Smart Storage Strategy

The Move to Virtualization and Software-Defined Infrastructure

The IT world is becoming increasingly virtualized. A recent Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) survey1 revealed that one-third of respondents had already virtualized more than half of their x86 servers. But that percentage is expected to increase significantly over the next few years. Analysts and experts all agree that almost all new IT workloads are now being deployed in virtual environments.

Many enterprises started their virtualization journey by focusing on their tier 2 and 3 applications. Impressed with the results of their first initiatives, these organizations have been actively extending virtualization to include their key tier 1 applications and end-user desktops, taking advantage of the unmatched flexibility, agility, scalability, and availability that virtualization can bring to their business-critical systems.

This wide-spread adoption of virtualization is driving a software-defined approach to IT infrastructure − using the flexibility and configurability of software to decide how, when, and where virtual machines and applications are running and stored. This software-centered design does not tie the datacenter into any particular configuration; it enables IT to flexibly configure and scale the virtual infrastructure to best serve applications and end users. But a true software-defined infrastructure is not possible without a storage platform designed and optimized for the unique needs of virtualized environments.

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