Welcome to the WEI Tech Exchange Blog

Key Flash Storage Trends That Could Reshape Your Data Center

By Greg LaBrie | Jul 25, 2019

In the past, users were forced to choose between HDDs with high storage capacity or DRAMs offering high performance. Advancements in NAND flash allowed for a new, comprehensive option: the flash-based SSD. NAND flash is a nonvolatile (NV) semiconductor memory device. Unlike DRAMs, NAND chips do not need a continuous power supply to retain stored data. Flash-based SSDs provide greater storage capacity and better performance and speed at a cost-effective price point.

SDS, flash storage, SSD, NVMe, NAND, 3D NAND chips, data center transformation | 0 Comments Read More

Is VMware vSAN a Hyperconverged Infrastructure Solution?

By Greg LaBrie | Aug 16, 2018

If you are considering the idea of a Hyperconverged Infrastructure Solution for your enterprise, consider this, VMware debuted as a leader in Gartner’s Magic Quadrant for HCI in 2018. It’s solution is also the fastest growing HCI solution in the world today. This should all come as no surprise for those familiar with the company behind the industry’s leading virtualization platform. VMware has paired the hypervisor that transformed data centers across the globe with their software defined storage solution, vSAN. Combined with their unified management solution, vCenter, VMware has created an HCI solution that accounted for 33% of HCI market revenue in the first half of 2017, making it the largest software vendor in the market.

hyperconvergence, SDS, VMware, data center modernization, vSAN | 0 Comments Read More

4 Benefits of VMware vSAN For Your Enterprise

By Greg LaBrie | Aug 07, 2018

By now you’ve heard about VMware vSAN—a software defined storage (SDS) solution that combines direct storage devices across a vSphere cluster to create a shared data area distributed across an enterprise network. With vSAN, the user is able to decide on the storage requirements, performance and availability and makes sure the policies put in place are upheld. These are not the only benefits of using VMware vSAN. Keep reading to discover four ways your enterprise can benefit from it.

virtualization, SDS, Software defined storage, VMware, enterprise storage, vSAN | 0 Comments Read More

3 Cautions When Using Flash Storage in the Data Center

By Shane Garrett | Oct 10, 2017

There’s a sea of change afoot in enterprise data centers, focused on identifying the best storage media for the mountain of application data. As opposed to the loyal, hard disk drive (HDD), enterprise storage is being transformed by the use of persistent flash memory for primary workloads. Yet, with all the good flash storage can do, there are a few misconceptions that can derail an otherwise solid flash storage investment. If you plan to deploy flash storage, read on for three cautions and considerations from a technology partner.

SDS, data center modernization, technology solutions provider, flash storage, enterprise storage | 0 Comments Read More

The Value of Automated Storage Tiering with Software Defined Storage

By Greg LaBrie | Jan 05, 2017

Software defined storage (SDS) has the potential to revolutionize your business processes and drive extraordinary value. However, storage isn’t just measured by capacity. In our previous blog post, we laid out the example of thinking of your organization’s storage infrastructure like a virtual city: there are specific places designated for each type of data, from highly-utilized information to archives. Because of this, there is a true need for segmenting your resources; today, SDS is finally allocating true Automated Storage Tiering (AST) for enterprises. AST has created a natural and timely partnership with flash storage to offer the speed and performance that personal computing devices have enjoyed for years and many organizations are now considering all-flash based arrays to meet the demands of server virtualization.

big data, SDS, Software defined storage, data center, storage, software defined enterprise | 0 Comments Read More

Advice for Managing Your Data with Software Defined Storage

By Greg LaBrie | Jan 03, 2017

There are a couple of reasons why organizations are slow to adopt software defined storage (SDS) when compared to its cousin, software defined networking (SDN). This is likely due to the concept of utilizing commoditized hardware. After all, if a switch goes down, it’s just a switch. If a RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) goes beyond the point of degradation, it’s your own valuable data, which is why enterprises have been willing to pay such absorbent costs on proprietary disk array devices that boast enormous levels of redundancy. In addition, some of the terminology frequently used to describe various aspects of SDS can be confusing.

big data, IT Strategy, SDS, Software defined storage, storage | 0 Comments Read More

Use Software Defined Storage to Reveal the True Cost of Data

By Greg LaBrie | Dec 13, 2016

Software defined storage (SDS) is a cost-effective way for companies to store their data in a safe cloud environment while freeing up space traditionally taken up by physical hardware. It can also provide a stronger level of data protection since cloud service providers (although their security policies vary) have a responsibility to care for customer data, per your service agreement. How can you determine if this fits into your organization’s budget? First, let’s dive into the circumstances that created a need for SDS

big data, SDS, Software defined storage, data center, IT Transformation | 0 Comments Read More

Top Two Enterprise Virtual Server Appliance (VSA) Solutions

By Greg LaBrie | Nov 22, 2016

In today’s digital world, every facet of an organization must become elastic and more flexible, especially the IT department. The Virtual Server Appliance (VSA) can be one of the most valuable tools in your technology arsenal. No matter how much money you throw at hardware, it will never be as elastic as software. Instead, your business can employ VSA, where the storage controller runs in a single virtual machine, which manages the storage directly attached to its host. A VSA is not an appliance, rather, it’s software. Read on for a look into this solution.

HPE, SDS, Software defined storage, VMware, VSA | 0 Comments Read More

How vSAN Can Complement Your Storage Infrastructure

By Greg LaBrie | Nov 15, 2016

Searching for the best way to store your organization’s precious data and informational assets? Your storage infrastructure is incredibly important; in this article we discuss ways software defined storage (SDS) and the Virtual Storage Area Network (vSAN) can complement your strategy. The idea of separating your enterprise’s IT control plane from the data plane and running services over commodity hardware rather than custom proprietary hardware is not new; in fact, it can be quite beneficial.

SDS, Software defined storage, VMware | 0 Comments Read More

WEI Tech Exchange

Subscribe to Email Updates