterpriseswilldemandvaluableinsightsfrombackupdatainwaysthatwereneverpossiblewithtraditionalon-premisesbackupsolutionsofyesterday.

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2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 9

Cohesity(LynnLucas,CMO)1. MoreandmoreCIOswillrelyonconsumertechnologytorespondtocritical

dataincidentssmarterandfasterConsumerizationofITwillbecomeevenmorecommonplacein2020.ITteamsindatainfrastructuremanagementwillincreasinglyrelyonsmartphoneappstocollaborateandrespondtoissuesquicklyandeffectively.Theywillrequiremobileaccesstoinstancesofdataon-premisesandinthecloudenablingthemtohave24x7visibilityacrosstheirinfrastructure.ThisinfrastructurewillenableITleaderstotakeactionfaster,whichiscriticalduringtime-sensitiveoccasionssuchasapotentialoutageorbreach.

2. In2020,theon-premisesvsclouddebatewillbemuchclearerNodoubtthatcloudwillremainakeypartofbusinessITspendasthepubliccloudmarketisexpectedtogloballygrowto$299.4billionby2022.However,atthestartofthenewdecade,largeenterpriseorganizationswillhaveamuchclearerroadmapofwhatworkloadsshouldbeinthecloudandwhatshouldbeon-premises–andwillrelyonsoftwarethatcaneasilynavigatebetweenthetwoenvironments.And,forthosewhoarestoringdatainpubliccloudenvironments,moreorganizationswillensuretheyaretakingresponsibilityforbackingupthatdatainthecloudtoavoiddatalossordisruptioninserviceintheeventofacloudoutage.

3. Poordatamanagementpracticeswillcausebrandreputationnightmaresfor

morelargeenterprisesMillionsofconsumers,businesses,andpublicsectoragenciesaregeneratinganimmenseamountofdatadaily.Whilethebulkofthiscontentareimagesandvideo,whichcontainmassiveamountsofinformation,notfarbehindisdatacreatedfrommachines,databaseandapplicationusage.Managingallofthisdatacanbeincrediblychallengingandoversightscanleadtodataloss,outages,servicedisruptionsandcomplianceviolations–allofwhichcantarnishbrandreputationsinamatterofminutes.Intheyearahead,wecanexpectmoreenterprisestoundergoPRnightmaresiftheyhavenottakennecessarystepstobeexceptionalstewardsoftheirdata.

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Commvault

1. ExpectCCPAtoFuelaDataCollectionandProcessingBacklash(NigelTozer,SolutionsDirectorEMEA)TheCaliforniaConsumerPrivacyAct(CCPA)willhighlightdatacollectionandmonetizationintheUS,justastheGeneralDataProtectionRegulation(GDPR)didinEurope.ThiswillfuelabacklashondatacollectionandprocessingintheUS,especiallyaroundpoliticaladtargetingduringthe2020electionyear.CompaniessuchasFacebookandGooglewillcomeundergreaterpressuretodistancethemselvesfromthisarea,anddataanalysiscompaniesthatarenowlargelyunheard

2020Predictions

StorageNewsletter 10

ofwillbeinthenewsforthewrongreasons.

2. DataAnalyticsMovestotheTopoftheCompanies’PriorityList(MattTyrer,TechnologyEvangelist)Datavolumescontinuetogrow,butwe’reknowinglessandlessaboutthatdata–whichisahugerisk.In2020,thefocusonanalyticswillbedrivenbyincreasedregulatoryandcompliancepressures,risksfromdatabreachesandransomware,andtheneedtoproperlyclassifydataforAIandMLprojects. Without“clean”dataofvalue,theseAIandMLprojectswillstumble.Dataanalyticswillsupportintelligentdecisionmaking,feedAIandMLinitiatives,andstrengthencompliancestanceswithinorganizations. Expectmorebusinessestobehittingthispointintheirdatamaturity,whereanalyticsprojectstakepriority.

3. Multi-cloudAdoptionWillIncreaseDemandForMoreDiverseDataProtectionCapabilities(PennyGralewski,SolutionsLead)Asorganizationsadoptmorecloudsfordifferentorganizationalrequirements,theneedforfast,flexibledataprotection-abletoprotectadiversesetofdataworkloads-willincrease.Organizationsarechoosingdifferentcloudsfordifferentusecases,sotoday’sdataprotectionplatformsneedtoaccommodateawidevarietyofcloudusecases,includingPlatformasaService(PaaS),containers,andmassivedatabaseslikeMicrosoftSQLServer,MySQL,PostgreSQL,Splunk,SAPHANAandOracle.

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CTeraNetworks(AronBrand,CTO)1. Thedeclineofcentralisedcloudcomputing

Thefirst-generationmodelofcentralizedcloudcomputingandstoragehasnowrunitscourse,andmostofthenewopportunitiesforenterprisedatamanagementresideattheedge.

2. DatagrowthoutsidethedatacentreConsiderthat75%ofenterprisedataiscreatedinbranchoffices,onmobiledevicesandbyIoT-enabledsmartdevices.Suchdatagrowthoutsidethedatacenteristhenewreality,andit’screatinganeedforenterprisestodeploycomputingpowerandstoragecapabilitiesatthenetworkedge,akaedgecomputing.

3. Powerfuledgecomputewillresultinmoredesirabledevices

Ifyoutakeyourvoice-basedhomevirtualdigitalassistantfromAmazonorGoogle.Morepowerfuledgecomputepowerwouldmakethesedevicesevenmoredesirable,including:• Improvedresponsetime:yourAmazonEcho,GoogleHomeorothersmart

speakerwouldperformspeechrecognitionlocallyanddeliverafasteranswer• Offlineavailability:whetherthereisastorm,apowercutoracloudservice

outage,yourdevicewillstillbeupandrunning,or‘always-on’evenwhenthenetworkisoffline

• Improvedsecurityandprivacy:byminimisingtheneedtosendsensitiveinformationtothecloud,dataprivacyrisksarereduced

2020Predictions


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DataDynamics(PiyushMehta,CEO)1. Storagemanagementwillbecomepartofabroaderinfrastructure

managementstackStorageadminswillneedtolearnmoreskillstiedtocomputeandnetworkingasyouwillseemanagementofthesestackstoconsolidate.

2. DatamanagementwillcontinuetobekeyfocusforstoragecompaniesLegacyandnewentrantsinthestoragelandscapehaverealizedthatadiscisadiscandparityoffeatures/functionalityasitrelatestostoragehavebecomea‘must’inordertobeinthegame.Thedifferentiatorisgoingtobethosethatcanhelpcustomerswithabetterdatamanagementsolutionthatcanhelpextractbusinessvalueoutofthedatathat’sbeencreated.

3. Multi-cloudwillbecomemoreprevalent.

Publiccloudvendorswillhavetoprovideaccessandallowforanecosystemofleveragingdatatobemovedacrossprovidersbasedonusage.Theegresschargeswillneedtodecreaseasdatamobilitywillcontinuetobearequirementforenterprisesforavarietyofusecases.

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DataCore(GerardoDada,CMO)1. StorageUnification

Fordecades,theindustryhashaddiscretestoragesystemsforhighperformanceandforlower-coststorage,oftenfromdifferentvendors–averyhardware-centricapproach.2020willseebroaderadoptionofunifiedsoftware-definedsystemsthatmakeintelligentdecisionsoneachpieceofdata,placingitinthetieritbelongsgivenitsperformanceandcostrequirements—optimizingperformance,utilization,andcostdynamically.

2. IntelligentDataPlacementElementsincludingrichermetadatamanagementandAIwillempowerdataintelligence,whichwillincreasinglyenablesoftwaretodriveautomateddecisionsonthevalueofdataandwhereitshouldbeplaced–includingautomaticmovementtothecloud.

3. ShiftfromHardware-CentricModelWillAccelerateAdoptionofSoftware-DefinedStorageThehardware-centricmindsetisnotsustainableanymore.ITwillincreasinglystopthinkingaboutstoragesystemsasdiscrete,media-centricsystemsfrommultiplevendors,asthesecreateislandsofstoragethatbecomedifficulttomanage,inefficientintermsofcapacityutilization,andnearlyimpossibletomovedataefficientlyfromonesystemtoanother.Astheindustryrealizesthatit’sthedatathat

2020Predictions


mattersandnottheactualstoragesystem,software-definedstorageplatformsthatcontrolwheredataisplacedwillbecomefarmorevaluablethanthetypeofhardwareormedia.Theindustrywentthroughthistransitionforcomputeyearsago;it’stimethatstoragecatchesup.

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Datrium(SazzalaReddy,CTO)1. Ransomwarewillinnovatefasterthanmechanismstopreventit

Duetoitsinsaneprofitability,theproliferationofnon-stateandstateactors,andcybercrimes(includingransomwareattacks)willcosttheworld$6trillionannuallyby2021.EverybusinessshouldinvestigatedeployingaquickdatarecoveryinfrastructurethatcanhelpinstantlyrollbacktheITenvironmenttoitspre-ransomwarestateandrecoverfromanattackunharmed.RansomwarerecoverywillbecomeabudgetlineitemforthemajorityofCIOsin2020.

2. MainstreamenterpriseswillfinallyembraceDRtothecloud

In2020,mainstreambusinesswillbecomeopentoleveragingthecloudasaDRsiteandwillstartshuttingdowntheirphysicalDRsitesbecausenewcloudDRtechnologieswillmakeitpossibletoleverageon-demandcloudresourcesduringadisasterwhilekeepingcloudcostslowduringthestateofnormalbusinessoperations.

3. SaaSification2020

VMwarevSphere’smovetothecloudwilltriggertheriseofCloud3.0.AllproductsintheenterprisearebecomingSaaSproductsifthey’renotalready.Theconvenienceandon-demandeconomicsofSaaSproductsinthepubliccloudmakeitanunstoppabletrend.VMwarehas300K+customerswithabout70+millionVMsdeployedandhasbecomeavailableasaSaaSplatformonmostpublicclouds.Withoneoftheworld’sbiggestenterpriseon-premplatformsrapidlytransitioningtotheSaaSworld,it’sinevitablethatalltheotherthird-partyproductsintheVMwareecosystemwilltransformaswelland“SaaSify.”

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DDN(AlexBouzari,CEO)1. AI-Enabled,IntelligentInfrastructureswillgetdeployedatmassivescaleanddisrupt

theHighPerformanceComputingIndustry.2. Multi-Cloud,flexibledatacenterarchitectureswillstarttobringtrueoperational

simplicity,efficiencyandagilitytotheEnterprise.3. In2020DDNwilldeliverafullrangeofnewintelligentinfrastructuresolutions

ideallysuitedforEnterpriseandHPCcustomers’demandingAI,IoT,Multi-Cloud,BigDataandMixedWorkloadsatScale.

2020Predictions


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DriveScale(TomLyon,ChiefScientist,BrianPawlowski,CTO&DeniseShiffman,CPO)1. Thenewprivatecloudwillbecreatedwithelasticbare-metalinfrastructure

WhileVM-deployedapplicationswillcontinuetomovetothepubliccloud,morebare-metalprivateclouddatacenterswillbecreatedin2020torunperformance-sensitivebare-metalandKubernetes-nativeapplications.Thisisbeingdrivenbythegrowthandinvestmentindata-intensiveappsandtheneedforscale-outdatacenterarchitectures.

2. 2020WillbetheyearoftheSmartNICSmartNICshavebeenusedforafewyearsbycloudproviderstooffloadnetworkswitchingandencapsulation,butin2020we’llseeSmartNICsforstorageapplicationsandinprivatedatacenters.Amazon’sNitroSmartNICwasthefirstwithNVMestoragecapabilities,butnowbothMellanoxandBroadcomhaveannouncedsimilarcapabilitiesintheirchips,whilehigh-flyingstartupsPensandoandFungiblearebuildingsystemsrevolvingaroundSmartNICcapabilities.WhySmartNICsnow?Aren’tthesejust“front-endprocessors”?ThemostcompellingfeatureofSmartNICsisthattheyprovideaseparatesecuritydomainthatcleanlyseparatesusercodefromprovidercode.InthesedaysofCPUvulnerabilitieslikeSpectreandMeltdown,itmaynotbesafetoassumethecorrectnessofanysecurityboundarieswithinaCPU.

3. 2020willbetheYearofKubernetesandpeoplerealizetheyhavealotmoreworktodotodeployKubernetesfortheirdataintensiveapplications.TherealitiesofadoptingcontainerizationforpersistentstoragewillcontinuetodriveKubernetesevolution.WhiletheintroductionoftheCSIAPIforKubernetesmakesiteasierforstorageproviderstointegrateintoK8s,requirementsforcostefficientscaleoutapplicationdeploymentontopofinexpensivecommodityhardwareremainsachallengeinhowbesttodeploytheseapplicationsoverK8s.

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ExaGrid(BillAndrews,CEO)1. PubliccloudssuchasAmazonAWSandMicrosoftAzurewillcontinuetogrowbut

notattheexpenseofthecorporatedatacenter.Mostcorporatedatacentershaveconcludedthatthepubliccloudscostmorethanrunningtheirowndatacentersandtherefore,thecorporatedatacentersareonlydoingspecificprojectswiththepubliccloudproviderssuchasarchivedata(untoucheddata),developmentoperations(devopps)forburstablecompute,etc.

2. Thesmallbusinesses(SMB)willgotocloudsolutionsbutnotthepubliccloud.TheyareturningtotrueMSPs(managedserviceproviders)thatcanprovidemorehandsonvalueadd.SMBsshouldnotbeoperatingdatacentersastheydon’thavetheIT

2020Predictions


expertise.ItisbetterforSMBcustomerstooutsourcetoMSPs.

3. ThemovetoKerberosandContainerswillslowlybegintoshowupinproduction.Todatemosthavebeenpilottesting.OvertimecontainerswillbethewaveofthefutureduetoIOT(internetofthings)andotherdistributeddata.

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FujiFilmRecordingMediaUS(PeterFaulhaber,President)1. Software-definedtapeforobjectstoragewillemergeasapopularsolution,

providingtheinterfacetodownloaddatafromobjectstoragesystemstocompatibletapesystemsusingstandardS3APIs.Userswillbeabletowriteobjectsdirectlytotapeinnativeform,inaself-describing,openformat.Asaresult,objectstorageuserscanleveragethevaluepropositionoftapeincludinglowestTCO,reliabilityandlongtermarchivability.

2. AccordingtoIDC,therapidlygrowingDataSpheremeansdemandforpersistentstoragewillbeinthemulti-zettabyterangein2020ThebigdatagrowthdriversincludingIOT,AI/ML,HDvideo(4k,8k),surveillance,gamingandotherappswilldemandcost-effective,longtermtapestorage.

3. Newhyperscaledatacentermarketswillemergein2020ledbyinternetand

cloudserviceprovidersinmarketslikeChinaandIndiaThiswillcauseashiftinregionalstoragefromUSA-centrictoglobaldemandandpresentnewopportunitiesfortapemarketgrowth.

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Hammerspace(BrendanWolfe,VPProductMarketing)1. PeoplewillmovedataoutofHDFSandontoNFSenvironmentsastheylookto

updatetheirapproachtobigdataanalytics.

2. WewillseealotmorecompaniesmovingstatefulapplicationsintoKubernetesandlookfortechnologiestohelpthemprotectandmanagetheassociatedpersistentdata.

3. Thethreebigcloudswillrampupthefightformorefootprintinon-premisesdata

centers.

***

2020Predictions


HitachiVantara(HuYoshida,CTO)1. TheDemandForLargeScalableEnterpriseStorageArraysWillIncrease

Theincreasingdemandforcorestorageischanging.Capacitywillbedrivenbybigdataanddatalakesaswellascopiesrequiredforexploratory,training,andgovernancepurposes.Thetrendtowardcontainerswillgenerateswarmsofworkloadswhichwillrequireinstantstorage.IoTwilldrivereal-timeapplicationswhichwillneedlowlatencies.ThefasterspeedofNVMedeviceswillexposebottlenecksinsmallerstoragecontrollersandfasterNVMe-oFfabricswillenableincreasedconnectivitytoservers.Corestoragewillalsoneedtoconnecttoedgeandcloudandintegrateasonepoolofmanagedstorage.Largescalablestoragearrayswithfullenterprisecapabilitieswillbethemosteconomicalwaytoaddresstheserequirements.

2. EdgetoCoretoMulti-CloudReplacesDiscussionsAroundPublic/Private/HybridCloudBynowthediscussionsaroundpublic/private/hybridcloudhavebecomemootasdigitaltransformationhasdrivenuserstoacombinationofdifferentcloudimplementationsforagilityandscalability.Digitaltransformationhasalsodrivensmartapplicationstotheedgeformobilityandreal-timeprocessing.Thishasincreasedthecomplexityofstoragemanagementasusersseektobalancetheirbusinessrequirementsacrossthismulti-vendor,multi-tierstoragelandscapeinanexplodingdataenvironment.Businessrequirementshavealsoincreasedincomplexityduetoloomingcyberthreats,increasingregulationsaroundprivacyandtransparency,regionalrequirements,anddemocratizationofdatausage.Theonlywaytomanagethisenvironmentistotakeanopen,holistic,edgetocoretomulti-cloudapproachtostorageanddatamanagement.

3. EdgeComputingWillSeeGreaterAdoptionwithDataOpsPackagesForThe

EdgeTheintroduction5GandIoTwillbringmorefocustotheedgeandthiswillbethenewbattlegroundforcloudserviceproviderswhoarelookingtoextendtheirreachbeyondthecloud.Theargumentsforedgecomputingarecompelling:Lowlatencyforapplicationslikeautonomousvehiclesandtelemedicine,IntegrationofOT(operationaltechnology)andIT(informationtechnology)forimprovedbusinessdecisions,andashortercontrolloopforbetterQoS.However,theedgeislikethewildwest.OT(OperationalTechnology)facilitieslikefactoriesandmanufacturingsiteswereruninaclosedenvironmentandlackthedisciplinesthathavebeenhonedbyITwhereapplicationanddatahadtoexistinasharedandopenenvironment.Theprotocols,networksandsystemsontheedgeareverydiverse,andlowcost,whileITsystemsarestandardizedandgenerallyhighercost.AnedgegatewaymustbeusedtointegratethetwotypesofsystemsanddatatorealizethevalueofcombiningOTandIT.Toolslikeavatars,asoftwarerepresentationofthephysicalmachinewillhelptobridgethegap.Whiletechnologyisimportant,edgesuccessdependsonthebusinessusecase.AsoftwarepackagelikeLumadaEdgeIntelligencecanreducethetimetovaluebyprovidingactionable,real-timeinsightstohelpcriticaloperationsbemorepredictableandmanageable.Itprovidesthecapabilitiesforlocaldataoperations,machinelearning,streaminganalyticsandstandaloneIoTapplicationsolutions.WhenpairedwiththepowerfulservicesfromexperiencedIT

2020Predictions


andOTprofessionals,customerscandevelopacomprehensiveDataOpsstrategythatmanagesassetsholisticallyfromtheedgetocoretomulticloud.

***

HYCU(SimonTaylor,CEO)1. Multi-CloudsExpandinUse

Itcomesasnosurprisethatmulti-clouduseisnowbecomingmainstreaminenterprisesglobally.Weareseeingasmanyasfourormorecloudplatformsinusewithourcustomers,regardlessofsizeandgeographicallocation.And,thisgoesformissioncriticalandnumerousenterpriseworkloads.Tosupportthisrequirestheneedforamulti-vendorandmulti-disciplinarystrategyforcloudusageforITtoday.Thisechoesapredictionfromlastyearwhereweseemorecustomersthatwillneedsolutionsthatworkacrossmultipleclouds,betheyon-premisesorpublic.Wewillcontinuetoseevendors“marketing”theirsolutionsas“multi-cloud”butcustomersaremuchsavvierandtrulyunderstandthevalueinacloud-nativesolutionrunningasaserviceonanycloud.Thiswillbetheyearwherecustomerslookforwaystohelpthemmanagetheirdatathewaytheywantit,intheircloudofchoicewithasolutionthatmakesittheirstocontrol.

2. SimplicityIsMoreThanJustaBuzzword

Customersaresmarterthaneverbefore.TheyunderstandthefullvalueofeliminatingcomplexityfromtheirITinfrastructure.It’samajorreasonwhycompanieslikeNutanixaresosuccessful.TheyhavefoundawaytoeliminateunnecessaryredundancyandstreamlineITinfrastructureandoperationsinto1-clicksimplicity.Thatisthedrivingforcebehindinnovationinthenext-generationplatformsintheindustrytodaythatincludeAWS,AzureandGoogleCloudPlatforminthePublicCloudspaceandNutanixandVMwareinon-premisesEnterpriseCloudspace.Whilecustomerscontinuetotrytoconsolidatearoundtheplatformsthatdeliverthemostvaluefortheenterpriseworkloadstheyneedmanaged,protectedandrecovered,theywanttodothiswithsimplicityinmind.Noadditionalhardware,softwareorinfrastructurerequired.And,thatrunnativelyasaserviceonthecloudplatformofchoice.Therewillbefewerstandalonecompaniesin2020iftheydon’taddressthisfundamentalcustomerneedforsimplicity.

3. BuiltforPurposeMakesaDifference

Whenweintroducedtheideaofbeingpurpose-builtforacustomer’scloudplatformofchoice,firstforon-premisesandnowforpubliccloud,itwassignificant.Noonedatamanagementandprotectionplatformcandoitall.Wefundamentallybelievedandstillbelievethatthosesolutionsthatcomplementtheunderlyingcloudplatformofchoicewithoutcompromisingthereasonthecustomerselecteditarecritical.Asmoreandmoreofthemajorityofworkloadsmovetothecloudovertime,itmakesadifferencewhencustomersselectanddeploydatamanagementandprotectionsolutionsthatarebuiltforpurpose.Thatmeanstheydomorethanjustlookandfeelliketheplatformtheyarehelpingtoprotectandsupportbutthatrunnatively,deployasaservice,arelightweightandkeepapplicationconsistencyintact.Thisin

2020Predictions


turnwillhelpcompaniesmakethemostoftheirITinvestmentsandallowthemtocontinuetofocusoninnovationanddrivingvaluefortheirowncustomers.

***

Infinidat(StanleyZaffos,SVPProductMarketing)1. 5Gin2020:AcceleratingtheVolume&VelocityofDataCollected

2020willbetheyear5Gentersthemainstream.ThenewwirelessstandardwillstartgeneratingrealvalueforcompaniesdeployingIoTprojects.Gartnerpredicts66%oforganizationswilldeploy5G,and59%willincludeIoTcommunicationsintheusecasefor5G.CompaniesdeployingIoTprojectswillneedtoplanforthedatadelugethatiscoming.They’llneedtosetupinfrastructureandprocessestofilterthedata,pre-analyzeit,categorizeit,storeitanddisposeofit.Companiesthatplanwellandallowforsomeflexibilitywillexecutesuccessfulprojectsatreasonablecosts.Thosethatdon’twillspendonlywhattheycanbutbelimitedinthevaluetheyunlockinthelimiteddatatheycaptureandstore.

2. AIApplicationsin2020:UsheringintheAgeof‘SmarterStorage’

Artificialintelligence(AI)workloadswillcontinuetogeneratebusinessvaluein2020.But,fororganizationstoincreasetheirrelianceonAI,storagevendorswillneedtomakeiteasierforAIapplicationstoaccessmoredatafaster,inturnhelpingthesystemslearnfasterandunlockthevalueofthedata.Asweenter2020,datasetsaregettingbiggeranddemandsforinstantaneousdecisionmakingarebecomingmoreprevalent.Thisputsstressonthetrainingsystems.Expectmoredemandforsmarterstoragesystemstomatchtheescalatingintelligenceoftheapplicationsthemselves.We’llseemoreinvestmentsintoolslikesoftware-definedswitchestoopenupmorepathwaysforhardcoreanalytics;QoSfunctionstodoleoutinformationmorestrategically;scale-outsystemarchitectures;andtheabilitytodeliverdatawithlowerlatency.

3. Containersin2020:CreatingaMoreCompetitiveStorageEnvironment

In2020,containersandmulti-cloudimplementationswillcontinuetoaccelerate.Moreenterpriseswillpushtocreateflexiblecomputingenvironmentswheremultiplecloudsservespecificstrategicpurposes.Theywillembracetheflexibilitycontainerspromise,creatingset-upswherecontainerscanmovefreelybetweenpubliccloud,privatecloudandon-premisesenvironments.IncreaseduseofcontainersandKuberneteswillhelpcreateamorecompetitivestorageenvironment.Beingabletoportworkloadsseamlesslyamongdiverseenvironmentswilldiminishthestrengthofvendorlock-inandputpressureonincumbentstoragevendorstoinnovateinareasthatimprovefinancialandoperationalefficiency:loweracquisitionandownershipcosts;improvestaffproductivityviamoreautonomicoperation,cloudintegration;andnewpricingandserviceofferings.

***

2020Predictions


iXsystems(MikeLauth,CEO)1. Software-Defined-Storage(storagesoftwarethatcanoperateonthirdparty

serverhardware)willbethebasisfornearlyallnewstorageproductsThelinesbetweenblock,fileandobjectstorageareincreasinglyblurred.Usersarebenefittingfromtheagility,expandabilityandcoststructuresofSoftwareDefinedUnifiedStorage.

2. OpenSourcestoragewillslashthestoragecostsofmanyorganizationsDataisstillgrowing,butSSDandHDDstoragecostsarenotreducingasquickly.UserswillincreasetheirdeploymentsofOpenZFS,HDFS,Gluster,Minio,etc.onindustrystandardhardwarewithoutthevendorlock-inandcostsassociatedwithproprietarystacks.EnterprisegradesupportofOpenStoragesoftwareisthekeyenablerofthistransition.

3. HybridCloudswillbethestoragerealityofeverylargeorganization

Theperformanceoflocalstorageandthelongtermdataretentionofgeo-distributedcloudsarenecessarypartners.Cloudserviceshavereplacedtapeasthethirdcopyofdata.Datasecurity,storagecosts,andmigrationflexibilityarecritical.

***

Kaminario(EyalDavid,CTO)1. Companieswillfinallyenableatruehybridcloudstrategy

Migratingmission-criticalapplicationstothecloudisdifficult.Byleveragingacommonsetofsharedservicesthatenablecompaniestodecouplethemanagementandmovementofdatafromtheinfrastructureitrunson,companieswillbeabletoimprovebusinessagilityandreducetheriskofmovingtothecloud.

2. DataSciencewillbedemocratizedWiththeexplosionofdataandtheriseofartificialintelligenceandmachinelearning,ITorganizationswillhavemorewaystoquicklyanalyzeandmakesenseofinfrastructuredata.Thiswillmakeiteasierforstakeholdersthroughouttheorganization,whotypicallydon’thaveaccesstothisinformation,toleverageit.

3. UserExperiencewillbevastlyimproved

5Gwillenableeverything/everywhereedgecomputingthatmaketechnologiessuchasAR/VRandsmart,connecteddevicespossible.WIFI6,meanwhile,willofferusersmorerobustoutdoornetworkoperationsandhighperformanceindenseenvironments.Thecombinationofthetwomeanslagging/unavailableservicewillbecomeathingofthepast.

***

2020Predictions


Kaseya(MichaelSanders,GMofUnitrendsandSpanning)bothKaseyacompanies1. Pricingandinnovation

Therewillbeamajorplateauinstorageandcomputeinthecloudasweareapproachingalotofthephysicallimitsofourcurrenttechnologyfasterthanwethought.Theupcomingstoragecrunchisspeedingupinnovation;Microsoftandothervendorsareexperimentingwithinnovativesolutionslikeglassstorage.Iftheydon'tcomeupwithasolutionquickly,however,cloudstoragepricesmightstarttogoup.Inadditiontothestoragelimits,there'stheCPUside.In2020expectmoreworkloadstogetpushedbacktotheedge.Thismeansmoredevices(endpoints)willneedtobeprotectedinthecomingyears.

2. Theriseofmulti-cloudtoolsetsMulti-cloudisalreadyarealityin2019,butit'stakenawhileforthemanagementpracticesofoperatingmultipleworkloadsacrossmultipleservices,regions,andcloudvendorstomature,whilethepressuresonbusinesscontinuestobuildtodomorewithless,andyetcompaniescontinuetohaveto"DIY"itthemselves.Andasworkloadsstarttodominatethedecisionsbehind"whichcloud"tomakethebestuseofeachvendor'sofferings,expectincreaseddemandfortoolsetsthatcanoperatenativelywithdifferentcloudvendors.Sadly,cloudmanagementportalstodayaregenerallylimitedtodiscoveryorcostoptimizationusecasesandfailtotackletheday-to-dayoperationalmanagementpainexperiencedbytoday'sCloudOpsandDevOpsteams.Asanexampleoftherisingcomplexityinthecloud,AmazonWebServicesalonehas250differentservices(May2019),eachwithitsownmanagementconsoleandsetofAPIs.

3. DRaaSisNowMainstreamDisasterRecovery-as-a-Service(DRaaS)isnowmainstream.LargeorganizationshaveadoptedDRaaSatthehighestrates,however,Iexpectin2020toseetheadoptionofDRaaSbysmallandmid-sizedorganizationstodrasticallyincreaseasorganizationsdiscoverthatnotallDRaaSservicesrequiretheirITdepartmentstobecomeexpertsinhyper-scaleclouds.Asaresult,SMBswilloutsourceDRaaStoexpertsatafixedpriceandwithlittlerequirementfortheirtimeortechnicaloverview.

***

Komprise(KrishnaSubramanian,President&COO)1. EdgeBuildoutOntheRise

Edgebuildoutisalreadyhappening,anditspaceisacceleratingwithtrendslikeInternet-of-Things(IoT),self-drivingcars,andbiometrics.IDChaspredictedthatby

2020Predictions


2023,50%ofallenterpriseITinfrastructurewillbedeployedattheedge–upfrom10%today.Moreappsaregeneratingtonsofdataattheedge,raisingthequestionofwhydatashouldnotbebetterunderstoodandmanageddirectlyattheedge.Imagineifyoucouldanalyzedata,figureoutwhatdataisusefulandneedstobebroughtbacktothedatacenter,anddirectlyprocesstherestofthedataattheedgeitselfwithouthavingtofirstmoveitall?Thisiswhyedgedatamanagementwillriseinimportancein2020.

2. Multi-CloudGainsTractionMostenterprisesusingthepubliccloudalreadyhaveahybrid/multi-cloudstrategy,andenterprisesareincreasinglychoosingtodiversifytheircloudstrategyacrosstwoormoreclouds.Infact,ForresterResearchfoundthisyearthat62%+ofpubliccloudadoptersalreadyusetwoormorecloudplatforms.Asthistrendcontinues,enterprisesin2020willneedasimplewaytounderstandandmanagetheirdatasprawlacrosscloudsandthehybridenterprise,leadingtogreaterdemandforcross-clouddatamanagementsolutionsthatarenottiedtoanyparticularcloudorstoragevendor.

3. AI-DrivenIntelligenceGrowsForthelastcoupleofyears,ArtificialIntelligence(AI)andMachineLearning(ML)havebeenabigthemeandthistrendiscontinuingtogrow.Whilethesehaveinitiallybeenmoreofmarketingbuzzwords,thepotentialofAIindatamanagementisclear–howcanyoumanagesomethingyoudon’tunderstand?ByusinganalyticstodriveAI/ML,analytics-drivendatamanagementsolutionscancontinuetoleveragetheunderstandingofdatatodrivebettermanagement.Watchformoreexcitingdevelopmentsinthisspacethatleveragedeepanalyticsanddatalakesacrossdifferentstoragerepositoriestohelpyoubettermanageyourdata.

***

LightbitsLabs(EranKirzner,CEO)1. Cloudproviders,bothlargeandsmall,willmovetodisaggregatedstoragewhere

storageishandledseparatelyfromcompute,andawayfromtraditionaldirect-attachedstorage(DAS)architecturewherestorageislocatedwiththecomputenodes.Fromthetop-tiercloudproviderstotheenterpriselevel,thetrendwillbemovingfromtraditionalall-flasharraysorstoragecontrollerstomoreofacloud-likearchitecture.AndmoreenterpriseswilladoptofNVMe/TCPasopposedtoNVMeoverotherfabrics.

2. Flashpriceswillcontinuetodropastheydidin2019,makingitincreasingly

affordableandpushingmoreandmorecompaniestoadoptflashastheirpreferredstoragemediaforitsaffordableprice/performance.NewerNVMe/TCPtechnologieswillfurtherenhancetheappealandbenefitsofflashbyhelpingtoreducelatency.Emergingflashsolutions,includingQuadLevelCell(QLC),QTC,SLCandMLCflash,willalsoseeincreasingmarkettraction.QLCwasintroducedin2019andthereforehadonlyminimalmarketadoption.Thatwillchangein2020,particularlyamong

2020Predictions


companiesthathavedeployedGlobalFlashTranslationLayers(GFTL)toovercomeQLC’sinherentissues.

3. AsKubernetescontinuesitssuccessfulassaultonthedatacenter,morecompanies

willlookforstorageforcontainerizedenvironmentsthatmoveawayfromtraditionalKubernetesdeploymentswithDASintomoreflexibleandreliablesolutionsforpersistentcontainerstoragethatNVMe/TCPcanprovide.

***

MemVerge(CharlesFan,CEO)1. DataCenterArchitectureredefined:StorageClassMemorywillmakewayfora

memory-centricdatacenterWithanincreasingdemandfromdatacenterapplications,pairedwiththeincreasedspeedofprocessing,therewillbeahugepushtowardsamemory-centricdatacenter.Computinginnovationsarehappeningatarapidpace,withmoreandmorecomputationtech–fromx86toGPUstoARM.ThiswillcontinuetoopenupnewtopologybetweenCPUandmemoryunits.Whilearchitecturecurrentlytendstobemoredisaggregatedbetweenthecomputinglayerandthestoragelayer,Ibelieveweareheadedtowardsamemory-centricdatacenterverysoon.AnewMCI(memory-convergedinfrastructure)layerpoweredbyStorageClassMemory(SCM)willboastalargercapacityofmemoryforapplicationsalongwithpersistencethatmakesstoragetierobsolete.SCMwillbethemostdisruptivenewhardwaretechnologywithinthedatacenterarchitecturenextyear.OvertimeweexpectMCItoreplaceboththeexistingmemorytierandtheperformancetierofstorageandwillbecomea$10billion+dollarmarket.Thistransitionwilltake5-10yearstocompleteand2020willbethefirstyearwestarttoseeanyimpact.

2. StorageClassMemorytechnologywillevolveandthemarketwillexpandThisyearmarksyear0ofstorageclassmemory(SCM),withIntelshippingOptaneDCPersistentMemoryinQ2.Overthenext2-3years,Ibelievetherewillbeothermajorsemiconductorvendorsenteringthemarket,whileIntelcontinuestoimproveitsOptanetechnology.WeexpectIntelOptaneDCPersistentMemory’scapacitytodoubleanditscostwilldroptohalf,every18months.InadditiontoIntel,wewilllikelyseeearlyexamplesfromadditionalplayersinthismarketinthenext2-3years,effectivelyvalidatingthisnewmarketforSCM.Intel,inparticular,planstoreleasegen2ofOptanebytheendof2020–Iexpectwewillseesignificantimprovementintermsofdensityandspeed.

3. Datareasoningwillbeoneofthemostcriticalskillsnext-generationITstaffers

willneedtopossessITishavingacomingofagemoment.Itisslowlyimprovingintermsofdeploymentofmaturedatascienceandmachinelearningwithintheenterprise.ITstafferswillneedtounderstandallfacetsofinfrastructureandoperationalizeplatformswell.Asbigdatacontinuestogrow,ITstafferswillalsoneedtobeabletoreasonaboutdataandpullactionableinsights.

2020Predictions


***

Minio(AnandBabuPeriasamy,CEO)1. Appliancevendorshitthewallin2020resultinginplummetingvaluations.Shifting

toasoftwareonlymodelisnotwindowdressingaroundpricing.ItrequiresaDNAchange.

2. Moderndatabases(therevenueengineforSANandNAS)goobjectstoragenative.

Thisisarealthreattothetraditionalenterprisestoragevendors.3. The“standards”associatedwiththecloudareincreasinglydefinedbyopensource.It

willbecometheprimarystrategyforthelargestplayersinthespace-fromVMware,Microsoft,AmazonandGoogle.

***

Nasuni(RussKennedy,CPO)1. Prepareforevenfasterexponentialdatagrowth

Dataisalreadydoublingevery2-3years.In2020,therateofdatagrowthwillsignificantlyaccelerate,drivenbyhigherresolutionmobilephonecameras,thegrowthof4Kvideo,increasedvideosurveillance,genomicsresearch,IoTmachinedata,3Dmedicalimages...andsomanymore.Boththenumberandsizeoffileswillincreaseataneverfasterrate,andITorganizationsneedtopreparenowtostore,protectandprovideaccesstoitall.

2. Anticipatecontinued“cloud-washing”byincumbentstoragevendorsIncumbentvendors’storagesystemsweredesignedforon-premisesenvironments,butascompaniesmovemoreoftheirworkloadstothecloud,themarketforon-premisesgearisshrinking.Unfortunately,vendors’effortstoconnectorportthesesystemstotheclouddoesn'tnecessarilymakethingsmoreefficientoreasiertouse.Andinsomecases,itactuallymakesIThardertomanage,especiallyifapplicationsanddataarestillpartlyon-prem,andyou’retryingtoprovideaccesstousersaroundtheworld.

3. Consolidationofcloud-basedcompanieswillaccelerateTheincrediblesuccessandgrowthofAWSandAzurehaveothercompanieseagertocarveouttheirownsliceofthecloud.Asaresult,cloud-friendlytechnologiesarehighlycoveted,especiallybylarge,traditionalITvendors.ExpecttoseealotmoreM&Ain2020ofcloud-basedcompanies,whichwerecentlywitnessedthroughtheacquisitionofVeeamin2020.

***

2020Predictions


NGDSystems(ScottShadley,VPMarketing)1. MoveLessandAnalyzeMoreattheEdge

NVMehasprovidedameasureofreliefandproventoremoveexistingstorageprotocolbottlenecksforplatformschurningoutterabytesandpetabytesofdataonaregularbasis.But,isthatenough?EventhoughNVMeissubstantiallyfaster,itisnotfastenoughbyitselfwhenpetabytesofdataarerequiredtobeanalyzedandprocessedinrealtime.ThisiswhereComputationalStoragecomesinandsolvestheproblemofdatamanagementandmovement.ComputationalStorage,especiallythewaywemarrytheuseofNVMeSSDsandcomputepower,addsanalyticalpowerandspeedsothatresultscanbeaccomplishedrightawayandwherethedataisgenerated.

2. Better5GConnectivity

In2020,moreedgerelateddeviceswillbeneededtoprocessmassivedataworkloads.Theadventof5Gisnodifferent.Asmorecelltowersarebuilttosupport5G,therealsoneedstobemorecomplexinfrastructureateachbaystationthatcanmanagethedata“inandoutofthebox”sothatuserdataisoptimallyutilized.ComputationalStoragewithitssmallformfactorsandaddedcomputepowercanpackananalyticaluppercutpunchinthelimitedsizeandpowerenablededge-datacentersthatliveateachofthesenewcelltowerplatforms.Byprovidingadditionalcomputetotheconfinedresourcesthatexistisparamounttosuccessfulgrowthofthisspace.Insteadofrequiringevenmorehardwareandpowertotheserver,theadventofhighcapacityComputationalStorageprovidestheneededoffloadtothesystemtoallowforgreatdeployments.

3. SimplifytheTrafficFlowofContentDeliveryNetworks

Streamingserviceshavecontinuedtodominateheadlinesthisyear,withtherecentlaunchesofAppleTV+andDisneyPluscombinedwithNetflix,HuluandAmazonPrime’sincreasinginvestments.Thisposesamajorhurdleforthecontentdeliverynetworks(CDNs)–andwhereComputationalStoragecanbeamajorasset.WhileatypicalCDNtrafficflowinvolveslotsofdatamovementandprocessingspreadoutoveravarietyofedgeinfrastructure,ComputationalStorage,cansimplifythisflow.

***

Panasas(CurtisAnderson,SeniorSoftwareArchitect)1. TheimportanceofTotalCostofOwnership(TCO):HPCstoragesolutionsmust

delivervaluefarbeyondtheinitialpurchasepriceAstherequirementsforHPCstoragesystemsarebecomingmorediversewiththeadditionofnewworkloadssuchasArtificialIntelligence(AI),thereisanincreasingneedtostartlookingattheoverallimpactontheorganisationoftheongoingcostofoperations,userproductivityandthetimetoqualityoutcomes.Inadditiontoevaluatingtheprice/performanceratio,buyerswillneedtostartpayingcloseattentiontoarangeofpurchasingconsiderationsthatgobeyondtheinitialinvestment.Thoseincludethecostofunplanneddowntimeintermsofapplication

2020Predictions


userproductivity,thecostofcomplexityandtheheadcountrequiredtomanageit,andtheneedforresponsivesupportformission-criticalinfrastructuresuchasyourstorage.

2. AsEnterprise’sAIprojectsgraduatefrom“exploratory”to“production”theywillleavethepubliccloudsforlesscostlyon-premisessolutions,fundingaboominHPCinfrastructurebuild-out,buttherequirementsforthatinfrastructurewillhavechangedbasedupontheircloudexperiencePubliccloudsaregreatforlearningandexperimentation,butnotforhigh-utilisationproductionoperations.Publiccloudswill,however,havealargeinfluenceonthenextgenerationofon-premiseinfrastructurethatisbuilt.Theneedforthelowesttime-to-solution,quicklytakingactionbasedupontheinsightsthatAIcangiveyou,drivesAItopushtheunderlyinghardware(e.g:GPUsandstorage)ashardasitcango.Butthesimpletruthisthatthecostofadedicatedresourceinapubliccloudishigherthanthecostofowningthatresource.AnothersimpletruthisthatthevalueofAIisthecomputerderivinginformationthatyoucanactuponfrommountainsofdata.AddinthefactthatAIhasaninsatiableneedforgrowthoftrainingdata,andthatpubliccloudshavenever-endingchargesfordatastorage,andthecostsclimb.Putthosesimplefactstogetherandit’sclearthatproductionAIwillbelesscostlyifitisperformedon-premises.Theindustryhasbecomeusedtotheextremeflexibilityandsimplicityofmanagementthatpubliccloudsprovide,andtheywillwanttoretainthosecharacteristicsintheiron-premisesolutionsatthelowercostitprovides.

***

PavilionDataSystems(VRSatish,CTO)1. ConvergenceofprimaryandsecondarystorageushersNVMeasacost-effective

andperformantmediaforsecondarystorage.

2. NVMeOFbecomesthepreferredprotocolforallnewinfrastructuredeployments.

3. High-performanceedgestoragebecomesarequirementforhybridclouddeployment.

***

Portworx(MurliThirumale,CEO)1. KuberneteswillstarttobeusedtomanageITinfrastructure,notjust

containerizedapplicationsVMWare'sProjectPacificisoneofthefirstexamplesofthis,butIexpecttoseemoresuchofferingsin2020.ThemovetocontainerizeapplicationsandorchestratethemwithKubernetesiswellunderwayanddrivingrapidapplicationdeploymentandportabilityinenterprisesledbyDevOps.ProjectPacificisaboldmovetoextend

2020Predictions


VSpherewithKubernetesandgettraditionalITadminsintothemixbyhavingVSphereandKubernetesnowmanageITinfrastructure.VMWareisbothmakingKubernetesafirstcitizenalongwithVSpherebutalsosayingKubernetesviaVSpherecannowmanagenotjustAppsbutalsoVMs,Storage,NetworkingandCompute.

2. IPOsforcompanieswith‘cult’CEOsandfounderswillbediscountedbythe

marketasbearingtoomuchriskThedaysofCEOworshipareover.HighprofileproblemsatTheranos,Uber,andmorerecentlyWeWorkhavemadeinvestorsskittishaboutrelyingoncharismaticindividuals.In2020,agoodproductbackedbyasustainablebusinessmodelwillbefarmoreattractivetoinvestorsthanamessianicCEO.

3. Weheardalotabout5Gthisyearbutnetworkcoveragefromthemajor

telecomsprovidersisspottyIexpecttoseethischangesignificantlyin2020.With5Gnetworksspanningthecountry,devicemakersandapplicationdeveloperswillstarttotakeadvantageofthenewhigh-speedtechnology.ThiswillmeannotjustrichersmartphoneappsbutalsoarangeofIoTusesthatwillreshapecomputingattheedge.

***

PureStorage(MattKixmoeller,VPStrategy)1. CustomersWillDemandASubscriptiontoInnovationwithAs-a-Service

BusinessModelsAs-a-Servicemodelshaveexistedsincethebeginningofpubliccloud.Formostconsumersofstorage,hybridcloudistherealityandthefuture-andtheyarelookingtogetthebestoutofbothworlds;todrivesimplicityandautomationfromtheiron-premiseinfrastructuresotheycanmanageitliketheymanagethecloud,andtogetthesameenterprisecapabilitiesandcontrolinthecloud,astheyhaveon-premise--bothinaflexible,subscription-basedas-a-Servicemodel.In2020,thedemandforas-a-ServiceinstoragewillincreaseandorganizationsarespeakingwiththeirwalletswithmoreinvestmentinOPEXmodels,butsuccessfulmodelsneedtobalanceboththeoperationsandpurchasingaspects.Fromanoperationsperspective,keyattributesincludestandardization(vssnowflakes),on-demandaccess,API-drivenmanagement,andlimitlessscale.Ontheconsumptionside,keytraitsincludeapayforwhatyouusemodel,burstingcapabilities(flexup/downasneeded),andanon-disruptiveevergreenexperience,servicescanbegrown/evolvedovertimewithoutdisruption.Andallthisdeliveredasa100%pay-per-monthOPEXservice.

2. ModernAnalyticsHasReachedRocketshipStatusFuelingthegrowthformodernanalyticsismoreaffordableinfrastructureoptionssuchasmorepowerfulCPUs,consumption-basedinfrastructure,availablebothon-premandinthepubliccloud,andlowerpricedflashmemory.Thereisalsoasignificantgrowthinstreamanalyticsplatforms,bothopensource(ApacheFlink,ApacheBeamandSparkStreaming)andcommercial(SplunkDSP)replacingmoreandmorebatch-basedprocessingplatforms.Modernanalyticscannowreachlarger

2020Predictions


scalewithcloudnativeanalyticsarchitecturescomprisedofstatelessserversandcontainerandhigh-performanceS3objectstores.Additionally,theunbridledgrowthofdatasourcesincludingsmartdevices(smarthome,wearables,connectedcars,industrialinternet,etc.)willdrivetheadoptionofmodernanalyticsinordertodrivemoreinsights.

3. AIOperationsWillGoFromAdvisoryRolestoAutomatedActionAsCustomersWantaHands-FreeApproachOrganizationswillbemoreopentoAImakingdecisionsforthem.Customerswanttosetpoliciesandletthevendorsimplementthepolicies,whichispartiallydrivenbythedeclarativenatureofKubernetesandcontainermanagement.Thesimplicityofcontainerswillenableorganizationstodefineastate,andthecontainerwillbethecatalyst.Thetechnologyshouldthendriveanddeliverinsightswithinthewholeenvironment.AIwillbeappliedtoefficientlyfindingwherethepredictivemodelperformspoorlyandaugmentingdataforthatfeaturespace.ThisiscriticalforAIapplicationslikeanomalydetectionandautomaticrootcauseanalysistoscaleandbeapplicableinmorecontexts.

***

Quantum(EricBassier,SeniorDirectorofProductMarketing)1. VideoandImagesRepresentBiggestDataGeneratorforMostEnterprises

Betweensurveillancefootage,videoformarketingandtrainingpurposesacrossallindustries,andtheuseofhigh-resimageandvideocontentgeneratedbymachinesinusecasesasdiverseasmovieandTVproduction,autonomousvehicledesign,manufacturing,healthcare–webelievevideoandhigh-resimagecontentwillrepresentbiggest‘class’ofdataformostenterprises.

2. TheTapeStorageMarketwillGrow,ReversingaDecade-LongDecliningTrendTapehasemergedasakeytechnologyformassivescalecoldstorageinfrastructure–bothinthecloudandon-premise.Andwebelievethearchitecturesusedinthecloudwilleventuallymaketheirwaybackintotheenterprise.Sowebelievethetapemarketwillgrow,andcontinuetogrowoverthenext5-10years,basedonanewusecasefortapeascoldstoragefor(primarily)videoandhighresimagedata.

3. Hybrid-andMulti-CloudArchitecturesBecometheNormManycompaniesareinsometypeofhybrid-cloudstate,andcustomersareexpectingthatvendorsprovideanevenmoreseamlessexperiencebetweenon-premisehardwareinfrastructures,andcloudinfrastructures.Customerswillalsoexpectthatvendorscanofferamulti-cloudexperience,socustomersarenotlockedintoasinglecloudprovider.

***

2020Predictions


Qumulo(MollyPresley,GlobalProductMarketingDirector)1. NVMefilestoragewillbeadoptedbroadlyforperformancestarved,low-

latencyapplicationsin2020NVMeisacommunicationsprotocoldevelopedspecificallyforall-flashstorage.Itenablesfasterperformanceandgreaterdensitycomparedtolegacyprotocols.It’sgearedforenterpriseworkloadsthatrequiretopperformance,suchasreal-timedataanalytics,onlinetradingplatformsandotherlatency-sensitiveworkloads.

2. Data-drivenbusinesseswillhavetoshiftsomeworkloadstothecloudfordataprocessing,machinelearning(ML)andartificialintelligence-(AI)drivenworkloadsEverymajorenterpriseintheworldisgoingtobecomeahybridenterprise.InindustriesacrossallmajorverticalmarketsincludingM&E,transportation,bioandpharma,customersareusinglargevolumesofunstructureddatainordertoaccomplishtheirmission.Despitetremendousdownwardpressure,ITbudgetsdon’tgrowatthesamerateastherestofbusiness.Thepubliccloudenablesawaytosolvethatproblemwithitselasticcomputeandelasticresources.

3. Scale-outFileStoragewillbecomethepreferredtechnologyforon-prem

unstructureddataactivearchivesModernfilestoragesolutionsdeliverperformanceandeconomicsinasingletiersolutionmanagedbyintelligentcaching.Objectstorageisnotthebestfitforon-premisescustomersseekingsimplicitytodelivertoperformanceapplicationsandretaincosteffectively,objectstoragewasdevelopedasaprecursortowebscaletechnologyandasthestoragemediumforwebtechnologies.Itwasmeanttobegreatfordatasetsthatapproachexabytedatalevelandaregeographicallydistributed.In2020,webelievetheon-premisesobjectstoragemarketwillevaporateandwillbecomewhollyfilebased.

***

Reduxio(JacobCherian,CMO)ThetruepowerofKubernetesistoredefinetheideaofthecloudforcustomersbybreakingdowntheirinfrastructuresilos-publiccloudresources,andthecustomersownedanddedicatedresources.CustomerswillincreasinglyleverageKubernetesandcontainerstobuildinfrastructureagnosticITfortheirapplications-oneenvironmentthatcanbeinstantiatedanywhererapidlyandrunalltheirapplications.Thisiscloudinfrastructureascode.AkeyrequirementforthiswillbestoragethatisnativeandintegratedintoKubernetesandprovidesmobilityforapplicationsanddataacrossalltheinfrastructurepools,stitchingthepoolstogetherintoasinglecloud.

***

2020Predictions


ScaleComputing(AlanConboy,officeoftheCTO)1. Customersdon’twantsolutionsthatarecomplex,difficulttouse,requirelotsof

trainingandcostmorebecauseoftheadditionallicenses.

2. GartnerMagicQuadrant’snicheplayerswillcontinuedrivinginnovationwithfeaturerichtechnologiesthatsimplifyIToperations,forexamplebysupportingthegrowingedgecomputingindustry.

3. TechnologiesfromnicheplayerswillmakeVMware’squasi-vendoragnostic

approachlookincreasinglyold-fashionedLookingaheadto2020,wewillseenicheplayersstayniche.Why?Leaderswillalwayshaveaplaceofferingwell-entrenchedlegacyinfrastructure,butstayingnichemeansbeingatrendsetter.Itmeanstheofferingisdifferent,greatatwhatitdoes,andmakestechbetterandmoreaccessibletoeveryone.ThisisthereasonwhyIbelievecustomerswillcontinueinvestinginnicheplayersthatofferthetechnologytheyneedinthewaythatworksbestforthem.

***

Scality(PaulSpeciale,CPO)1. Objectstorageattheedgewillbeonflash

Objectstoragewillmoveintotheedgeforapplicationsthatcapturelargedatastreamsfromawidevarietyofmobile,IoTandotherconnecteddevices.Thiswillincludeeventstreamsandlogs,sensoranddevicedata,vehicledrivedata,imageandvideomediadataandmore,withhighdataratesandhighconcurrencyfromthousandsormoresimultaneousdatastreams.TheseapplicationswillbedevelopedforcloudnativedeploymentandwillthereforenaturallyembraceRESTfulobjectstylestorageprotocols,makingobjectstorageonflashmediaanoptimalchoiceontheedgetosupportthisemergingclassofdata-centricapplications.

2. Newwaysofidentifyingpatients,customers,anddepositors

willbedevelopedin2020,asthealreadyacceleratingpaceofhackinganddatabreachescontinuestopickupspeed.Thereisenormousvalueinstoreddata.Untiltheymakethesechanges,hospitalsandmedicalproviders,forexample,willremainstrongtargetsduetothevalueofthedatatheyhold:notonlypatienthealthinformation,butthepatientidentificationthatgoesalongwithit(governmentID,birthdate,address,etc.).

3. Datastoragewillbecomemassivelydecentralised

asenterprisesleverageacombinationofon-premisesandpubliccloudITresources.Thiswillcreateaneedforaunifiednamespaceandcontrolplanetosimplifydatavisibilityandaccess.

2020Predictions


Moreover,corporationswilluseavarietyofpublicclouds,eachoneselectedtohelpsolvespecificbusinessproblems,therebycreatingamulti-clouddatamanagementproblem.Inaddition,theemergenceofedgecomputingwillfurtherdrivedecentralisationascorporationschoosetodeployITresources“near”theedgedevicestheymanage.Thesetrendsallhelptocreateanewandextreme“clouddatasilos”scenario,thatcanonlybeaddressedbysolutionsthatprovideglobaldatavisibilityacrossthesedistributedcloudsanddatacenters.

***

SpectraLogic(MattStarr,CTO)1. Digitaldataownershipisakintotheoil/steeloftheearly20thCentury

ThinkaboutRockefeller,Carnegie,Fordandthelike,industrialgiantsofthe20thcentury.Inthe21stcenturyitwillbethedataowner.LikeDisney,whorecentlypurchased21stcenturyfoxtobecomeoneofthelargestMediaandEntertainmentcontentownersintheworld.HealthCare,OilandGasexploration,geospatial,itisnotjustmediaandentertainmentwheredataisthemostvaluableasset.Nearlyeveryindustryisseeinganacquisitionstrategythattakesintoaccountthedigitalassetownership.

2. CloudEgresscostwillstarttodriveend-userstrategiesCloudstorageisalltheragein2019,someofthelargerusersoftheseStorageasaServiceofferingsarediscoveringthatnothavingalocalcopyisthedrivingfactorintheirstoragecost,in-turnforcingacloserlookathybridcloud,especiallyhavingalocalcopywhilestillutilizingthecloudasthesecondcopy.AllowingalocalrestoreandusageofdatawithoutegresscostsandacloudbasedcopyforDRandsharing.

3. MachinelearningandAIhavemovedforwardin2019andwillcontinueinthenextdecadeThedatasetsusedtotrainthesenewsystemswillbealeadingfactorforhowfarAIcango.ItiseasyforAItofindcopyrightedmusiconYoutube,andsoonAIwillbecreatingmoreofthemusicalbackgroundwehear.Outsideofart,anotherexampleisAIusedtodevelopautonomousvehicleswilldeliversafervehiclesasrealworlddatasetsarebroughtbackandworkedthroughAIforbettervehiclesafety.LookforAItobeinnearlyeverypartofyourlifesoon.

***

StorCentric(SuryaVaranasi,CTO)parentcompanyofNexsan,Drobo,RetrospectandVexata1. Intheenterprisespace,on-premisesstoragewillseeacomeback

Businesseshavebeenmovingtothecloudforprimaryandarchive/DRstorageforalongtime.In2020,on-premisesstorage,whetherforactiveorstandby,willseeacomeback–especially,ascustomersarehitwithcloud-usebillsthataredramaticallyhigherthanoriginallyanticipated.

2020Predictions


In2020,tobesuccessfulandprovidevaluetothebusiness,enterpriseITwillneedtobeabletostraddletheworldsofthecloudandon-premisesstorage.Softwaresolutionsthatenableswiftmobilitybetweenthesetwodomainswillbecomeincreasinglycritical.Onlyviathisbi-modelmodelwillITbeabletoachievethehighestperformance,scalabilityandcapabilities,aswellasthesafestretention,atthemostcosteffectiveprice.

2. IntheProsumerandSMBspace,multi-layereddatamanagementandprotectionwillbecomepriority#1IntheProfessionalConsumer(i.e.,Prosumer)andSMBspace,datastorageandprotectionhasalwaysbeenapriority,butcosthasbeenaroadblockforthoseseekingtoemploycomprehensiveend-to-enddatamanagementandprotectionsolutions.In2020,ProsumersandSMBswilldemandsolutionsthatenablethemtoseamlesslyandaffordablylayerfeaturesandfunctionalityontotheiron-sitestorage,suchasintegrationwithoff-sitecloudandSaaSbackupandrecoverysolutions,withflexiblecross-platformsupportforallmajorplatformsincludingWindows,Mac,Linux,VMwareandHyper-V.

***

StorMagic(BruceKornfeld,CMO&GM-Americas)1. Moredataisbeingcreatedattheedgethaneverbefore

In2019,moredatawascreatedattheedgethaneverbefore,andthatwillcontinueinto2020andbeyondduetoamassmovementawayfromtraditionaldatacentersandpublicclouds.Theoverallstoragelandscapeistransforming,andmorecustomersnowprefertoprocessandmanagedataattheedgeofthenetworkbecauseitismoreefficientandcost-effective.

2. KeymanagementadoptioninedgeHCIenvironmentswillincreaseSecurityisagrowingconcernatedgecomputingsites,wherethereistypicallynoITstaffmemberandnophysicalsecuritypresent.Asserverscontrunetogetsmallerinsizetheriskoftheftdramaticallyincreases.CIOs-particularlyinthehealthcare,financeandretailmarkets-willbeginintegratingdataencryptionwithkeymanagementtofullyprotectdatamanagedattheirremotesitesandbranchofficeslocatedattheedge.

3. Virtualizationenhancementswillbeintroducedtosupportphysicallysmaller

environmentsAsITfootprintscontinuetoshrink,virtualizationisn’tjustforyourgrandfather’sdatacenteranymore.Smaller-sizedserverswillcontinuetohitthemarketata2U,orsmaller,footprint.Softwarecompanieswillrespondwithlightweightvirtualstoragesolutionsthatofferalow-costentrypointtosuitthesesmallerhardwareproductsandjustifyROIandITprojectsasawhole.

2020Predictions


***

StorONE(GalNaor,CEO)1. PriceperTB

Dramaticallyreductionduetobettersoftwaresolutionwithlesshardwarerequired.Whatwehaveseenin2019andweexpectwillcontinuethrough2020isinefficientutilizationthatplagueslegacystoragearchitectures.Thiswillonlygetworseascustomersstillaren’tgettingtheratedspeedandcapacitythattheypayfor,thatthedrivesarecapableof.Endusersareincreasinglyfrustratedbythis,andfrustratedhavingtooverbuy.In2020companieswilllookformoreefficiencyandbetterresourceutilization,foralowerfootprintandtoachievetheperformanceanddensitythey’repayingfor.

2. BuiltincompletedataprotectionandbackupwillemergeaspartofstoragesolutionsNolongerwillorganizationshavetomaintainmultiplesystemstogetcompleteenterprisedataprotectionandperformance.NOneedtopurchase,integrateandmanagestandalonesystemsfordataretention/protection,backup,anddataintegrity.Inaddition,dataprotection(RAID)levelsbasedpervolumeandnotthesameRAIDfortheentirestoragesolution.Andnomorecompromisingondataprotectiontogethighperformance.Builtindatareliabilitywillbeamandatoryrequirementaspartofanystoragesolutionandwillbealloftheseserviceswillbeincludedwithoutextracost.

3. In2020allenterprisestorageserviceswillfinallybeavailableinthesamesolutionAllthestorageprotocols(block,fileandobject)willbeincludeandalldrivestypes(NVMe,SSD,HDD,andOptane)willbesupportedinthesamesolutionwiththeabilitytosimultaneouslyrundifferentprotocolsonthesamedrives.Storagemanagerswillhavethefullflexibilitytomanagealltheirstoragerequirementsandtogrowondemandaccordingtotheirneeds.Asingleenvironmentcanmanageanyusecase–performance,capacity,protocol,drivetypeanddataprotectionbasedpervolume.

***

StrongBoxDataSolutions(FloydChristofferson)1. Datamanagementacrossstoragetypesisthebiggestemergingproblem

• Thisismadeworsebyexponentialgrowthofunstructureddata• Increasinglydatamanagersdon’tknowforsurewhattheyhave,andwhereit

shouldbekept,orifitcanbedeleted• Solutionsfocusedonintelligentcross-platformmanagementofdataareneeded

toaddressthis2. Theproliferationofstoragetypes,includingmultiplecloudandsoftware-

definedchoicesmakestheproblemworse

2020Predictions


• ThisaddscomplexityandcosttoITadministrators• Causesthemtorelyonmultipletools,andmanageuserexperience• Oftenleadstooverprovisioning,anddifficultytocontaincostsortakefull

advantageofthesavingstheyseekfrommoreeconomicalstoragechoices3. On-premcloud(object),plustheincreasingpubliccloudofferingscause

protocolproblemsfortraditionalfile-basedworkflows• Theabilitytobridgemultiplevendorsolutionsforon-premandoff-premwithout

addingcomplexityoruserdisruptionbecomeskey• Theabilitytounderstandthedataitself,andletdataintelligencedrivedata

placementenabletruestorageoptimizationandcostsavings• ThisalsoreducestheloadonITstaff,whichhasotherwisebecomearapidly

growingoperationalexpense.StorageanddatamanagementOPEXareabout5xtheacquisitioncostsforstorage,whichthereforeneutralizescostsavingsachievedbymorecosteffectivestoragechoices

***

TalonStorage(JaapvanDuijvenbode,ProductDirector)1. In2020,wewillseeacontinuedbutevenstrongerpivottoanenterprisehybrid

cloudstrategy,onethatleveragesacombinationofon-premisesstorageandcloudstorage.Dependinguponthenatureoftheworkload,thedatacharacteristics(i.e.size)orcompliancefactors(GDPRetc.)candriveaparadigmofregionallylocatedcloudstoragefootprints,accessedbyusers/locationsinproximitytothatstorageresource.Backup/DRusecasesarethesimplestandmostforgivingintermsofongoingoperationalcomplexity,andassucharewheremanyenterprisesgetstartedintheuseofmulti-cloudstorageresources.

2. Also,wepredictthat2020willseeenterpriseslookingatavariedfootprint,with

differentfunctionssupportedfromdifferentvendors.FromabusinessperspectivemostlargerenterprisesdonotwanttosacrificenegotiatingleveragewithregardstotheirOPEX-basedinfrastructure.Thereareadvantagesingoingallinwithonevendor.Intoday'spay-as-you-goworld,anenterprisecouldachieveavolumediscountbysendingeverythinginthedirectionofonecloudprovider.Ittakesworktoregularlyreviewiftheorganizationisgettingthebestdeal,andswitchingcostsarehigh.Bymaintainingafootprintwithdifferentproviders,customersstaycurrentwithpricingpolicies/promotions,andhaveeasierflexibilityindirectingworkloadstoresources.

3. Compliancewillonlycontinuetobeanincreasinglyimportantfactorinthemulti-

clouddecision.Forlargerorpublicly-tradedcompanies,therequirementtoemploybestpracticesofriskmitigationwilldriveamulti-cloudapproachtospreadingtherisk.Forglobalcompanies,theneedtokeepcertaindataassetsincertaingeographicdomainswillfactorintotheequation.

***

2020Predictions


Virtana(TimVanAsh,SVPProducts)1. Cloudisnotcheaper,andoverprovisioningmustbebroughtundercontrol

In2019organisationscametotherealisationthatcloudisnotnecessarilycheaper.Thisdrovetheneedforvisibilityandcontrolofcloudexpensefromthestarttopreventescalatingcosts.Cloudcostmanagementhasbecomeafull-timeroleasorganisationshavetriedtofigureoutandgetahandleoncosts.2020willseethecontinuedmaturationofthecloudstorywithafarmoreconsideredapproach,focusedoncostoptimisationandcostcontrol.Arguably,costhasalwaysbeenadriverforcloud,butthehighestprioritiesin2020willbedeterminingtherealcostofcloud,anddevelopingeffectivecostgovernance.Insteadofrushingworkloadstothecloud,organisationswillseektounderstandtohowtheycanoptimisetheirworkloads.Itwillstartwithrightsizingoftheirworkloads,thendecidingwhetheritisacandidatetomovetothecloud,orremainon-premises.Enterpriseswillbegintoseethevalueandsavingsthatcanariseasaresultofintelligentworkloadmanagementanddatadecision-making,leadingtomoreeffectiveoutcomesintermsofcostandperformance.Organisationsin2020willlooktoreduceoreliminatetheoverprovisioningofpubliccloudresourcesthattheysawin2019,whichresultedfrompoorvisibilityintoworkloadsandtheirresourceconsumption.Forexample,AWSLambdarequiresthepurchaseofasetmemoryallocationregardlessofwhetheritisneededorused,resultinginatendencytovastlyoverprovisionmemory.Thishasbeenimpossibletoachieve,withcostandperformancebeingmanagedbyseparatetoolsandteams.In2020,Hybridapplicationsandworkloadswillcontinuetoconsumedigitalinfrastructureacrossbothprivateandpubliccloud.Theneedforasinglepaneofglassthatprovidescontinuousvisibilityintocosts,andwhileassuringperformancewillbemandatorytoassureeffectivecapacitymanagementandoptimizationacrosshybridcloud.BearinginmindtheconsiderabletransformationtakingplaceinITenvironments,thecriticalissuein2020forCIOs,willbeseekingtounderstandhowtogovernITspend.

2. Hybridandmulti-cloudwilldemandconsistentlevelsofvisibilitytomitigate

riskThestartof2019wasallaboutmulti-cloud.Now,wearehearingpeopletalkhybridapplicationsrunninginthehybridcloudbecauseitcrossesmultipleclouds,inadditiontothedatacentre.Soitisprettyclearnowthathybridisatermusedtodescribeanenvironmentwithcomponentsofapplicationsandtheinfrastructuresupportingitthatspreadacrossprivateandpubliccloud.Thereisdebateoverwhetheritincludesoneormorecloudproviders,andoneormoreprivatedatacentres,butineitherscenario,anythingthatresidesovermultiplecloudsstillneedstobeproperlycontrolled.Thelackofcommonmetricsandgranularityhascontributedtoperformanceandreliabilityproblemsacrosshybridinfrastructures.Everyoneislookingforthesinglepaneofglass,andthiswillbeanon-goingtopicfor

2020Predictions


atleastthenextthreetofiveyears.Thehybridenvironmentisdefinitelywhereeveryonewillbepivotedtowardsfrom2020andonwards.

3. Theimpactofcontainersonsharedinfrastructurewillstarttobeunderstood

ThereisnodoubtthatKuberneteshasbecomethedominantorchestrationplatformforthecloud.AshighlightedbyIBM’sacquisitionofRedHat,andVMware’sacquisitionofPivotal,whichpositionedVMwaretodeliverenterprise-gradeKubernetes-basedportfolio.Inobservingthematurationofthemarketoverallduring2019,wesawthatinfrastructureteamshadlearnedfromthevirtualisationexperience.Withnumerousvirtualmachinesrunningontopofhypervisor,itwasverydifficulttoseewhichVMswereresponsiblefortheworkloadsbeinggeneratedagainstthebackendinfrastructure,ascenarioknownasthe‘blendereffect’.Goinginto2020,thischallengeliesattheheartofinfrastructureteams’concernsaroundcontaineradoption.Althoughtheexpectationisthatalargepercentageofon-premisecontainerswillbelong-lived,theabilitytodynamicallyscaleupandscaledowncoulddramaticallyimpactinfrastructure.Organisationslookingtodeploycontainersintheirdatacentresmustconsiderandmanagetheimpactandperformanceoftheirinfrastructure,otherwisethemovetocontainerisedapplicationsanddeploymentwilllikelyfail.In2020ITteamswilladoptsmart(AI-powered)hybridinfrastructuremanagementplatformsthatwillnotonlyhelpthemunderstandwhatapplicationsaregeneratingtheworkloads,butalsohowworkloadsimpacteveryphysicalelementoftheinfrastructure.

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Weebit(CobyHanoch,CEO)1. We’llstarthearingofmoreReRAMcommercialdeals

2. Chinawillcontinueitsverystrongpushintomemoryandstoragewithbig

investmentsandpotentiallyalsoacquisitions3. Neuromorphiccomputingresearchwillmovetocenterstage

***

2020Predictions


WekaIO(AndyWatson,CTO)1. SmartNIC’s(NetworkInterfaceCards)

fromcompanieslikeMellanox,withcomprehensivelyextensivecapabilitiesforoffloadingwillbringaboutrevolutionarychangesintheinfrastructurelandscapeforthemostdata-hungryapplications.Storagesolutionsabletoleveragethisimportantnewnetworkingtechnologywillpushtheenvelopeintermsofbothperformance(i.e.,greaterthroughputandlowerlatencydataaccess)andimprovedscalability.Initiallythehighercostwilllikelylimitadoptiontoonlythemostdemandingenvironmentsbutovertime(2021andbeyond)wecanexpecttoseeSmartNICsdeployedmorewidely.

2. SCM(StorageClassMemory)willhaveabigimpactnowthatIntelhasatlonglastdeliveredtomarketOptaneDCPersistentMemory.Sub-microsecondlatencyforpersistentstorageatmeaningfulscale(upto768TBinaclusteredfilesystemisalreadybeingpromisedbyatleastonesoftwareprovider)willrevolutionizetheindustry.Ifnothingelse,thisnew“TierZero”willenablenear-instantaneouscheckpointing(andrecoveryfromthosecheckpoints).SCMcanalsobeusedtoextendmemorycomplements,andthisisalreadyimpactinghowengineersarethinkingaboutin-memorydatabasesandothermemory-intensiveapplications.AnyoneskepticalaboutthiscomingtectonicshiftneedlooknofartherthanMemVergeorLevyx(orotheremergingsoftwarecompaniesinthishotnewspace)whoarealreadyofferingearlyaccesstotheirsoftwarewhichallowsapplicationstobenefitfromSCMwithoutanymodifications.Andas“TierZero”isredefined,theadjacentTierOnewillalsobeimpactedbyintensifiedperformanceexpectations;atWekaIOourflash-nativefilesystemisready,willingandabletoassistourcustomers’explorationofSCM.

3. Mythirdandfinalpredictionhereisafamiliaronefromlastyear:flashstoragepricingwillcontinuetofallfasterthanHDDstoragepricing.ThistimeI’llgofurtherandpredictthatbyQ42020therewillbelarge-capacitySSD’s(probablyQLC-based)whichareirrefutablylessexpensiveper-GBthanmeaningfulHDDalternatives.ConsideringthatSSD’salreadyincurlowerOpEx(consuminglesspower,requiringlessA/C,failinglessoften,etc),2020maybetheyearwelatercollectivelyrememberasTheCrossover.

***

WesternDigital(PhilBullinger,SVPandGM)1. In2020,newdatacenterarchitectureswillemergetomanagethegrowing

volumeandvarietyofdataIntheZettabyte-scaleAge,datainfrastructureneedstobere-architectedtoaddressthegrowingscaleandcomplexityofworkloads,applicationsandAI/IoTdatasets.Theseconstructswillinvolvemultipletiersofworkload-optimizedstorageaswellasnewapproachestosystemsoftware.ZonedStorage,anopen-sourceinitiative,willhelpenablecustomerstotakeadvantageofzoneblockmanagementacrossbothSMRHDDsandZNSSSDsforsequentially-written,read-centricworkloads.In2020,

2020Predictions


we’llseeasubstantialamountofapplicationandstoragesoftwareinvestmentinZonedStoragetohelpdrivemoreefficientstoragetiersasdatacentersareredefinedintheZettabyte-scaleEra.

2. In2020,tieringofdataleveragingdevice,mediaandfabricinnovation,willexpandnotcontractTherewillcontinuetobestrongexabytegrowthinread-centricapplicationsinthedatacenter,fromartificialintelligence,machinelearning,andbigdataanalyticstoavarietyofbusinessintelligenceandaccessiblearchiveworkloads.Theseat-scaleusecasesaredrivingadiversesetofperformance,capacityandcost-efficiencydemandsonstoragetiers,asenterprisesdeliverincreasinglydifferentiatedservicesontheirdatainfrastructure.Tomeetthesedemands,datacenterarchitecturewillcontinueadvancingtowardamodelwheredatastoragesolutionswillbeconsistentlyprovisionedandaccessedoverfabrics,withtheunderlyingstorageplatformsanddevicesdeliveringtoavarietyofSLAs,alignedwithspecificapplicationneeds.AndwhilewecertainlyexpecttoexpandthedeploymentofTLCandQLCFlashintheseat-scale,high-growthworkloadsforhigherperformanceusecases,therelentlessdemandforexabytesofcost-effective,scalablestoragewillcontinuetodrivestronggrowthincapacityenterpriseHDD.

3. In2020,fabricsandcomposablewillformasymbioticrelationshipEthernetfabricsarebecomingthe“UniversalBackplane”ofthedatacenter,unifyinghowstorageisshared,composedandmanagedatscaletomeetthedemandsofincreasinglyvariedapplicationsandworkloads.In2020,we’llseeincreasingadoptionofcomposable,disaggregatedstoragesolutionsthatefficientlyscaleoverEthernetfabricsanddeliverthefullperformancepotentialofNVMedevicestodiversedatacenterapplications.Composablestoragewillsignificantlyincreasetheagilityandflexibilityinhowenterprisesprovisionandoptimizetheirdatainfrastructuretomeetdynamicapplicationrequirements.

***

Zadara(JeffFrancis,Sr.EnterpriseSolutionsArchitect)1. XaaS(everything-as-a-service)willaccelerate,takingmarketsharefrom

ownershipmodelsMany3-5yearITrefreshcyclesarecomingdueatatimewhenmultipleoptionsformature/stableXaaSoptionsexist,plustherateoftechnologychangeisaccelerating.Itwillmakelesssense–bothfinanciallyandtechnologically–tocommittoarigidplatformforaspanofmultipleyears.

2. BaaSandDRaaS(BackupandDR-as-a-service)willgrowinadoption,asmorecustomersstarttoimplementtheirfirstoffsiteandtrulyon-demandBackupandDRcapabilities.BaaSandDRaaSbringreliability,convenienceandaffordabilityinanon-demandfashion.Thecombinationofbackupsuitesubscriptionsandstorage-as-a-servicemakesitpossibleforenterprisestomeettheirbusinesscontinuityandcomplianceneedsinarapid,reliableandhassle-freefashion.Additionally,theeconomicsforDRareradicallyimproved,ascostsfor

2020Predictions


computeandadditionalstorageonlyapplyfordaysof“test”and“actualDR”vs.buyingandmanagingthatinfrastructureallyear.

3. DatastoreswillincreaseinsizepartiallyduetotheincreasinguseofAI/MLmodelswithlargepoolsofunstructureddata,andpartiallyduetotherapidlydecliningcostforstorage.Managedstorageofferings(storage-as-a-service)bothinthepubliccloudandon-premises(privateclouds)makeitfeasibleandaffordabletoimplementextremelylargedatastores(fromhundredsofpetabytestoexabytes)andextractvalue,insightsandmonetaryvaluefromthelargerdatasets.

***

Zerto(GijsbertJanssenvanDoorn,TechnologyEvangelist)1. Growthinadoptionofhybridandmulti-cloudsolutions2. Customersincreasinglyutilisingmanagementsystemsfordisasterrecovery

andbackupasaservice3. Completevisibilityoverallworkloads,dataandcostsbecomesvitalasthe

needforflexibilityrisesOneofthethingsIbelievewe’llseein2020isthetrueadoptionofthingslikehybridandmulti-cloudsolutions–butthedifferenceinthisupcomingyearwillbethatcustomersandorganisationswillreallybegintolookformoremanagementlayersontopoftheirsolutions.Alotofcompaniesalreadyhavethingslikebackup-in-the-cloudandDRaaSsomewhereelse,sowhatthey’renowlookingforisauniformmanagementlayerontopofthattogivevisibilityoncost,aswellasaknowledgeofwherealldataislocated.It’simportanttoknowwheredatalives,whetherworkloadsareprotected,andwhethertheyneedtomoveworkloadsbetweendifferentcloudsifandwhenrequirementschange.

Documents

2020 Predictions 50 vendors - Panasas€¦ · 2020 Predictions StorageNewsletter 2 List of Companies Summary of vendors’ predictions 4 Actifio (Ash Ashutosh, CEO) 5 Atempo (Luc