Data Management for the Future
Right now, your enterprise is probably drowning in data. By 2013, you'll have twice as much. As you tackle the data management and categorization of all that information, don't overlook another big question — where are you going to put it?
Virtualized Storage Services
HP will assist you in reducing your storage cost and excess capacity through Storage Management Services — Virtualized Storage Services, including Thin Provisioning and Data Tiering.
“It's a dilemma each of us deals with daily,” says Jeff Moyer, director of Storage Services for HP Enterprise Services. “Do I need to save this email? Keep this file? Clean out my inbox to make room for more? But CIOs are facing it on an exponential scale, and the problem literally grows bigger every day.”
Adding to the storage challenge, says Moyer, are two opposing pressures: increased regulatory and legal issues require organizations to retain more and more records, but budget constraints mean fewer funds for storage costs. The growing complexity of IT environments intensifies the strain.
A Better Data Storage Answer
One emerging technology holds the promise of relief. Virtualized storage allows your enterprise to fully use your data storage investment and to migrate data to storage tiers without system downtime. This approach increases the flexibility and utilization of your storage environment while simultaneously driving down costs.
“Virtualization on the storage side is fairly new — and kind of complex,” says Moyer. “It's something that's been around for just a few years and is still gaining traction. However, with the avalanche of data that's on the horizon, it may soon become a significant part of IT planning.”
Network Storage Virtualization
“Think of virtualized storage the same way you think about storing all your personal stuff,” says Moyer. “Instead of putting everything in one place — a single, expensive storage facility — you put things in available closets and drawers all over your house and elsewhere, making efficient use of the space you already own.”
“Similarly,” he says, “storage virtualization puts your data in multiple network storage devices — unused space on your frames, additional space on our servers, and so on — but in a way that looks like a single storage device managed from a central console.”
A virtualization option called “thin provisioning” takes this a step further by tapping into your well of excess capacity and inefficient allocations. Because of the virtualization layer between the server and storage infrastructure, sharing the pool of unused space across applications causes no service disruption. It also drives down your storage TCO. This eliminates the need to initially over-purchase storage to cut back on system downtime.
Data Storage Tiers
The way you organize data can also be important. When storing things at home, you put items you need daily where they're easily accessible. On the other hand, archive-quality items (like your high school yearbook) might go in your parent's garage — where they aren't taking up your valuable space.
“In technology services,” says Moyer, “this is called 'data tiering.' Data that is not mission-critical or central to operations is placed on less-expensive storage platforms independent from your application servers or business logic. This data might include financials or other information that needs to be retained for compliance, legal, or other regulatory reasons.”
Data can be accessed when you need it, but it's out of the way until that point. This arrangement not only reduces storage costs, but also frees up valuable space so that the IT environment functions more efficiently.”
Storage Virtualization Advantages
HP clients are starting to see some significant benefits emerge from virtualizing their storage. Enterprises that have implemented these services report that they're able to:
- Access information faster
- Back up data faster
- Reduce unused capacity
- Improve agile capacity management
- Increase utilization and data movement
- Better align — and quickly realign — data to changing business requirements
“The organizations we work with have lots of data that they need to control and access,” says Moyer. “They want flexible and changeable storage solutions that make good business sense. We think our services deliver on that.”
HP Storage Management Services
“HP Virtualized Storage Services are part of our Storage Management Services tiers,” says Moyer. “VSS allows the storage environment to be hosted at an HP data center or at a facility you provide. It can be deployed on your HP infrastructure through our services-only model, or HP can bundle our storage administration and underlying infrastructure to provide as a utility.”
In short, he says, HP aligns to your needs and delivers the way you want. “As with everything we do,” Moyer says, “our Virtualized Storage Services are about outcomes. We want to use technology to help enterprises get the results they need. I think virtualized storage solves an emerging problem, but also addresses ongoing concerns like costs and growth and productivity. When a small IT implementation can have a bigger impact like that, it's a win for everyone.”
Learn more about Virtualized Storage Services
More Information
HP Buy-Sell BPO Solution - Viewpoint PDF
Storage Management Services - At-A-Glance
Virtualization: The HP Perspective - Viewpoint PDF
