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EMC Navigates the IT Transformation Waters: Page 2 of 2

Now, where Pivotal is composed of companies that EMC and VMware acquired, EMC's new ViPR (which stands for virtualization platform reinvented) represents in-house organic development of some two years. With ViPR, EMC is coiled to strike at the software-defined storage space.

Software-defined storage is about using host-based software to provide an overarching management control point for multiple, heterogeneous storage arrays for provisioning, virtualization and other services. The announcement is a pre-release, as ViPR's initial general launch will not be until later in 2013 and extended features are not expected until late 2014.

The first release will support EMC's VMAX, VNX, VPLEX, RecoverPoint, Isilon and Atmos storage, as well as NetApp arrays. Thus, the first release will support just one third party vendor and no commodity hardware. So, why is EMC announcing this early?

Note that while this product will be used by enterprise customers, the target audience for ViPR is service providers that can now include ViPR in their long-term planning process, even if specific capabilities are not yet available. Service providers may also provide input on the ViPR development process and priorities, as well.

Consider, also, that whoever sells software-defined storage software has the virtual high ground (king of the mountain) for managing storage. That does not preclude choice of particular arrays, but puts the SDS vendor--in this case, EMC--in a stronger point of influence.

A key architectural distinction in ViPR is the separation of the control plane from the data plane. The control plane is where the commands for managing the storage infrastructure travel and is separate from the data plane where bits and bytes of information travel. That is an important distinction. Storage controllers support valuable software-enabled management services, such as back-up snapshots and data mirroring. ViPR does not interfere with those services, or critical features like SRDF (Synchronous Remote Data Facility), which have the robustness and reliability that enterprises require.

Of course, EMC wants to preserve its own controller-based storage array architectures. Those would be threatened if a competing SDS with its own storage management software could be used with commodity storage hardware without the need for sophisticated controllers. While such solutions could be cost effective and good enough for many use cases, in practice, many large enterprises are risk adverse (making IT question whether potential cost savings are worth the loss of their jobs if or when something goes wrong).

So in the case of ViPR, continue to watch the space.

Mesabi Musings

That IT organizations are continuing to transform themselves is not debatable, but questions regarding what, where, how and when those changes arise are commonplace. As we saw at EMC World 2013, the company is attacking the problem and enabling change through both an attack on the "next big thing" (Pivotal), which is a revolutionary; and dealing more effectively in the storage management world (ViPR), which is evolutionary.

Pivotal represents the new data-driven world view, and while some of its technologies are available today (such as the Greenplum Hadoop products), Pivotal largely represents an initiative whose impact will be in the future. In a sense, EMC's ViPR represents a new view of the current world of storage that is being extended into and enhanced by new development, such as SDS, and will hopefully be an important component of the software-defined data center.

IT professionals have to continue to extend their knowledge and understanding of what ViPR will offer, but will have to learn to be prepared to include the new world view of Pivotal as appropriate. EMC is indeed strongly navigating the transformation waters of IT, and everyone needs to pay attention.

EMC is a client of David Hill and the Mesabi Group.