How to Identify the Ideal Storage Solution

 

Chip shortages, changes in the world of work due to the pandemic and the variety of storage technologies make it difficult for companies to develop and implement efficient storage strategies. Digitalization also means that there are more applications, often with specific requirements. : Wilhelm Petersmann of Fujitsu focuses on individuality in his commentary. […]

Companies are only as successful as the data they collect – because this is a central factor for business success. Even if data offers new revenue opportunities, it is an enormous challenge to master and successfully use this usually massive data jungle. In order to manage information in different formats and distributed across many user devices – in the cloud, at customers, suppliers, partners, data centers – an optimal data storage solution is immensely important.

Crucial for SMEs as well as for large corporations

A flexible and efficient foundation is necessary, but storage needs can change. When it comes to architecture offers, there is “the agony of choice”: companies have to find out what is suitable for them not only right now, but also in the future. Is it a traditional enterprise RAID storage system with flash or hybrid storage, software-defined storage or a hyperconverged infrastructure – where data can also be stored? Then there is the issue of the cloud. One might think that this is a problem of large companies, but even SMEs regularly worry about it.

Data Driven Enterprises are the successful companies of the moment. Only if it is possible to analyze big data, consisting of structured data and unstructured data, to derive trends from it and to make fact-based decisions, can companies be agile and successful in the future. This is only possible with the right strategies in terms of choosing the right storage.

Important decision criteria can be:

  • Simplicity: Day-to-day operations should be simplified by the storage solution.
  • Scalability: Data volumes are growing every day, so storage should be able to keep up.
  • Safety: Ensuring uninterrupted operation.
  • Reliability: What is implemented should work smoothly.
  • Affordability: Budget limits should not be exceeded.

Collecting all data in one, two or three large storage systems – as has been done quite successfully in the past – is no longer expedient. These systems used to be decentralized, then centralized again, depending on the prevailing fashion. However, the architecture remained basically the same. Today, on the other hand, it makes sense, due to the requirements of the applications, not to store data exclusively on SSDs, for example. In order to find the best option, there are corresponding services, such as the storage Inspection Services or SAP Inspection Services from Fujitsu, with which the needs are determined together.

Fujitsu All-flash and hybrid storage systems provide a balance between storage capacity, performance and cost to ensure the right data service levels for all business scenarios. Leading the high-tech market in Japan are the ETERNUS storage solutions, which are also very popular in Europe.

The mix does it

The storage choice today is not an “either-or” decision. Rather, it is important to pay attention to the different architectures and requirements of a company. It’s certainly not about advising customers only Flash technology or only NVMe, convincing them that software-defined storage can solve all problems, hyperconverged is the choice for everything, or there will be nothing but the cloud in two years anyway. As different as the mix of architectures is among the companies, our recommendation for a storage solution will always be as different.

*Wilhelm Petersmann is Managing Director of Fujitsu Austria and Switzerland.

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