IDC Embracing Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Storage White Paper

8/20/2019 IDC Embracing Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Storage White Paper

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November2014,IDC#252355

WHITE PAPER

Embracing Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Storage

Sponsoredby:Microsoft

AshishNadkarni LauraDuBoisLizConnerNovember2014

IDC OPINION

ManybusinessesareembracingelementsthatmakeuptheIDC3rdPlatformera,suchasInternetof

Things,real-timeanalytics,robotics,andcognitivecomputing.Manyothersarereinventingthemselves

andfindingnewerwaystosavecostsandmaintainorregaintheircompetitiveedgewhenitcomesto

customersatisfaction,operationalefficiency,andmarketintelligence.ITorganizationsatsuch

businesseshavetomanageunprecedenteddemandsoninfrastructure.Toeffectivelymeettheneeds

oftheirconstituents,ITorganizationsareincreasinglyadoptinganagileinfrastructurethatincludes

neweropex-friendlyapproaches,suchashybridcloud,tomanagetheirassetfootprint.Inotherwords,

hybridcloudallowsITtosuperimposeon-premisesconstructsonas-a-serviceconstructs.The

backbonesupportingthishybridcloudapproachishybridcloudstorage.Hybridcloudstoragenotonly

isoneofthefastest-growingpiecesofhybridcloudbutalsohasthelion'sshareoffocusfromanIT

standpoint.Specifically,thehybridcloudstorageapproachallowsITto:

Extend the cloud into the datacenter:HybridcloudstorageallowsITtoconnectthebuild-

operate-maintainmodeltoanas-a-servicemodelwithoutchanginghowapplicationsaccessstoragelocally.Inaddition,publiccloudstoragecanbeleveragedforapplicationsthatsearchandanalyzehistoricalcopiesofdata.

Leverage the cloud for data protection, cold storage, and disaster recovery (DR):Byadoptinghybridcloudstorage,ITcanimplementcrucialbusinesscontinuity(BC)andoperationalfunctionsatafractionofthecostofimplementingtheminthetraditionalon-premises-basedbuild-operate-maintainmodel.AdoptinghybridcloudstoragealsomakesdisasterrecoverypossibleandallowsITtotestDRprocessestodeliverarobustservicethatmeetscorporatepoliciesandregulatoryneeds.

Maintain service levels:ITcanmaintainhotorfrequentlyaccesseddataon-premiseswhileleveragingpubliccloudstorageforcold/unuseddatasetsaswellasburstcapacityandsecondarycopies.Indoingso,expectedperformanceandavailabilitylevelsforapplicationsshouldbepreserved.

Adopt a pay-as-you-go model:Byleveragingcloudstorageservices,ITcanminimizeorinsomecasesavoiditsdatacenterexpansioncostsviaareductioninspendingfortraditionalstorageandtheneedtoexpandthedatacenterinordertohouseadditionalhardware — whicharethebiggestcomponentsofmostITbudgets.


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SupplierslikeMicrosoftaremakingiteasierforbusinessestoadopthybridcloudstorage.Microsoft

offerstheabilitytodeploytightlyintegratedhybridcloudfunctionalityintodatacenterapplicationsvia

cloud-enabledstorageplatformslikeStorSimple(whichistightlyintegratedwithAzurepubliccloud

storage).Microsoftisalsobuildingcloud-baseddataprotectionandarchivingmechanismsintoits

applicationslikeSQLServerandExchange.VirtualeditionsoftheStorSimpleapplianceandSQL

BackuptoURL,forexample,makeiteasiertoprovidedataaccessanddatamobilityandleverage

computeintheAzurecloudtosupporttypicalexistingITprocesseslikedevelopmentandtestingandpatchingandnewbusinessneedslikedataanalysis.

SITUATION OVERVIEW

DatacentershaveformedthefoundationonwhichITorganizationscandeliveressentialservicestotheir

businessconstituents.Sincetheinceptionofthedatacenter,modernITorganizationshavedonea

commendablejoboforchestratingdemandforserviceswiththebuildoutofdatacenter-based

infrastructure.Withacomplexarsenaloftoolsattheirdisposal,ITteamscanmanagethedemandand

supplysidesofstorageandcomputeinfrastructureinareasonablyconsistentandpredictablemanner.

Theyhavebeenabletodosobecause,forthemostpart,mostbusinessunitshavebeentrainedtomakerequestsforadditionalcapacityviaaproject-basedprocurementapproachorbyselectingfromanIT

servicecatalog,whosecurrencyandsupplyismaintainedbyITviaapre-determinedbudgetcycle.

Predictabilityistheoperativewordinthedemand-supplyrelationshipthatbusinessunitshavewithIT.

Businessesontheotherhandhavebeenfuriouslyundergoingatransformation.Theirquestfor

businessvelocity,survivalinthemobileandsocialera,andtheabilitytoadapttothepaceof

innovationrequiresITtopavethewayforthesebusinessneedsbyadoptinganagiledata-driven

approachtodoingbusiness.Thismeansthatbusinessesneedto:

Collect,store,andanalyzemultipleanddiversesetsofdata — oftenattimesfromoutsidesourcessuchassocialmediastreams.Manyofthesedatasetsarealsousefulinpost-processhistoricaltrendanalysis.

Quicklyincorporateordropadditionaldatasetsandassociatedapplications,withoutmuchplanningand/orpre-formatting.

Analyzeincomingdatasetsinareal-timeornear-real-timemanner,oftenforcausalityorcorrelation,andthenleveragetheinformationbackintochanginghowtheyconductbusiness.

Usherinaglobalcollaborationandcommunicationsframeworkwhereintheirworkforcecanbegeodispersedbutbevirtuallytogetherandsharecommonproject-relateddatasets.

ThistransformationmeansthatITcannolongeroperateinthetraditionalmannerinwhichitcan

anticipateorseekinfrastructureadditions,specificallystorageinfrastructure.Ithastoseekafaster,

highlyscalableapproachthatiseconomicalyetstillworkswiththehighavailabilityofenterprisestorage.ThistransformationbyITcanhelpstrengthenabusiness'approachtocompliance,corporate

policies,anddataretention,whichareallrequirementsthatbusinessesoftenstruggletoaddresswith

traditionalmethods.


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The Dawn of a New Era — The Growth of Cloud

Astraditionaldatacentersstruggletokeepupinthemodernmobileandsocialera,ITbudgetshave

beenstretchedtothebreakingpointundertraditionalmodels.BusinessescontinuetolookforIT

solutionsthatprovideagility,capacity,andcohesivenesswithexistingdatacenterswhileremaining

opexfriendly.Theprimarysolutionthathasemergediscloud-enabledinfrastructures,platforms,and

services.BusinessesareincreasinglylookingtoadoptcloudfortheirITneedsbecauseofthequickscalabilityandpay-as-you-growmodel.IDCsurveyed1,109businessesworldwide,askingwhat

percentageoftheirITbudgetwouldbeallocatedtotraditionalIT(in-houseoroutsourced)versus

cloud-basedITarchitectures(public,private,orhybrid).AlthoughtraditionalITcurrentlyremainsthe

majorityofITspend,within24months,cloudspendingisexpectedtoexceedtraditionalITspending,

andby2020,thistrendisfurtherreinforced(seeFigure1).

FIGURE 1

Worldwide Allocation of Total IT Budget

Source:IDC,2013

Cloudistypicallydeployedinoneofthreegeneralways:

Public cloud:Shared,on-demandITandbusinessservicesaccessedoverthepublicInternet,basedonpay-as-you-gomodelsforindividualsandusersfrommanyunrelatedcompanies

Private cloud:DedicatedITservices(eitherlocatedatacompanysiteorhostedbyathird-partyoffsiteprovider)whereassetsarevirtualizedandorganizedasacloudanduseisrestrictedforusersinasingleorganization

Hybrid cloud:Applicationsandworkloadsdeployedacrossamixofpubliccloudandon-premisesresourcesandmanagedinawaythatmovesandscalesworkloadsacrossthepubliccloud/on-premisesboundaryasneeded

0 20 40 60 80 100

2020

24 months

Today

(%)

Traditional

Cloud


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ThemidrangeportionoftheiSCSIstoragesystemsmarketisparticularlyrelevanttothehybridcloudmarket,ashybridcloudsolutions,suchasMicrosoft'sStorSimple,areiSCSI-basedsolutionsthatcantargetassociatedworkloadsforprimarystorage.Suchamarket,asignificantportionofwhichiscurrentlybeingservedbytraditional,on-premisesstoragesystems,wouldthenbepartoftheoveralltotaladdressablemarketforhybridcloudsolutionslikeStorSimple.

Theshiftfromconventionalstoragedeploymentstoacloud-basedmodel,whetherpublic,private,orhybrid,isacontinuingtheme.Publicandprivateclouddeploymentsarecurrentlythelargestandmost

wellknown.However,hybridcloudisexpectedtogarnergreaterinterestgoingforwardasitallowsfor

theflexibilityandagilityofpubliccloudwhileofferingthesecurityofon-premisesstorage.Findings

fromoursurveyof1,109worldwidebusinessesreinforcethispoint.Weaskedsurveyparticipantswhat

kindofclouddeploymenttheyarecurrentlyusingforstorageversuswhatkindtheyexpecttobeusing

in24months,andtheirresponsesindicatedgrowthforallformsofcloud-basedstorage.Inthecontext

ofthissurvey,hybridcloudimplementationsaredeployedacrossamixofpublicandprivatecloud

resources.Hybridcloudwillbenefitfromthegrowthofbothprivateandpubliccloudforstorageuse

(seeFigure2).

FIGURE 2

Percentages of Storage Capacity Deployments in Businesses

Source:IDC,2013

0 10 20 30 40 50

Public cloud (external)

Private cloud (hosted infrastructure akavirtual private cloud)

Private cloud (internal onsite, cloud-like,virtualized/automated)

Conventional deployment (onsite)

(%)

Today

24 months


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Intermsofrevenueshift,WorldwideEnterpriseStorageforPublicandPrivateCloud2013 – 2017

Forecast (IDC#244924,December2013)showsthecombinedpublicandprivateclouddeployment

spendingforstoragehardware,software,andservicesgrowingata19.1%CAGRfrom$13.7billionin

2013to$27.6billionby2017.Publiccloudwas54.0%ofthetotalcloudrevenuein2013andis

expectedtogrowataCAGRof14.5%to$12.7billionin2017.Keydriversimpactingthegrowthof

cloud,specificallypubliccloud,include:

Lower datacenter cost:Asdataisstoredoff-premise,thecostsofpower,cooling,andphysicalfootprintaresignificantlylowered.

Ability to quickly scale:Publiccloudallowsbusinessestoincrease/decreasestorageon-demand,quicklyscalingtoacompany'sneedswithouthavingtostandupadditionalnodesinadatacenter.

Disaster recovery:Datastoredatanoffsiteand(hopefully)geographicallydisperseddatacenterallowsforbusinesscontinuityinthecaseofanaturaldisasterormaliciousattack.

Time to market:Publiccloudallowsforquickerdeploymentofcloudstorage,compute,services,andfeaturesasphysicalunitsdonotneedtobeshippedorinstalled.

Embracing Hybrid Cloud Storage — Cloud-Enabled Storage Platforms

Cloud-enabledstorageplatforms(CESPs)aretheprimarymannerinwhichbusinessescandeploy

hybridcloudstorage.CESPsresideonthecustomerpremisesandleveragecloudstorage(viaSOAP-

orREST-basedinterfaces)asasecondaryortertiarystoragetier.Fromthehostside,however,they

functionverymuchlikeprimarystoragearrayswithstandarddatacenterstorageinterfacessuchas

block-based(iSCSIandFibreChannel)orfile-based(NFSandCIFS)interfaces.Inotherwords,

CESPsprovidethesamefunctionalityasenterprisestorageplatformswhilealsoprovidingatiered

storagearchitecturethatspansdatacenterandcloudstorage.CESPsutilizethecloudasthe

persistentsecondaryortertiarystoragelayerinconjunctionwiththeprimaryand/orsecondarytierof

physicaldiskforpersistentstorageofactivedatasets.CESPscanbedeliveredasappliances,as

softwareonly,oraspre-packagedvirtualappliances.

HybridcloudstorageisgainingpopularitybecauseitallowsITtomeetunpredictabledemandand

protectexistingdatacenterinvestmentsanddosowhilemorphingintoanagileservice-drivenentity.

Byembracinghybridcloudstorage,ITcantrulyenableitsconstituentstoaccelerateadata-driven

transformation.

ITorganizationsshouldalsotakeamoreholisticapproachtohybridcloudstorage.Theycan

complementtheirhybridcloudstoragebyintegratingpubliccloudaccessdirectlyintotheir

applications.Newerdatabaseandemailapplicationsaccesscloudstoragedirectly(viaAPIs)anduse

itasatierforcolder/inactivedatasetsorforsnapshots,cloning,backup,orarchivingpurposes.In

addition,asneeded,businessescanrelyoncloud-basedemail,collaboration,andproductivityapplicationsforprovidingtheiruserswithon-the-goaccesstotheirdatafromavarietyofdevices,

includingmobilephones.

Inshort,aholistichybridcloudstorageapproachallowsITtoquicklyscaleitsinfrastructuretobusiness

demandsanddosoatareducedcapexoverhead,becauseofreducedinvestmentsinadditional

on-premisesprimarystorage,dataprotection,disasterrecovery,andarchivinginfrastructure.


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MICROSOFT STORSIMPLE HYBRID CLOUD STORAGE

AsupplierlikeMicrosoftthatoffersdatacentersolutions,end-usersolutions,andpubliccloudsolutions

isinauniquepositiontobeapartnerforbusinesseslookingtoembracethecloud.TheStorSimple

technologythatMicrosoftacquiredin2012servesasanidealsolutionforITorganizationsthatwantto

deployhybridcloudstorage.

Attheverycore,StorSimpleisacloud-enabledstorageplatform.Fromahostconnectivityperspective,

itfunctionslikeanon-premisesenterprisediskstoragesystem.However,fromapersistentstorage

perspective,itisintegratedwithpubliccloudinfrastructure-as-a-service(IaaS)offeringssuchas

MicrosoftAzureandleveragesstoragecontainersinsuchofferingsfortiering,backup,archival,and

disasterrecoverypurposes.

StorSimpleisidealforITorganizationsthatwanttocontroltheirdataviaon-premisesconstructswhile

benefitingfromtheopex-centriceconomicsofas-a-serviceconstructs.WithStorSimple,theycan:

Operate applications in a business as usual fashion :Applicationsstillresideonservers(physicalorvirtual)thatareconnectedtoon-premisesstorageplatformsviaastandardIP-basedblockprotocol(iSCSI).Usersaccessingtheseapplicationsthereforedonotnoticeanydifference,andbusinessunitsdonothavetochangeanyoperationalprocessesasaresult.StorSimpleusesSSDsandHDDsinthesamefashionasotherenterprisearrays — fortieringpurposes — andthereforeStorSimplecanbeusedforperformance-optimizedaswellascapacity-optimizedapplications.

Minimize their datacenter expansion costs:TheStorSimplesolutionoffersthesameleveloffunctionalityasotherleadingenterprisestoragesolutions.ITcanthusintroduceitintotheenvironmentwithoutanychangestotheinfrastructureandusestandardtoolstomigrateapplicationstotheplatform.However,unliketraditionalstorageinfrastructure,additionalStorSimplecapacityhasaminimalimpactonthedatacenterfootprint(becausemuchofthis

capacityisactuallybeingaddedtothecloud).Similarly,cloud-enableddataresiliency,availability,andprotectioncapabilitiesmeanthatthisadditionalcapacitydoesnotresultinanetincreasetoadjunctinfrastructuresuchasthatusedfordataprotection.Capacitymanagementisnowanopex-friendlyactivity.

Deliver minimal cloud footprint and download time:TheStorSimpleapplianceisfullyintegratedwiththeMicrosoftAzurecloud,allowingforaseamlesstransitionofdatafromon-premisestothecloud.Dataisdeduplicated,compressed,andencryptedpriortobeingmovedtotheMicrosoftAzurecloud,ensuringminimalcloudfootprintandefficientrecovery.BackupdatainAzureisstoredinAzurebucketsasmetadataviaincrementalcloudsnapshots.Inthecaseofrecovery(itemlevelorduetodisaster),acloudsnapshotdateandtimeareselected,withonlythemetadatamapbeingdownloadedtothestoragearrayintherecoverysite.ThisfeatureallowsforfastrecoverywithlowerRPOsandshorterRTOs.


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Economically implement crucial business continuity and disaster recovery: ForbusinessesstrugglingwithburgeoningBC/DRcosts,hybridcloudviaStorSimpleprovidesaneconomicalalternative.StorSimpleleveragescloudstoragenotjustforautomatedtieringandlong-termstorageofinactivedatasetsbutalsoforarchivalandbackuppurposes.Cloud-basedthin,dedupedsnapshotscanbeusedforquickrollbackofdataon-premisesorwhenfullrecoveryofdataataprimaryorsecondarysiteisneeded.AndshouldITwanttorecoverdatainthe

cloud,StorSimpleisalsoavailableintheformofacloud-basedvirtualapplianceinstance.Theneedtovisitaremotesitetomanageremovabledataprotectionmediaorupgradestoragecapacityisalsominimizedbecausedataprotectionandcapacityexpansionaredoneautomaticallybythearrayusingcloudstorage.Cloud-basedsnapshotsalsoallowforDRtesting,resultinginmorerobustadherencetocorporatepoliciesaswellasincreasinglystringentregulatoryandcomplianceregulations.

Consolidate and improve storage management:TosimplifythemanagementprocesseswithinIT,StorSimple,foritsrecentlyannounced8000series,implementsacentralmanagementportalthroughAzurethatcontrolsallstoragefunctionsacrossphysicalstoragearraysandvirtualappliances.TheStorSimpleManagerprovidesasingle,consolidatedmanagementpointthatusestheInternetasacontrolplanetoconfigureallparametersofStorSimple8000

seriesarraysandfordisplayingup-to-the-minutestatusinformationinaunifieddashboard.DatamanagementtaskssuchasconfiguringdataretentionpoliciesorprovisioningstorageareaccomplishedfromtheStorSimpleManagerforallsites,enablingsingle-pane-of-glassmanagementaswellascentralizedcompliancewithcorporatestandards.StorSimpleManagerprovidesaconduitviawhichITorganizationscandomorethanjustdeployhybridcloudstorage;theycanalsomanageitcentrally.Thisextendstheeconomicsofcloudstoragetotheinfrastructuremanagementsideaswell.

Secure data in the cloud:Toaddresssecurityconcernswithpubliccloudstorage,StorSimpleencryptsalldatawithAES-256priortodatatransfer,andthedataremainsencryptedwhileinmotionandatrestinthecloud.Alldatainthecloudisstoredwithaprivatekeythatisknownonlytotheenduser.Thislevelofsecurityprotectsthedatafromviewbyallsourcesexcepttheenduserandkeepsthedatasecureregardlessofwhereitisstored.Inaddition,data

storedintheAzurecloudviaStorSimplecontainsAzure'smultifactorauthentication,whichallowsforasimplesign-inprocessbutrequiresanadditionalverification — phonecall,textmessage,ormobileappnotification — toprovideadditionalsecuritymeasuresforaccessingstoreddata.

Mobilize enterprise data:Thecloudisnotjustanexcellentmediumfortieringofinactivedatasets;dataclonedinthecloudcanalsobeusedforoff-hostdevelopment/test,DRtesting,analytics,andothercompute-intensiveactivities,suchasapplicationsthatcansearchandanalyzehistoricalcopiesofdata.Theabilitytounlockanddataminehistoricaldataiseconomicallysignificantbecausedatahasbeentraditionallytiedupintape,wheretapeisdifficult/timeconsumingtoretrieveletalonederivevaluefromthedatastoredonit.However,datamininghistoricaldataspotlightsthechallengewithmakingadditionallong-terminvestmentinastorageinfastructuretosolelysupporttheworkloadsneededtoderivevaluefromtheselargedatasets.

StorSimpleoffersexcellentsupportforapplicationssuchasSQLServeraswellasplatformssuchas

WindowsServerandHyper-V.SinceStorSimpleisanenterpriseSANstoragesolutionbasedon

iSCSI,itprovidesdeploymentflexibilityandiswellsuitedforVMwareandLinuxenvironmentsaswell.


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Other Microsoft Hybrid Cloud Storage-Enabling Technologies/Services

Microsoftisalsobuildingdirectpubliccloudaccessintoitsapplications.Suchapplicationsuseon-

premisesstorageforprimarydatabutalsodirectlyleveragecloudstorageforapplication-aware

backuporarchivingpurposesandstreamdatatoandfromthepublicclouddependingontheuse

case.Inthecaseofbackuporarchiving,suchapplicationseliminateorminimizetheneedforon-

premisesbackups.Theseapplicationsarealsodesignedtomakerecoveryeasierinthecloud — data

backeduptothecloudcanbequicklymadeavailabletoaninstanceoftheapplicationrunninginsidea

cloud-basedvirtualmachineinstance.

SQL Server Azure backups:SQLServerisMicrosoft'srelationaldatabaseplatform.WiththereleaseofSQLServer2014,Microsoftintroducedanewhybriddisasterrecoveryandbackupsolution.ByspecifyingapubliccloudstorageURLasthebackupdestination,enduserscannowbackuptheirdatabasedirectlytotheAzurecloud.Inaddition,thebackupfilesstoredinthecloudareavailabletoeitheranon-premisesSQLinstanceoronehostedonaMicrosoftAzureVirtualMachine,withouttheneedfordownloading/attachingtheVHDordatabaseattach/detach.

Exchange Online Archiving: ExchangeOnlineArchivingiscloud-basedarchivingofMicrosoft'sExchangeemailserver,allowinganorganizationtohostauser'sprimarymailboxviaon-premisesserverswhilestoringtheuser'shistoricalemaildatainacloud-basedmailbox.Thishybridsolutionletsuserskeeptheirmostrecentorimportantemaillocallywhileaddressinglong-termretentionrequirementswithouttheneedtoexpandon-premisesstorageordatacenters.Inaddition,cloud-basedarchivingletscompaniesmeetcomplianceandregulatoryregulationswhilebeingabletoperformseamlessdiscoverysearchesacrossbothon-premisesmailboxesandcloud-basedarchivesforeDiscoveryandlitigation.

Azure Site Recovery Services:AzureSiteRecoveryhelpsbusinessesprotectimportantapplicationsbycoordinatingthereplicationandrecoveryofprivatecloudsacrosssites.AzureSiteRecoveryincludestheprotectionofvirtualmachinesaswellasdatabasesandotherapplications.Businessescanprotectapplicationsintheirownsecondarysiteorinacollocated

orhostedsite.TheycanevenuseAzureasthedisasterrecoverysite.Businessescanavoidtheexpenseandcomplexityofbuildingandmaintainingsecondarylocations.

Azure Backup:AzureBackupisaWindowsServerfeaturethatallowsbusinessestobackuptheiron-premisesdatafromWindowsServer,WindowsServerEssentials,andSystemCenterDataProtectionManagerdirectlytotheAzurecloud.Toensurereliabilityandsecurity,AzureBackupissecureoverthewireandatrest,whilebackupdataisstoredingeo-replicatedstorage,whichmaintainssixcopiesofthedataacrosstwoAzuredatacenters.ITefficiencyisgainedthroughencryption,throughcompression,andbybackinguponlyincrementalchanges,atdefinedfrequencies,tothecloud — oncetheinitialdataseedingiscompleted.


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OPPORTUNITIES/CHALLENGES FOR MICROSOFT

Asstatedpreviously,asupplierlikeMicrosoftisinauniquepositiontoofferafullportfolioofsolutions

toenablebusinessesofallshapesandsizestoadopthybridcloudstorage.Byofferingafull-service

IaaS,Microsoftcancloudenablebothitsownandthird-partyapplicationsandinfrastructuresolutions.

HybridcloudstoragepresentsamajoropportunityforMicrosoftbecauseitoffers:

A complete environment connected to Microsoft Azure:Microsofthasthebreadthofsolutionstoofferpublic,private,andhybridcloudsolutionsforbusinessesofallsizes.ItcanoffercustomersasenseofcontinuityfortheirenvironmentbyallowingseamlessmobilitybetweentheirdatacenterandtheAzurepubliccloud.Itcanalsoprovidecomprehensivesingletier1vendorsupportforallservicesrelatedtothecloud.

A cloud solution without the security fears of public cloud: Oneofthebiggestfears,whetherrealorperceived,regardingpubliccloudisdatasecurity.Inapubliccloudenvironment,potentialcustomershaveafearthatmission-critical/sensitivedatawillbelost,stolen,ormisused.Microsoft'shybridcloudstoragesolutionscanofferamiddle-of-the-roadapproachtobusinessesthatareapprehensiveaboutembracingpubliccloudservicesfully.Byhavingthe

choiceofkeepingmission-criticaland/orsensitivedatalocalandon-premises,businessescanmitigatesecurityfearsaroundpubliccloudstoragewhilestillavailingthemselvesofthescalability,dataresiliency,andeconomicbenefitspubliccloudhastooffer.

The ability to seamlessly run Microsoft services and applications: Microsofthasapantheonofvariousbusinesssoftware,services,andapplicationsthatareabletorunontopofitscloudinfrastructure.Itshybridcloudstoragesolutions,specificallyStorSimple,havetheaddedbenefitofbeingabletoseamlesslyintegratethesevariousservices/applicationsandoffertheminatraditionalon-premisesmannerorasapubliccloudservice.ThisallowsenduserstobecreativeinhowandwheretheyimplementdifferentMicrosoftofferings.

Application-based on-ramp to cloud-based environments:Microsoft'shybridcloudsolutionslikeSQLServerAzureBackupandExchangeArchivingserveasanexcellenton-rampfor

Microsoft'sownpubliccloudservicesbutalsoprovidebusinessestheflexibilityshouldtheywanttoaddordeploystorageinanotherpubliccloudservice.StorSimple,ontheotherhand,canprovideagentletransitiontothecloudbyofferingaprivatecloud-likeenvironmentwhiletransparentlyleveragingthepubliccloud.

AsMicrosofttakeshybridcloudstoragetothenextlevel,itwillnodoubtfinditselfcompetingwithboth

traditionalon-premisesstoragesuppliersandotherIaaSsuppliers.Thesepotentialcompetitorsare

tryingtocloudenablethedatacenterintheirownway — byofferingflexibilityandoptions.Microsoft

needstoconvincepotentialcustomerswhyitshybridcloudstoragestrategyisthemostefficient,

economical,andflexibleamongothercompetitors.Microsofthastobecarefulinthefollowingareas:

Not forcing a hybrid cloud strategy that is tied only to Microsoft Azure:Microsoftapplications

thataredirectlytiedtothecloudwillneedtouseAzure.BeingrequiredtouseAzurecouldbeachallengewhenconvertingpotentialcustomersthatalreadyhavedatastoredonanothercloudplatform.MicrosoftmusthaveaseamlessdatatransferplaninplacetopresenttopotentialcustomerswiththisscenarioaswellasbeabletopointtothebenefitsofmovingtoAzureandtheentireMicrosoftenvironment.


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Winning business from companies that lack familiarity with hybrid cloud operations: AhybridcloudformatisdifferentfromatraditionaldatacenterandwillrequireanITstaffthatiswillingtolearnmethodology.AlthoughthefundamentalpremiseofStorSimpleisthatitiseasyandefficienttouse,potentialcustomersmaybehesitantashybridcloudisdifferentandunknownfromthetraditionaldatacenter.Microsoftcanlessenthestressoftheunknownbyhavingextensivecustomertraininginplaceforhybridcloudenvironmentsaswellasbyeducatingthe

customerontheautomated/managedfeaturesahybridcloudenvironmentbringstohelpITmaximizeitsreturnoninvestment.

Helping businesses leapfrog to a pure cloud environment:Withanycombinationorhybridenvironment,thereisalwaystheriskthatinthefuture,potentialorcurrentcustomerscouldbypassthehybridstageandmovecompletelytooneendofthespectrum.Thisistruewithahybridcloudenvironmentwhereenduserscouldpossiblymigratetoapubliccloudoffering,negatingtheneedforahybridsolution.AlthoughMicrosoftdoesofferapubliccloudenvironmentwithAzure,thehybridcloudofferingscouldsufferacasualtyasaresult.ItwillbeuptoMicrosofttohelpcustomerschoosetherighttypeofcloudenvironmentfortheirspecificneedsaroundperformance,scale,andcosts.

ESSENTIAL GUIDANCE

IDCexpectsmostbusinessestoundertakea"hybridcloudstoragejourney"astheyseektotransform

themselvesintodata-drivenentities.IDCexpectsthathybridcloud(andhybridcloudstorage)

eventuallywillbecomethedefactomodelforbusinessesthatwanttomaintainanon-premises

infrastructurebut,atthesametime,heavilyleverageanas-a-servicemodelforadditional

infrastructurecapacity.Theextenttowhichtheyleveragecloudwillvary.Largerenterprisestendto

takeahybridapproach.Theyleverageprivatecloudsfortier1ormission-criticaldatasets.Formuch

oftheirtier2/3datasets,whichcanbesizable,theycanbenefitfromahybridapproachtostoragethat

involvesasolutionlikeStorSimple.ForSMEsandSMBs,ahybridcloudapproachinvolvingasolution

likeStorSimpleservesthemwellincloudenablingtheirinfrastructurewithoutmuchchangetohow

theirapplicationsarearchitected.

Usingacombinationofvarioushybridcloudstorageapproaches,ITorganizationscanrealizethe

combinedbenefitsofon-premisesstorageandpubliccloudstorage.Thelargertheenterprise,the

moreacuteitsstoragemanagementcomplexity.Hybridcloudapproachesseektoreducethat

complexityandthereforeoperationalcosts.Itisimportanttonotethat:

Thereisandwillbenoone-size-fits-allapproach,andtherearenoapproachesthatarebetterthanothers.Anapproachoracollectionofapproachesshouldbealignedwiththeoveralldifferentdatagovernance,service-level,andbudgetaryrequirements.

ITorganizationsshouldfocusonanoverallreductionindatacenterinfrastructurecapexspend,

aproportionalincreaseinopexspend,andanoverallreductioninstorageinfrastructurespend.


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Inaddition,ITorganizationsshouldensurethattheirhybridcloudstorageapproachaddressesthe

followingfactors:

Virtualization density and how data is accessed by virtual machines in the datacenter: Hybridcloudstoragehastofacilitatetheconnectionand/orportabilitybetweenthetwolocationsso

thatthevirtualinstancescanseamlesslycoexistinbothlocations. Data growth and hybrid cloud:Enduserswillassumethatthedatagrowthwillbeabsorbedby

thecloudproviderandnotintheon-premisesdatacenter.ITorganizationshavetoeducatetheirusersondatalocality.

Big Data and eDiscovery:ITneedstoensurethatthenecessarydataisuploadedintothecloudandcanbeeasilyaccessedwhennecessaryforadherencetogovernance,risk,andcompliancepolicies.

APPENDIX

Customer Case Studies

Walbridge Construction

WalbridgeisalargeconstructioncompanybasedinMichigan.Typicalprojectsundertakenby

Walbridgeincludeconstructionofairports,manufacturingplants,andlargeconcretestructuressuchas

bridgesandparkinglots.ThenatureofWalbridge'sbusinessmeansthatthecompany'semployees

oftengenerateandworkwithalargenumberofdrawingsandfiles.IDCrecentlyspokewithCynthia

Weaver,AVPofITatWalbridge.WeavermanagesaleanITorganizationof23employeeswhowear

multiplehats.Theyareresponsibleforrunning/maintainingtheITinfrastructureatheadquartersand

branchoffices,managingmobiledevices,maintainingunifiedcommunicationsequipment,evaluating

newproductsandtechnologies,and,asnecessary,doingdevelopmentwork.

Walbridge'squestforahybridcloudsolutionstartedwithasuddensurgeintheamountofdatathe

company'sITteamhadtomanage.Datawentfrom20%year-over-yeargrowthtoover100%yearover

yearinaspanoftwoyears.OneofthereasonsforthissurgewastherapidgrowthinWalbridge's

business,butmorecrucially,itwasbecauseofhowemployeesfromvariousgroups — likemarketing,

businessdevelopment,estimating,andoperations — collaboratedonprojects.Eachgroupwantsto"own"

itsfiles,whichcausedover50%duplicationintheenvironment.Multipleversionsoffilesmeant

additionaloperationaloverhead.Suddenly,theteamfounditselfnotonlygrapplingwiththecostof

buyingnewstorageequipmentbutalsohavingtodealwithupgradesofadjunct(butcritical)

infrastructurelikedataprotection.Thesecostsaddedmorethan$100,000toanalreadystretched

budget.Weavercharteredherteamwithexaminingwaystocutcostsbutmoreimportantlytoexplore

waystochangethemodel.Theteamnotedthatintroducingcloudintotheenvironment,without

completingeliminatingtheinfrastructure,wasagoodfirststep.ThisquestledtheITteamtothe

StorSimplesolution.StorSimpleallowedWalbridge'svirtualenvironmenttoaccessacloud-enabled

block-basedstoragearraythatprovidedallofthestorageefficiencyfeaturesandpushedinactivedata

intothecloud.Withthismodel,WalbridgeITwasabletoreduceitsdatacenterfootprint,andthe

companyhasnothadtopurchaseanyadditionalequipmentforover2.5years.Today,Walbridge's

hybridcloudinfrastructurehasover8TBofdeduplicateddata.AllofthedataconnectedtotheStorSimple

solutionisprotectedviacloud-basedsnapshots,requiringnoadditionaldataprotectionon-premises.


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ThismodelallowedWalbridgetomaintainitscurrentinfrastructure,includingitsdataprotection

environment.Italsoallowedthecompanytomaintainafilesharingsolutionforuserhomedirectories,

networkshares,andcollaborationsoftware(Prologue) — whichallowsemployeesandcontractorsto

shareproject-specificdocumentswithoneanother.Emboldenedbythesuccessofthismodel,

WalbridgealsoadoptedOffice365,Microsoft'scloudsolutionforemail,calendar,mobileandend-user

collaboration.Today,ithas11TBinSharePointcloudand5TBinExchangecloud.Itcurrently

manages850accountsbutcanscaleto10,000users.TheOffice365solutionallowedWalbridgeITtoreduceitsfootprintbyremovingP2Pserversatconstructionsites(60differentlocations).Instead,all

fileservicesarenowofferedviatheSharePointjobsite.Withthehybridcloudstoragemodel,

WalbridgeITcannowmaintaintotalcontrolofitsenvironmentanddosoinanefficientmanner.

Operationalefficienciesarepassedontoitsusers.ThismodelhasallowedWalbridgetoimprove

servicelevelsandkeeptabsonitsdataconsumption,whichcontinuestogrow.Insteadof"micro-

managing"theinfrastructure,WalbridgeITcannowfocusontrackingservicequality.

MulvannyG2 Architecture

MulvannyG2Architectureisthethird-largestretailarchitectintheworldandamongthe50largest

architecturefirmsworldwide.Itdesignsretail,office,mixed-use,andhospitalityfacilitiesforglobalclients,includingfiveof2012'stop20Fortune500retailers.MulvannyG2hasover330employees

atofficesinWashington;Oregon;California;Washington,D.C.;andChina.IDCrecentlyspokewith

JohnCuocci,ITDirectoratMulvannyG2Architecture.

Likemanyarchitecturefirms,MulvannyG2wasgrapplingwithlotsofpaper-basedIPsuchasdrawings

andblueprints.Withover42yearsinbusiness,MulvannyG2reliedonaleadingoffsiterecordsstorage

companyforhandlinghundredsofmillionsofpagesofarchitecturaldrawingsandrelatedproject

documents,whichcostitmorethan$50,000annually.Inadditiontobeingexpensive,offsitepaper

storageintroduceddelaysincriticalbusinessfunctions.Whenanemployeeneededanarchived

document,heorshesearchedtheonlineindexingsystembyjobnumberandotheridentifying

characteristicsandplacedarequest — whichtookdaysforprocessing.

MulvannyG2purchasedtheStorSimplesolutionandsetitupthedayitarrivedwithnoproblems.To

solvetheproblemofindexingthedatastoredinWindowsAzure,MulvannyG2turnedtoNewforma

ProjectCenter,asoftwareprogramthathelpsorganizationsindexandmanageprojectinformation.

MulvannyG2employeesuseNewformatoindexalloftheirarchiveddocumentsandstoretheindexed

dataonStorSimple.Whenemployeeswanttoaccessanarchiveddocument,theysimplyenterthe

relatedjobnumberandothersearchcriteria;digitaldocumentsarereturnedinminutes.

BydeployingthehybridcloudstoragesolutionofStorSimpleandWindowsAzure,MulvannyG2

Architecturerealizedthefollowingbenefits:

Avoidspending$140,000onexpensiveSANstorage.TheStorSimplehybridcloudsolutionhelpedMulvannyG2avoidthesignificantexpenseofinvestinginanotherSAN.

Save$50,000ayearonoffsitestoragefees.Whenallofitsdocumentsaredigitized,MulvannyG2willalsorealizeanannualsavingsofmorethan$50,000forthird-partyarchivalfees.

ExtendthelifeofexistingSAN.Inaddition,CuocciestimatesthatthefirmwillextendthelifeofitsexistingSANbyatleasttwoyearsbynotusingitforarchivestorage.


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Gainendlessstoragescalabilitywithoutaddingadditionalrackspaceinthedatacenter.

Achievebetterdisasterrecovery.WhenMulvannyG2usestheStorSimplesolutionfordisasterrecovery,itwillgaingeographicallydistinctdataprotectionandnolongerworryaboutphysicalbackups.


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IDC Embracing Enterprise Hybrid Cloud Storage White Paper