As we keep noting on this blog, data reduction is becoming the topic du jour as storage budgets are squeezed and deduplication becomes more and more viable and effective. Dave Simpson, Editor-in-Chief of Infostor, came out with a very thorough article today on primary storage optimization. It’s a practical guide for customers who may be struggling to understand the differences between key vendors’ offerings in this new and exciting data reduction arena. They are: NetApp, EMC, Ocarina (this blog’s parent), Storwize, Hifn, and greenBytes.
According to Simpson’s article, performance is a key issue to consider when assessing primary storage optimization products. He also quotes Eric Burgener, formerly an analyst with Taneja Group (now with InMage), who notes that often time the much touted differences in reduction rates can be overplayed.
“… a handful of vendors are addressing the performance requirements associated with data compression and de-duplication on primary storage, and … users should understand that there’s not a huge difference between, say, an 8:1 data-reduction ratio and a 20:1 ratio.”
An interesting point, and one that is often overlooked in the race to show results. As we have reported on this blog in the past, the real comparisons should be about the percentage of difference, not the ratios, which can be misleading. So for example, the Ocarina ECOsystem had 200% better results on a typical home shares file mix than NetApp dedupe, with 54% reduction vs. NetApp’s 27%. These are real numbers that can give you a sense of the amount of storage space you’re likely to reclaim when deploying one of these solutions.
And by the way, Eric Burgener had a really nice post back in February when he was still at Taneja Group. Called Pulling One Out of the Hat, it gives great advice and details about how to make the best use of your primary storage budget in these times. Definitely worth a read.
Happy Monday everyone!
