The Optimus Prime of Software-Defined Scale-Out SAN: ScaleIO

New today, EMC is showcasing the evolution of ScaleIO software with updates in the form of a software upgrade, a free and frictionless download and a new consumption model.

So why these updates, and why now? We live in a world that is ever-changing, which is probably why the Transformers are so appealing to us. The thought of being able to take a 1950s Oldsmobile and transform it into a sleek, fast Bugatti with superior speed and performance is what we want for everything around us, including our commodity hardware that just sits in the corner.

ScaleIO_Pulse

Autobots, Take Refuge Among EMC ScaleIO

Enter most data centers and there are racks of servers that are currently under consideration for retirement or forgotten and left to basically take up ScaleIO_Infographic-fulldesign.v6-2space and power.  EMC ScaleIO is a software-only solution that takes underutilized, standalone, commodity hardware and transforms it into a highly scalable virtual SAN. ScaleIO is hardware agnostic and turns existing server DAS into shared block storage, delivering flexible and scalable performance and capacity on demand. The concerns of data bottlenecks and single points of failure are no longer an issue because it scales to thousands of nodes and tens of millions of IOPS. As nodes are added or removed on the fly, the resources respond to the changes, rebalancing the storage distribution and achieving a layout that optimally suits the new configuration. This dynamic and flexible design can help empower organizations to deliver a consistent experience to customers and end users.

The Rise of Software-Defined Storage

Wikibon believes Server SAN is poised to disrupt traditional storage architectures over the next decade and according to IDC, SDS platforms will continue to grow faster than any other market segment in the file- and object-based storage market. The transformation so many storage administrators have been waiting for is here and today they can begin their journey!

The Future is Here with EMC ScaleIO

So what’s coming in the next version of ScaleIO? New features will provide customers with high availability, security, resiliency and supportability.

  • Improved data protection
  • Simplified maintenance
  • Security enhancements

In addition to ScaleIO updates, a free and frictionless version of the ScaleIO software will be available later this month on the ECN ScaleIO Product Community site. It provides customers with an easy way to access the ScaleIO software to make sure it’s the right fit for them. The free download offers access to the ScaleIO software for an unlimited time with unlimited capacity, for non-production use.  Customers can experience all the features and capabilities of our enterprise grade software-defined scale-out SAN solution at no cost!

There will also be a hyper-converged ScaleIO solution available—yesterday, VCE announced the upcoming Q3 release of VxRack, the VCE RackScale for hyper-converged infrastructures. VxRack is powered by ScaleIO software – EMC’s “Allspark” for software-defined scale-out SAN.  Customers can choose to consume EMC ScaleIO as a software-only solution or a fully integrated hyper-converged, turnkey solution.

There are mysteries to the universe we were never meant to solve, but EMC ScaleIO does have answers for software-defined scale-out SAN. EMC ScaleIO will continue to strive to meet and exceed the needs of current and next-gen applications.

ScaleIO

For more details on this release, please visit www.EMC.com/ScaleIO

Sam Grocott

About the Author: Sam Grocott

Sam Grocott is the Senior Vice President of Product Marketing at Dell Technologies. He leads the marketing activities for all infrastructure and client solutions and the services portfolio, including critical GTM activities across the portfolio, such as AI, APEX & Multicloud, Edge, Telecom, portfolio marketing and competitive intelligence. Sam began his career at Isilon Systems in 2001, where he led product management and helped launch Isilon's first products in 2003. After EMC acquired Isilon in 2010, Sam headed the marketing and product management team that delivered the market-leading scale-out NAS offering. When Dell acquired EMC in 2016, Sam's role expanded to cover the Dell Infrastructure Solutions portfolio for Marketing. The organization evolved to represent the entire Dell Technologies portfolio a few years later.