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2014-15 FLASH MEMORY STORAGE ARRAY BUYER’S GUIDE By DCIG Managing Analyst Ken Clipperton

The Insider’s Guide to EvaluatingFlash Memory Storage Arrays

E M P O W E R I N G T H E I T I N D U S T RY W I T H A C T I O N A B L E A N A LY S I S · W W W. D C I G . C O M

Licensed to Nimbus Data Systems, Inc. with unlimited and unrestricted distribution rights.

© 2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved.

2014-15 FLASH MEMORY STORAGE ARRAY BUYER’S GUIDEThe Insider’s Guide to Evaluating Flash Memory Storage Arrays

iDCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Table of Contents

23 Aberdeen AberNAS N21L

24 Astute Networks ViSX G4

25 Avere Systems FXT 4200

26 Avere Systems FXT 4500

27 Cisco Whiptail ACCELA

28 Cisco Whiptail ACCELA-D

29 Cisco Whiptail INVICTA

30 Cisco Whiptail INVICTA INFINITY

31 Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution

32 Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600

33 EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600)

34 EMC XtremIO X-Brick

35 GreenBytes IO Offload Engine

36 HDS Hitachi Unified Storage VM

37 HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage

38 Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2

39 Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado5100

40 IBM FlashSystem 840

41 IBM FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution

42 IBM Storwize V7000 FlashSystem Edition

43 IceWEB ERX

44 Kaminario K2

45 NetApp EF550 Flash Array

46 NetApp FAS3250 Series AFA

47 NetApp FAS6290 Series AFA

48 Nimbus Data Gemini F400

49 Nimbus Data Gemini F600

50 Pure Storage FA-400 Series Controller

51 Skyera skyHawk

52 SolidFire SF3010

53 SolidFire SF6010

54 SolidFire SF9010

55 Tegile Zebi HA2800

56 Violin Memory Violin 6212






62 Product Rankings Dashboard

Appendices

A-1 Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

B-1 Appendix B—Flash Memory Storage Array Provider Contact Information

C-1 Appendix C—Author Contact Information

1 Introduction

3 Executive Summary3 Flash Memory Storage Arrays Now

Replacing Traditional Enterprise Arrays

3 Driver #1: IT Budget Savings

3 Driver #2: Accelerating the Enterprise

3 New Products, New Entrants

4 Storage Density Supremacy: Flash Memory Storage Crosses the Next Disruptive Boundary

4 The Role of this Buyer’s Guide

5 How to Use this Buyer’s Guide

6 Disclosures

6 Inclusion and Exclusion Criteria

7 The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Flash Memory Storage Arrays

8 DCIG Comments & Thoughts

8 Flash Memory Storage Arrays are the New Enterprise Array

8 Flash Memory Storage Now Delivering Storage Density Supremacy

8 Data Efficiency and Flash Optimization Techniques

8 Dealing with the Threat of Silent Data Corruption

8 The Benefit of Zero Overhead Snapshots and Volume Copy

8 OpenStack for Array Management Rapidly Gaining Vendor Support

9 VMware vSphere Integration

9 Cloud Storage Integration

9 Feature Areas Where DCIG Expects to See Improvement

9 Think About Flash Memory Storage Arrays as a Systemic Opportunity

9 DCIG Observations & Recommendations

9 Best-in-Class Ranking

10 Recommended Ranking

11 Excellent Ranking

12 Good Ranking

13 Basic Ranking

15 Flash Memory Storage Array Scores and Rankings

16 Overall Scores and Rankings

18 Management & Software Scores and Rankings

20 Hardware Scores and Rankings

22 Flash Memory Storage Array Models




1DCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Introduction Many changes have taken place in the data center storage marketplace in the 14 months since the release of the inaugural DCIG 2013 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide. That initial Buyer's Guide included 34 arrays from 10 storage vendors, none of which had good name recognition even among IT professionals. This year’s Buyer's Guide includes 39 arrays from 20 storage vendors; including industry heavyweights like Cisco, Dell, EMC, HP, HDS, IBM and NetApp.

Some of those major vendors entered the all-flash array market by purchasing an all-flash startup—Cisco acquired Whiptail, EMC acquired XtremIO, and IBM acquired Texas Memory Systems. Other vendors took their pre-existing storage architectures and added critical flash support—including Dell Compellent and EqualLogic, EMC VNX, HP 3PAR, HDS HUS VM and NetApp FAS.

Multiple vendors we spoke with indicated that prospective customers are now looking to do a complete Tier 1 storage refresh and move to an all-flash environment for their critical busi-ness applications. A web-driven infographic published by International Data Corporation (IDC) reflects these trends, and forecasts “capacity shipped in 2016 will increase to 611PB

[petabyte] with a 2012–2016 CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 110.8%.” 1

The DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide scores and ranks products with this primary enterprise array use case especially in mind. We collected more data about non-disruptive upgrades, performance monitoring, provisioning automation, overall flash capacity and storage density per rack unit, plus environmentals like operating temper-ature ranges, direct power utilization and the amount of power required to cool the arrays.

This introduction to the current state of this emerging market is only the tip of the iceberg. Below the surface lies precise information on improved flash memory arrays and new to the market products. With the plethora of flash memory products available, like all prior DCIG Buyer’s Guides, the DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide continues the legacy of doing the legwork and heavy lifting for organizations who seek to purchase a Flash Memory Storage Array by:

• Listing each individual Flash Memory Storage Array model by storage provider

• Listing different Flash Memory Storage Array features, whether or not they are supported and (where appropriate) how they are implemented

• Weighting these features according to what organizations consider most important

• Scoring these features

• Ranking each Flash Memory Storage Array model

• Creating a standardized data sheet for each Flash Memory Storage Array model

DCIG is eager to present the DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide. Organizations will benefit from the “at-a-glance” comparisons between different Flash Memory Storage Array models and find the results contained in this Buyer’s Guide useful in reducing the amount of time required to get to a short list of products that warrant a

1. “All Flash Storage Market Poised for Growth,” IDC infographic, sponsored by Hitachi Data Systems, accessed Feb 26, 2014, http://www.hds.com/assets/pdf/all-flash-infographic.pdf.cx





Introduction (continued)

Introduction (continued) closer look. Once that short list of products is developed, this Buyer’s Guide also supplies the organization with provider information to go directly to a product evaluation stage or competitive bid process.

Note that this Buyer’s Guide is not intended to be a substitute for bringing individual Flash Memory Storage Arrays in-house and testing them with specific applications and data center environments. Proof of concept implementations in a business’s own data center is an important part of validating a vendor’s claims and how well a product implements the features that are important to a particular business.

As a supplement to the downloadable buyer’s guides, DCIG makes all the data collected for the guides available in the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG). This powerful online data visualization tool enables subscribers to quickly develop side-by-side comparisons of the products and the specific features that matter most to them. See http://www.dcig.

com/interactive-buyers-guide to learn more about the IBG.

We at DCIG hope you find that this Buyer’s Guide meets its intended purpose in your environment.

Ken

http://www.dcig.com/interactive-buyers-guide

http://www.dcig.com/interactive-buyers-guide





Executive Summary

1. Clipperton, Ken. “IBM Validates Systemic Data Center Savings Enabled by Flash Memory.” http://www.dcig.com/2013/04/ibm-validates-systemic-data-center-savings-enabled-by-flash-memory.html (accessed April 12, 2013).

2. Floyer, David. “Case Study: The Hunting of the RARC.” http://wikibon.org/wiki/v/Case_Study:_The_Hunting_of_the_RARC (accessed March 18, 2014).

Twice the capacity for half the price has become the DCIG motto during the research and development process of the DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Array Buyer’s Guide. This axiom has been derived from two facts that have consistently crossed the desks of DCIG analysts: 1) Scale and capacity. For approximately half the price of prior generation flash memory arrays, an organization can purchase a scalable array to comply with their ever-growing needs. 2) Performance. The most recent generation of Flash Memory Storage Arrays generally deliver twice the IOPS of the prior generation and deliver a more complete set of features that enables them to address a broader set of use cases.

Flash Memory Storage Arrays Now Replacing Traditional Enterprise Arrays

Driven by successful pilot implementations and improvements in price, performance, capac-ity, density and features from the all-flash startups--early adopters are now embarking on a wholesale replacement of legacy storage systems with a 100% flash memory environment for their primary storage. With all-flash arrays now available that run the same storage oper-ating system as existing primary storage, those enterprises that are happy with their current storage architecture can benefit from flash memory as primary storage without the effort and risk associated with introducing a new storage architecture into a data center.

Driver #1: IT Budget Savings

For those with a responsibility for the technology budget, a flash-storage-enabled rethink-

ing of the data center can generally achieve hard cost savings of over 30% in data center

hardware and software, and realize an ROI of less than 11 months.1 In some cases, the flash memory storage is less expensive than just the maintenance costs of the former SAN.

Driver #2: Accelerating the Enterprise

Flash-based storage systems typically create a seven-fold improvement in application performance. Savvy business people are finding many ways to generate business returns that make the flash storage investment easy to justify. In one case study the installation of a

flash memory storage system was directly attributed with avoiding the need to hire between

10 and 40 additional employees. Flash storage enabled the company to grow their business

without growing their head count.2

New Products, New Entrants

The marketplace for all-flash arrays is both rapidly growing and highly competitive. As noted in the opening paragraph, the original players in all-flash array technology have not been standing still since the release of DCIG’s 2013 Flash Memory Array Buyer’s Guide. Most have come out with at least one new generation of hardware and/or at least one major software release.

Because many of the startups embraced a commodity hardware plus specialized storage soft-ware approach, new software releases delivered not only new features but also in some cases significant performance enhancements to existing customers. For example, Tegile released a new version of their Zebi software that boosted IOPS by 80% for arrays already in production at customer sites. This is a vastly different experience from the traditional array architecture where the cool new features require new arrays with more processor or memory capacity.

http://www.dcig.com/2013/04/ibm-validates-systemic-data-center-savings-enabled-by-flash-memory.html

http://www.dcig.com/2013/04/ibm-validates-systemic-data-center-savings-enabled-by-flash-memory.html





Executive Summary (continued)

Executive Summary (continued)The other big change over the last 15 months is the entrance of well known, well capitalized vendors into the Flash Memory Storage Array marketplace. These vendors either bought one of the all-flash companies or enhanced one of their existing storage systems with flash-specific optimizations to create an all-flash array offering. Some of these incumbents sacrificed some of flash memory’s potential to fit into an existing architecture. For example, those doing dedu-plication or compression exclusive post-process rather than in-line include EMC VNX, Dell EqualLogic, Dell Compellent and HDS HUS VM. Other traditional vendors found their architec-tures could do deduplication or compression in-line, including HP 3PAR, NetApp FAS, and the IBM San Volume Controller technology in Storewize and FlashSystem V840. In these examples, the incumbents bring their full set of enterprise features to the all-flash party.

Storage Density Supremacy: Flash Memory Storage Crosses the Next Disruptive Boundary

In what may serve as a validation of the commodity hardware plus specialized storage software approach, 2014 saw the advent of multi-terabyte SSDs such as the Viking Technology apha 12Gb SAS SSD with raw capacity up to 4TB in a standard 2.5” form factor, and innovative SSD form factors like the Viking Technology SATADIMM and the IBM eXFlash that convert server DIMM slots into flash storage capacity. Flash Memory Storage Arrays were already able to deliver dramati-cally better IOPS and latencies for random IO workloads, and much better power efficiency than HDD-based storage. Now these all-flash arrays can also deliver storage density supremacy that has the potential to shrink the large physical footprint of storage systems in data centers.

The Role of this Buyer’s Guide

For all these reasons, and more, many companies are interested in purchasing Flash Memory Storage Arrays for their data centers. The DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s

Guide is pregnant with fresh information that will accelerate the research process and increase confidence in the results of that research.

As prior Buyer’s Guides have done, this Buyer's Guide puts at the fingertips of organizations a comprehensive list of Flash Memory Storage Arrays and standardized data sheets that can assist them in this important buying decision. The use of this DCIG Buyer’s Guide will enable an organization to formulate an exact opinion on features that are most imperative to them, then generate a short list of products to do further research and/or acquire.

The DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide accomplishes the following objectives:

• Provides an objective, third party evaluation of currently available Flash Memory Storage Arrays that evaluates and scores their features from an end user viewpoint.

• Scores and ranks the features on each Flash Memory Storage Array based upon the criteria that matter most to organizations and presents the results in easy to understand tables so they can quickly know which Flash Memory Storage Arrays are the most appropriate for their needs.

• Provide a standardized data sheet for each of the 39 Flash Memory Storage Arrays from 20 different storage providers so end users can do quick comparisons of the features that are supported and not supported on each Flash Memory Storage Array.

• Gives any organization a solid foundation for acquiring competitive bids from different providers of Flash Memory Storage Arrays that are “apples-to-apples” comparisons.





How to Use this Buyer’s GuideIn determining how to best use the information contained in this Buyer’s Guide, it is important to note that it is intended to help users accelerate the product research and selec-tion process—driving cost out of the research process while simultaneously increasing confidence in the results. The purpose of this Buyer’s Guide is NOT to tell users exactly which product(s) to purchase. Rather, it is to help guide them in coming up with a short list of competitive products that have comparable features that meet their specific needs.

It is also important to note that just because a product scored the highest in a particular category or is ranked a certain way does not automatically mean that it is the right product for their organization. If anything, because of the scope of the products evaluated and analyzed, it may have features that are too robust for the needs of an individual department or organization.

However, what this Buyer’s Guide does is give users some sense of how each product compares to other products classified in this Buyer’s Guide, and offers insight into what product offerings are available on the market.

DCIG recommends that you use this Buyer’s Guide in the following seven ways:

• Eliminate the painstaking research associated with

coming up with a short list of products that meet

their needs. This Buyer’s Guide ranks, scores and contains data sheets for 39 different products from 20 different vendors. Each product is scored and then ranked as Best-in-Class, Recommended, Excellent,

Good and Basic based upon its score. In each product, more than 130 different features were evaluated, weighted, scored and then ranked. All an organization has to do is look at the scores and features of each product in order to come up with a short list of products for consideration.

• Do apples-to-apples comparisons of products

from different vendors. In today’s crowded Flash Memory Storage Array market, it behooves organization to get competitive bids from multiple vendors. After all, when they compete, you win! But that tactic only works well when organizations know that they are receiving competitive bids on products that are roughly compa-rable. Using this Buyer’s Guide, organizations can do a better job of accomplishing that objective.

• Separate the apples from the oranges. Just as important as doing apples-to-apples comparisons is identifying when an orange is thrown into the mix. Sometimes it is very difficult for an organization to know if it is truly getting a good deal when bids come in from vendors that include different products. Now organizations can refer to the scores and rankings of each product in this Buyer's Guide so they know when they are getting a good deal, a great deal or just a “so-so” one.

• Provides perspective on how products from less

well known vendors compare against established

and better known brands. Anyone involved with high performance storage systems has heard of IBM, but many of the companies providing these innovative products are less well known.

• This Buyer’s Guide helps to remove some of that

apprehension about buying from a less well known

vendor or even a less well known model from an

established vendor. Using this Buyer’s Guide, organizations can see how these products from lesser known vendors as well as lesser known products from established vendors stack up.

• Normalizes complex terminology. Every segment across industries has a proclivity to adopt acronyms and jargon that is specific to it. The flash memory storage industry is no exception. In this dynamic and relatively young market, vendors often refer to the same capability in different ways. This Buyer’s Guide sifts through the acronyms and jargon and then normalizes these terms, providing a foundation for meaningful comparisons. Definitions for these normalized terms are provided in the Glossary, included as Appendix A.

• Creates a standardized data sheet. The product data sheets available from the different vendors are rarely laid out in the same way or contain the same information. Some vendors even have data sheet formats that vary from product to product within their own portfolio. This Buyer’s Guide tackles this problem by creating a standard, easy to read data sheet for every product. In this way, product data sheets for individual products can be printed out, laid down side by side and then the features on them quickly compared.





• Helps justify buying recommendations to business

teams. Nothing is easier for those on the business side to understand than a number when doing comparisons. So at the top of every product data sheet, a product score is included so the business side of the house can quickly see how the different product models compare.

DisclosuresOver the last few years the general trend in the US has been for both large and boutique analyst firms to receive some or all of their revenue from vendors.

DCIG is no different in that respect as it also receives payment for the different services it performs for vendors. The services that DCIG provides include blogging, case studies, product reviews, executive white papers and special reports.

In the interest of being transparent, a number of the vendors included in this DCIG Buyer’s Guide are or have been DCIG clients. This is not to imply that they were given preferential treatment in the Buyer’s Guide. All it meant was that DCIG had more knowledge of their products and that DCIG would consider their product for inclusion in this Buyer’s Guide.

In that vein, there are a number of important facts to keep in mind when considering the information contained in this Buyer’s Guide and its merit.

• No vendor paid DCIG any fee to develop this Buyer’s Guide.

• DCIG did not guarantee any vendor that its product would be included in this Buyer’s Guide.

• DCIG did not imply or guarantee that a specific product would receive a good score on this Buyer’s Guide, before or after completion.

• All research was based upon publicly available informa-tion, information provided by the vendor and the expertise of those evaluating the information.

• Because of the number of features analyzed, how these features were weighted and how these products were then scored and ranked, there was no way for DCIG to predict at the outset how individual products would end up scoring or ranking.

• DCIG wants to emphasize that no vendor was privy to how DCIG did the scoring and ranking of the products. In every case the vendor only found out the scores and rankings of its product after the analysis was complete.

Inclusion and Exclusion CriteriaThis DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s

Guide incorporates input from users and vendors to assist in defining the inclusion criteria for this Buyer’s Guide. DCIG attempts to take into consideration as many variables as possible, though likely fails to account for all of them. This may have even resulted in a specific model not being covered in this Buyer’s Guide when it rightfully belonged. DCIG will continue to refine both the variables for which we collect data and the inclusion criteria for future editions of the DCIG Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide.

The rationale that was used to determine the inclusion and exclusion of specific models in this Buyer’s Guide is as follows:

• Available as an appliance. Incorporated into rack-based data centers in a quick and familiar way. Fitting into data center design as a replacement for another storage array.

• Is NOT based on Microsoft Windows Storage

Server. This requirement was put in place to eliminate products that are just standard server hardware with flash drives plus MS Storage Server. Flash memory has specific weaknesses that must be addressed if it is to be responsibly incorporated into storage arrays as primary data storage. This Guide includes vendors who have taken steps to address flash memory’s weaknesses.

• Must support a configuration containing only SSDs. A number of established storage vendors have begun to offer flash as a cache or tier in their traditional arrays. To be included in this Buyer’s Guide, an all-flash configura-tion of the array must be supported by the vendor.

• May support mixed configurations of HDDs and

SSDs. Support for a hybrid SSD/HDD does not disqualify a product as long as an all-flash configuration is supported and available as a specific SKU.

• Must use SSDs as primary storage. Flash memory is being incorporated into the data center in many different ways and in different roles. We are looking for arrays that support flash as the permanent home for data.

• Must support one or more of the following storage

networking protocols: iSCSI, Fibre Channel, InfiniBand, NFS.

• There had to be sufficient information available to

DCIG to make meaningful decisions. DCIG made a good faith effort to reach out and obtain information from





as many array providers as possible by providing surveys to them for them to complete. However, products have been excluded because of a lack of sufficient reliable data.

• Must be generally available by March 31, 2014. A cut-off date had to be put in place or this Buyer’s Guide would never be published.

The 8-Step Process Used to Score and Rank Flash Memory Storage ArraysTo score and rank each Flash Memory Storage Array model, DCIG went through an eight (8) step process to come to the most objective conclusion possible.

1. DCIG listed out all of the features available on all of

the Flash Memory Storage Arrays. Prior to selecting the features that were included in the final evaluation in the Buyer’s Guide, DCIG went through and quantified what features flash memory arrays possessed. As part of this process, DCIG “normalized” the list of features available on Flash Memory Storage Arrays such that a common name for each feature was established.

2. DCIG established which features would be

included in the Buyer’s Guide and which ones

would not. One of the goals of this Buyer’s Guide was to try to only include features on each Flash Memory Storage Array model that could be objectively and authoritatively analyzed.

For example, “Raw Flash Capacity” was evaluated as a feature instead of “Useable Storage Capacity.” While useable flash capacity is what users ultimately care about, a consistent objective answer cannot be arrived at as most Flash Memory Storage Arrays offer multiple RAID options and differences in data compression and deduplication by type of data yield site-specific useable or effective flash capacity. Therefore, “Maximum Raw

Flash Capacity” was selected as the feature to be evaluated since an objective answer could be ascer-tained and supported.

3. The features were broken down into four general

categories. The features included in this Buyer’s Guide broke down into a total of four broad categories that are reflected on each Flash Memory Storage Array data sheet. These four categories include Management & Software, VMware Integration, Hardware, and Support.

4. Each feature had a weighting associated with it. The weightings were used to reflect if a feature was supported and potentially how valuable the feature is to an end-user compared to other options. For example, the “Full File Clone” feature is more of a “Yes” or “No”

type of response whereas “Snapshot Methods” covers a number of snapshot options. Each of these options is weighted and scored differently.

5. A survey that asked about all of the features

scored in this Buyer’s Guide was sent to each

storage provider. Vendors were invited to complete the online survey. The survey elicits more data than was available on any vendor website to provide a more thorough analysis of each Flash Memory Storage Array. If a vendor did not respond to the invitation, a DCIG analyst filled out the survey on their behalf using the vendor’s web site, other reliable publicly available information, and prior DCIG research where available.

6. All vendors were given the opportunity to review

their data sheets before the final scores and

rankings were determined. To ensure the information presented in this Buyer’s Guide is as complete and correct as possible, DCIG provided each vendor a copy or copies of their filled-out surveys and the data sheets that appear in this Buyer’s Guide without the scores and

rankings on them. In this way they had the opportunity to validate the information and correct it before it was publicly released.

7. All of the features were scored based upon the

information that was gathered. The weighting and scoring of the features were done by a DCIG research analyst.

8. The Flash Memory Storage Arrays were ranked using

standard scoring techniques. One of the goals of this Buyer’s Guide is to establish clear lines of differentiation between Flash Memory Storage Arrays with conclusions that are arrived at objectively. To accomplish this goal, the mean or average score for each classification was first determined and then the standard deviation.

Using the mean of the scores from all of the Flash Memory Storage Arrays from which the standard deviation was calculated, DCIG developed a ranking for each array model based upon the following in each classification:

• Those models that were .5 or greater standard devia-tions below the mean were given the rank of Basic.





• Those models that were .5± standard deviations above or below the mean were ranked as Good.

• Those models that were .5 – 1.5 standard deviations above the mean were ranked as Excellent.

• Those models that were greater than 1.5 standard deviations above the mean were ranked as Recommended.

• The model(s) with the highest score in each category were given the designation of Best-in-Class.

• It is for this reason that in each category the number of models that achieved a certain ranking varied.

DCIG Comments & ThoughtsFlash Memory Storage Arrays are the New Enterprise Array

This Buyer's Guide approaches the evaluation of Flash Memory Storage Arrays with their use as replacements for traditional storage arrays in enterprise data centers, and scores the arrays with this use case in mind. This means that targeted solutions will not score particularly well in this Buyer's Guide. Support for VMware integration and high storage densities garners quite a few points, but may not really matter for other use cases like NAS acceleration where the appliance is intended to be a transparent caching layer in front of legacy NAS storage.

While not apologizing for the focus on flash as primary array, it is worth noting that other use cases are certainly valid. Storage purchasers evaluating arrays for other use cases may find the feature data shown on the data sheets is more impor-tant to them than the scores and rankings we assigned. An array that scores well in this Buyer's Guide may be a perfect fit for these other use cases, but so may a low scoring array.

Flash Memory Storage Now Delivering Storage Density Supremacy

The highest performing Tier 1 enterprise hard drives top out at around 600GB, with 300GB drives being far more widely deployed. A traditional performance array maxes out at a storage density of about 5TB per rack unit. Twenty-four

(62%) of the arrays in this Buyer's Guide deliver more

than 5TB per rack unit. Seven (18%) of the arrays in this Buyer's Guide offer more than 4x that storage density and two of the arrays can deliver 44TB of raw flash capacity

per rack unit. Data efficiency technologies can effec-tively multiply that raw capacity by another 4x or more.

Reasonable data center managers and designers should consider the impact that reclaiming 90% of data center floor space, as well as power and cooling might have on their data center requirements.

Data Efficiency and Flash Optimization Techniques

In the 2013 edition of this Buyer's Guide, DCIG anticipated that data efficiency technologies would be more broadly adopted in Flash Memory Storage Arrays. At that point, only 43% of the arrays supported thin provisioning—a number

that has risen to 90%, with 56% also supporting automated storage reclamation. We also saw progress in support from compression, up from 12% to 38% of arrays. Support for inline deduplication remained flat at about one-third of arrays.

Dealing with the Threat of Silent Data Corruption

With flash capacity of these arrays growing from a few terabytes in 2013 to more than a petabyte in 2014, there is a much higher possibility for silent data corruption through hash collisions. This issue can be addressed through support for lossless deduplication, which involves read verifying all potential duplicates rather than

relying solely on hashes for deduplication decisions. Twelve of the thirteen arrays that implement in-line dedu-plication also implement lossless deduplication.

The Benefit of Zero Overhead Snapshots and Volume Copy

Twenty-five (64%) of the arrays in this Buyer's Guide imple-ment zero overhead snapshots & volume copy. This capability is useful in a number of ways. Because these snapshots have almost no impact on performance or stor-age utilization—thus the zero overhead designation—they can be taken as often as required to comply with recovery point objectives (RPO) set by the business. The combina-

tion of high performance flash memory storage and zero

overhead snapshots can also be used to improve developer

productivity. Daily development snapshots can be used by a company’s developers to test against the full set of produc-tion data in what is essentially the production environment, yet without the risk of corrupting the actual production data. This is a huge improvement over working with a stale subset of production data that many developers are used to.

OpenStack for Array Management Rapidly Gaining Vendor Support

One development worth noting is the rapid adoption of OpenStack as a supported method of array management.





While twenty-five (64%) of arrays can be managed via VMware vCenter, and eight (21%) can be managed via Microsoft’s System Center or via the SMI-S standard, eighteen (46%)

can be managed via OpenStack. This bodes well for OpenStack and for advancing data center automation.

VMware vSphere Integration

On the VMware integration front, some vendors have compre-hensive support for VMware’s storage-related APIs while others completely eschew them. Twenty-six (67%) support

all VAAI v4.1 APIs. Of the VAAI v5 features, the top five are Thin-Provisioning Dead Space Reclamation (SCSI UNMAP) at 44%, Full File Clone and Out-of-Space Conditions at 31%, Reserve Space at 28%, and Thin Provisioning Stun at 21%.

Among the other VMware storage-related API’s, the top five supported features are SIOC at 51%, VASA at 49%, Storage DRS at 41%, VASRM at 33% and VADP at 23%.

Cloud Storage Integration

In 2013 only WhipTail arrays claimed cloud storage inte-gration. Now ten arrays (26%) make that claim, including Avere, EMC, HP, HDS, NetApp, and SolidFire.

Feature Areas Where DCIG Expects to See Improvement

Given the trend toward enterprises adopting a multi-hypervisor strategy, DCIG expects to find more arrays supporting integra-tion with Microsoft Hyper-V for management and for Windows Server storage technologies. Only eight (21%) of the arrays in this Buyer's Guide support Microsoft System Center (SCVMM SMAPI) or Microsoft Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX). Only five (13%) support SMB 3.0.

Some flash array vendors have decided that tiering is unneces-sary in an all-flash array. Others have designed their arrays to automatically tier data, placing metadata and other “hot” data in NVRAM, DRAM backed by flash memory, or SLC SSDs. Some extend their tiering capabilities all the way to the public cloud. The emergence of multi-terabyte read-oriented SSDs that have a very low write endurance will give flash arrays that integrate multi-tier auto-tiering an advantage in safely incorporating these newer forms of flash into enterprise storage arrays.

Think About Flash Memory Storage Arrays as a Systemic Opportunity

The purchase of a Flash Memory Storage Array will be most easily justified and have the greatest benefit in businesses that think this through as a systemic opportunity. Many who

do so will discover that “Flash is free.” That is, the return on investment within the IT budget will be rapid, and the busi-ness benefits of accelerating all enterprise applications could truly be seen as an opportunity not just to upgrade storage, but to accelerate the enterprise.

DCIG Observations & Recommendations

Best-in-Class Ranking

Observations

The Nimbus Data Gemini F600 earned the overall Best-

in-Class ranking among all Flash Memory Storage Arrays in this Buyer’s Guide. The Gemini F600 stood out in the following ways:

• Captured the highest score in the Management & Software as well as Hardware categories.

• Raw flash storage density of 24 TB per rack unit, scalable to 1PB in a 42U cluster. This raw flash density was exceeded by only two other arrays in this Buyer's Guide.

• The already high flash storage density is further enhanced through comprehensive flash optimization support, including lossless in-line deduplication and compression.

• The F600 features 8 x QSFP+ ports for 56 Gb FDR InfiniBand and 40 Gigabit Ethernet.

• The comprehensive hypervisor integration score of the Gemini series was bested only by the HP 3PAR

StoreServ 7450. In addition to excellent VMware integration, the Gemini F600 is one of just eight arrays supporting Microsoft Windows Offloaded Data Transfer (ODX). By offloading the file transfer to the storage array, ODX minimizes latencies, maximizes array throughput, and reduces resource usage such as CPU and network consumption on the host computer in Windows Server 2012/Hyper-V environments.

Recommendations

The Gemini F600 multiprotocol unified all-flash storage system, introduced in August 2013, is part of Nimbus Data’s fourth-generation of all-flash arrays. Nimbus Data claims that this generation increases write performance by 4x and read performance by 2x to deliver up to 1 million 4K write IOPS and 2 million 4K read IOPS with latencies





of approximately 50 microseconds; at a 35% lower cost compared to the prior generation.

Nimbus Data achieved this through three technology advancements:

1. A DSP in each enterprise flash drive that adapts the amount of electrical current used to write to flash-based on the age of the flash, minimizing flash wear.

2. Cell-level (rather than chip-level) wear-leveling algorithms that detect variations in flash endurance and adapt write patterns accordingly, eliminating hot-spots.

3. New Nimbus Data software that reforms random small-block writes into sequential large-block writes, reducing write amplification.

Gemini all-flash arrays feature Nimbus Data’s HALO soft-ware stack, a total system management solution offering thin provisioning, deduplication, snapshot, and administra-tion tools.

The Gemini F600 starts under US$80,000, and typically sells for between $150,000 and $250,000 as configured by customers. The standard one-year warranty can be extended for up to 10 years with a support contract that provides 24x7x365 support, a comprehensive hardware warranty, free software updates, and 4-hour onsite service worldwide.

Recommended Ranking

Observations

The Nimbus Data Gemini F400 and the HP 3PAR

StoreServ 7450 Storage earned the title of Recommended

overall by achieving the ranking of Recommended in at least two scoring categories, and an Excellent ranking in the remaining categories.

The Nimbus Data Gemini F400 shares all the features of the F600 with the following exceptions:

• The F400 features: 8 x SFP+ ports, supporting 16 Gb Fibre Channel and 10 Gigabit Ethernet (versus the F600’s 40 GbE and 56Gb FDR InfiniBand).

• The F400 starts under US$50,000.

The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage earned the Recommended ranking and is distinguished by:

• Best-in-Class ranking in VMware Integration, Recommended ranking in Management & Software and Support, and an Excellent ranking in Hardware.

• A single array can be scaled out to 4 mesh active controllers, and a total of 220 TB of raw flash capacity, which is further enhanced through in-line deduplication.

Recommendations

The Nimbus Data Gemini F400 is preferred over the F600 for environments that require Fibre Channel connectiv-ity and that are willing to eschew InfiniBand and 40 Gb Ethernet host connectivity.

The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage unified all-flash storage system was introduced in June 2013. Rather than acquire a flash array startup, HP started with the modern architecture of the 3PAR StoreServ system and added flash-specific optimizations. HP claims that the resulting system delivers more than 550,000 input/output operations per second with less than 0.7 millisecond (700 microsec-ond) response time.

The HP 3PAR StoreServ architecture is highly regarded for its performance and how it manages data placement within its system. The HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage system has hardware-accelerated data compaction that reduces capacity needs by up to 50 percent without degrading performance. System-wide striping—which automati-cally writes small chunks of data across all resources—harnesses collective throughput, load balances the system and extends media life by eliminating hot spots.

HP 3PAR StoreServ conserves storage capacity through its thin provisioning feature. The array allocates only as much storage to the application as it actually uses while holding the rest of the requested storage capacity in reserve until it is required. Another feature of thin provisioning is its Thin

Persistence feature, which identifies the storage capacity no longer used by the application and automatically returns it to the available pool of storage.

HP 3PAR Peer Persistence and Remote Copy software synchronously replicate data and then implement uninter-rupted VM failover and failback without needing to imple-ment a third-party appliance or replication software. The resulting active-active stretch cluster provides transparent data center failover to eliminate workflow disruptions.





Storage capacity used by the array’s replication and snap-shot features is efficiently managed by the unique meth-ods that HP 3PAR StoreServ uses to provision storage. Therefore, organizations may use these features without detecting extra overhead on the system or having to buy extra storage capacity.

The emergence of OpenStack storage technology has, among other things, created more confusion for storage purchasers. The good news is that HP 3PAR storage is a safe bet for enterprises that may wish to implement OpenStack in the future. This endorsement is due to:

• HP's support for these OpenStack block storage Cinder drivers on its 3PAR (FC and iSCSI) storage arrays.

• HP’s support matrices.

• HP’s close alliances with hypervisor providers.

• HP’s back-end support.

• The wide use of HP 3PAR StoreServ among top service providers.

Excellent Ranking

Observations

The arrays that achieved a ranking of Excellent include the Hitachi Data Systems HUS VM, Tegile Zebi HA2800,

PureStorage FA-400 Series Controller, NetApp FAS3250

and FAS6290 Series AFA, SolidFire SF9010, SF6010 and SF3010, and the Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD

SAN-NAS solution.

These arrays were distinguished from the lower ranking arrays in the following ways:

• Similar to the Recommended arrays, the arrays that earned an Excellent ranking all did so by achieving high marks for non-disruptive operation, including non-disruptive upgrades.

• All offer robust thin provisioning included in the base software.

• All but Pure Storage and SolidFire provide unified SAN and NAS storage.

• All but SolidFire provide lossless deduplication, whether in-line (PureStorage, Tegile) or post-process (HDS, NetApp, Dell).

• All but SolidFire offer concurrent Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity, but none offer InfiniBand host connectivity.

• All but SolidFire support caches of at least 128GB and store metadata separately from file data in these large NVRAM or SSD-backed DRAM caches.

• Achieved Excellent rankings in at least two scoring categories, with the Hitachi HUS VM and Tegile Zebi

HA2800 missing the overall Recommended ranking by less than 4 points.

• The HDS HUS VM, NetApp FAS3250 and FAS6290 achieved Excellent rankings across all four scoring categories.

• The PureStorage FA-400 Series Controller captured the Best-in-Class ranking for Support with their proactive intervention based on phone home data. The FA-400 array achieved Recommended in Management & Software, but was held back by a score of Good in the VMware Integration and Hardware categories.

Recommendations

Every one of these Excellent Flash Memory Storage Arrays delivers impressive capabilities. Like the Recommended arrays, each solution offers feature rich management software and strong VMware integration. These arrays vary widely in overall raw flash capacity as well as flash storage density, so businesses will want to give careful attention to their anticipated storage requirements.

Dell, HDS and NetApp have all added flash optimizations to existing enterprise storage systems to bring these all-flash arrays to market. These offerings will be especially attractive to those businesses that want the benefits of flash stor-age, but want it from an established vendor, and/or want to extend a storage environment with which they are already familiar. Unlike the startups, all three of these traditional stor-age vendors do charge extra for some of the management features and offer their deduplication or compression post-process rather than in-line.

The Tegile Zebi HA2800 and PureStorage systems both achieved Recommended rankings in Management & Software, but were held back by a ranking of Good in Hardware. Maximum raw flash storage capacities of under 40 TB and storage densities of 2.2 and 3.4 TB per rack unit hurt their hardware scores. In contrast, the other top arrays are able to scale to at least 300 TB of raw flash storage and generally deliver more than 10 TB per rack unit.





The Tegile Zebi HA2800 was released in August 2012. Subsequent software releases for the HA2800 have delivered enhanced performance and greater levels of VM-awareness, but the HA2800 has not taken advantage of the next generation of flash memory devices. It is an impressive system that is likely to see a hardware refresh soon that will enable the Zebi arrays to address larger amounts of raw flash storage.

The PureStorage and SolidFire systems give evidence of their early focus on large-scale cloud service providers through their lack of specific enterprise features. However, SolidFire has announced that Fibre Channel support and other enterprise-oriented features will be generally avail-able in Q2 2014. On the other hand, only PureStorage and SolidFire have typical sales prices below $150,000. The rest generally cost between $150,000 and $250,000 as implemented by customers, except for NetApp which starts around $300,000.

SolidFire is the only vendor in this Buyer’s Guide that has implemented erasure coding information dispersal algo-

rithms instead of RAID. This approach should enable custom-ers to achieve high levels of data durability and resiliency in the face of equipment failure. Solidfire’s ability to scale capacity and performance to 100 nodes looks to be extremely flexible and robust and its solid quality of service management along with available automation tools make the SolidFire lineup worth a look, especially for enterprises interested in adopting a hyper-scale approach to their data center infrastructure.

The arrays that achieved a Recommended ranking all employ custom silicon to accelerate certain functions. In contrast, the startups in the Excellent group have embraced the concept of leveraging standard x86 proces-sors and off-the-shelf SSDs. Their focus is on software. The startups deliver excellent performance and functional-ity now, and it looks as though they may be able to more quickly take advantage of new processors and advances in flash memory devices, giving them a competitive advantage over time compared to storage vendors who embed their software into custom silicon.

The NetApp FAS3250 and FAS6290 Series AFA are built on NetApp’s Data ONTAP management software, which continues to rank among the most feature-rich storage operating system suites in the industry. NetApp’s Data ONTAP management software continues to evolve at the forefront of storage operating systems. Those capabilities again came

into play when coupled with the enhanced clustering features found in NetApp’s latest Data ONTAP 8.1 release. All features enable these NetApp arrays to successfully deliver among the broadest range of features for those organizations looking for a single array that may be used in multiple roles.

Good Ranking

Observations

The eight arrays earning a Good ranking include the EMC

VNX-F, Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600, GreenBytes IO

Offload Engine, NetApp EF550 Flash Array, IBM Storwize

V7000 FlashSystem Edition, IBM FlashSystem V840

Enterprise Performance Solution, Kaminario K2 and IceWEB ERX.

• Most of the arrays ranking Good overall, actually achieved Excellent VMware Integration scores with support for all VAAI v4 features

• These products were held back from overall Excellent rankings by lower Management & Software and/or Hardware scores

• All arrays support concurrent Fibre Channel and iSCSI connectivity, except for the iSCSI-only Dell EqualLogic

PS6210-FS7600

• Four of the Good arrays typically sell for under $100,000 as configured by customers, placing them within reach of a broad range of businesses

Recommendations

The EMC VNX-F is an all-flash array based on the VNX7600. The VNX-F outscored its peers and most of the Excellent arrays in VMware integration. It is also the only array in this group from an established vendor that combines concurrent SAN & NAS unified storage with concurrent Fibre Channel and iSCSI host connectivity for deployment in the broadest set of data center environments.

The Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600 combines Excellent VMware integration, with up to 19.2 TB of raw flash capacity per appliance, post-process deduplication and compression. While Dell is not claiming sub-millisecond response times or millions of IOPS, this array delivers a relatively affordable all-flash option to the EqualLogic environment.

The GreenBytes IO Offload Engine is a designed-for-flash startup that combines comprehensive data efficiency





features with strong VAAI integration to deliver a targeted desktop virtualization solution to enterprises.

The NetApp EF550 Flash Array is the second genera-tion flash array built on the Engenio platform. It scales to 192TB with density of 9.6TB per rack unit. NetApp claims the EF550 can deliver more than 400,000 IOPS and sub-millisecond latencies. The EF550 runs the SANtricity software platform, but does not support either deduplica-tion or compression data efficiency technologies, though it does support thin provisioning.

The IBM Storwise V7000 FlashSystem Edition combines IBM San Volume Controller (SVC) technology with flash storage technology acquired from Texas Memory Systems. The V7000 FlashSystem edition virtualizes an IBM FlashSystem 820, providing thin provisioning, real-time compression and IBM Easy Tier flash storage management.

The IBM FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance

Solution combines IBM San Volume Controller (SVC) technology with the IBM FlashSystem 840. This product was announced in January 2014. The IBM FlashSystem 840 is the first new model delivered since the TMS (Texas Memory Systems) acquisition. It delivers roughly double the performance of the prior generation at half the price. IBM claims it deploys five-times faster than the 820 and now features non-disruptive microcode upgrades for non-stop operations in enterprise IT.

The Kaminario K2 was announced in September 2011, with the K2 v4 announced in April 2013. The K2 v4 more than tripled the IOPS of the prior generation to a claimed 2.1 million IOPS, and added some features important to enterprises including support for VAAI v4 and non-disruptive upgrades. As DCIG was finalizing this Buyer's Guide, Kaminario informed us that it expects to release its next generation product in Q2 2014, with support for dedupli-cation and compression, native replication and a vCenter Plug-in for array management

The IceWEB ERX provides multiprotocol unified stor-age, but with no support for VMware VAAI integration its appeal to most enterprises will be limited. Nevertheless, data efficiency features such as: thin provisioning, in-line deduplication and compression, concurrent SAN and NAS, concurrent Fibre Channel, and iSCSI connectivity combined with a list price of less than $50,000 may get the attention of some businesses.

Basic Ranking

Observations

The nineteen arrays that earned a Basic ranking include all six Violin Memory arrays, Astute Networks ViSX G4 appliance, EMC XtremIO X-Brick, Huawei Enterprise

OceanStore Dorado2100 G2 and Dorado5100, IBM

FlashSystem 840, Avere Systems FXT 4200 and FXT 4500, Aberdeen AberNAS N21L, Skyera skyHawk

and the Cisco Whiptail arrays.

• Every array that earned a Basic overall ranking also ranked Basic in at least two of the four scoring categories. All but three arrays received Management & Software scores in the Basic range. All but four received Hardware scores in the Basic range.

• Most are SAN-only and support only a single storage networking protocol at a time.

• Consistent with a focus on low latency, 12 of the 19 arrays support InfiniBand connectivity.

• Most of these arrays do not support VMware VAAI API’s or any of the other VMware storage API’s.

• Most offer neither deduplication nor compression.

Recommendations

With some of these arrays carrying starting prices above $250,000, a Basic ranking is not equivalent to cheap or low performing. The criteria for scoring this Buyer's Guide slanted heavily toward Flash Memory Storage Arrays as full

replacements for enterprise primary storage arrays. Many of the Basic arrays are focused on ultra-low latency for maximum performance in specific application scenarios.

Despite the Basic ranking, these arrays may still be a good fit for a particular scenario. On the other hand, with the current generation of products it is possible to achieve low latencies and high capacity without compromising on full enterprise features.

Violin Memory arrays are performance focused, claim-ing sub-250 microsecond latency for the 6600 series, and sub-500 microsecond latency for the 6200 series. Although they lack deduplication and compression, they can achieve a raw flash storage density of up to 23.3 TB per rack unit. Thin provisioning is supported.





Astute Networks ViSX G4 is marketed as an “application

acceleration appliance” that integrates with existing stor-age infrastructure rather than replacing existing storage. Therefore, Astute avoids supporting redundant controllers and advanced multi-pathing features on purpose. As a result, in a checklist comparison the ViSX doesn’t stack up like a storage array—but it might be a good and cost-effective solution to an otherwise stubborn SAN performance problem.

The ViSX G4 is an iSCSI-only solution. It is one of just 7 arrays that supports densities of greater than 20TB per rack unit. It was designed to work well in a virtual server environ-ment, where nearly all of the storage related management would be done from the point-of-view of the server adminis-trator. It supports VAAI and many VMware storage APIs, and achieved a Good VMware Integration ranking.

EMC XtremIO X-Brick delivers essential VMware VAAI inte-grations and some data efficiency technologies including thin provisioning and in-line deduplication, but not data compres-sion. Metadata is stored in DRAM rather than NVRAM or DRAM backed by flash, so uninterruptble power supplies are required in order to protect critical metadata from loss.

IBM FlashSystem 840 is IBM’s product focused on abso-lute performance. IBM claims consistent read latencies of 135 microseconds and write latencies of 90 microseconds from an enclosure that currently achieves a storage density of 33 TB per rack unit—a density exceeded only by the Skyera skyHawk.

Avere Systems FXT 4200 and FXT 4500 were released in late 2011, though more recent software releases continue to add capabilities to these systems. These arrays are marketed as edge filers that provide flash-based NAS acceleration and virtualization. They provide a global namespace plus FlashMove and now FlashCloud to facili-tate the non-disruptive migration of data from NAS to NAS, or NAS to private or public cloud environments.

Aberdeen AberNAS N21L is intended to provide unified SAN and NAS to SMB (small to mid-sized businesses) that could otherwise not afford a flash-based system. Performance claims are below 100,000 IOPS and latency greater than 1 millisecond.

Skyera skyHawk achieves the highest storage density of any array in the Buyer's Guide at 44TB per rack unit of unified SAN and NAS storage. It also delivers the full set of data efficiency technologies to multiply the effective capacity well

beyond that already impressive storage density. This iSCSI-only, 1U array is light on other management and software capabilities, and wholly lacking in VMware integration. It ships with an integrated 40 port 1Gb Ethernet switch for direct connection to hosts or to data center switching fabrics.

Cisco Whiptail ACCELA, ACCELA-D, INVICTA and INVICTA INFINITY achieve a Good VMware Integration ranking based on support for all VAAI v4 APIs as well as VASA, AQDT and SIOC. All but the ACCELA also support thin provisioning, though none support deduplication or compression. As a group, the Cisco Whiptail arrays had the lowest Management and Software scores of any in this Buyer's Guide. These arrays do achieve a respectable raw flash storage density of 12TB per rack unit.

Huawei Enterprise Dorado 2100 G2 and Dorado 5100 are among the oldest products in this Buyer's Guide. They have fallen behind other arrays that have had recent product refreshes. It seems likely that these systems will receive significant upgrades soon. Although they support thin provi-sioning, they offer neither deduplication nor compression, making the raw storage density of 4.8TB per rack unit—already in the bottom 30% of arrays in this Buyer's Guide—even less compelling.





FLASH MEMORY STORAGE ARRAY SCORES AND RANKINGSThe scores and rankings for the Flash Memory Storage Arrays contain the following information:

• A chart that includes the scores and rankings for all of the products

• The mean and the standard deviation that were used to establish how each Flash Memory Storage Array was ranked

• A summary of the primary findings





OVERALL SCORES AND RANKINGS

FLASH MEMORY STORAGE ARRAYS SCORE RANKING

1. Nimbus Data Gemini F600 131.42 Best-in-Class

2. Nimbus Data Gemini F400 124.65 Recommended

3. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage 116.62 Recommended

4. Hitachi Data Systems HUS VM 106.20 Excellent

5. Tegile Zebi HA2800 106.00 Excellent

6. PureStorage FA-400 Series Controller 100.77 Excellent

7. NetApp FAS3250 Series AFA 96.77 Excellent


9. SolidFire SF9010 89.72 Excellent



12. Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution 87.52 Excellent

13. EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600) 79.96 Good

14. Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600 79.87 Good

15. GreenBytes IO Offload Engine 79.70 Good

16. NetApp EF550 78.20 Good

17. IBM Storwize V7000 FlashSystem Edition 78.03 Good

18. IBM FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution 77.58 Good

19. Kaminario K2 67.10 Good

20. IceWEB ERX 58.23 Good

21. Violin Memory Violin 6264 55.05 Basic




25. Astute Networks ViSX G4 50.07 Basic



28. EMC XtremIO X-Brick 47.14 Basic

29. Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2 44.46 Basic

30. IBM FlashSystem 840 43.03 Basic

continued on next page





OVERALL SCORES AND RANKINGS (continued)

Total Number of Products 39

Highest Score 131.42 Lowest Score 32.86 Average (Mean) 68.81 Standard Deviation 27.29

Recommended 109.75 – 131.41 Excellent 82.46 – 109.74 Good 55.17 – 82.45 Basic 32.86 – 55.16

Rankings


31. Cisco Whiptail INVICTA INFINITY 42.85 Basic

32. Avere Systems FXT 4500 42.37 Basic

33. Aberdeen AberNAS N21L 41.97 Basic


35. Cisco Whiptail INVICTA 41.41 Basic

36. Skyera skyHawk 39.90 Basic

37. Cisco Whiptail ACCELA-D 39.64 Basic

38. Cisco Whiptail ACCELA 39.26 Basic

39. Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado5100 32.86 Basic





Management & Software Scores and Rankings




3. Tegile Zebi HA2800 52.80 Recommended

4. PureStorage FA-400 Series Controller 50.88 Recommended

5. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage 50.33 Recommended





10. GreenBytes IO Offload Engine 38.25 Excellent

11. EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600) 35.78 Excellent



14. Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution 33.45 Good




18. NetApp EF550 28.98 Good

19. Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600 25.23 Good

20. Kaminario K2 24.15 Good

21. EMC XtremIO X-Brick 23.53 Good

22. Skyera skyHawk 23.48 Good

23. Violin Memory Violin 6606 21.05 Good













Management & Software Scores and Rankings (continued)




Rankings




33. Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2 12.60 Basic


35. IBM FlashSystem 840 10.40 Basic









Hardware Scores and Rankings





4. HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage 38.13 Excellent



7. Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution 34.40 Excellent

8. Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600 33.03 Excellent

9. Kaminario K2 32.03 Excellent


11. NetApp EF550 30.05 Excellent


13. Tegile Zebi HA2800 29.48 Good

14. SolidFire SF3010 29.30 Good

15. PureStorage FA-400 Series Controller 28.38 Good



18. IBM FlashSystem 840 24.25 Good

19. GreenBytes IO Offload Engine 23.38 Good

20. Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2 23.08 Good

21. Violin Memory Violin 6264 22.75 Good


23. EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600) 20.78 Good

24. Avere Systems FXT 4500 20.73 Good












Hardware Scores and Rankings (continued)




Rankings








37. Skyera skyHawk 15.15 Basic


39. EMC XtremIO X-Brick 9.20 Basic





FLASH MEMORY STORAGE ARRAY MODELS

Supported Unsupported

©2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG, LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC believes to be accurate and reliable. 23

* The DCIG Interactive Buyers Guide contains additional data elements for this category that are reflected in the scores assigned to each array, but which were notable to be included in this one-page data sheet.

DCIG Scores and Rankings


OVERALL SCORE

Management & Software*

VMware Integration* Hardware* Support

41.97 19.90 4.75 12.75 4.50BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD

HARDWARE*

Max Raw Flash Capacity APPLIANCE / CLUSTER

TB / TB

Capacity per Rack Unit TB

Min Rack Units

RAID Options TOTAL #

8

Information Dispersal Algorithms

Cache MAX DRAM / MAX

GB / GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX

Scale-out Controllers

MAX8

Concurrent SAN & NAS

FC / iSCSI /

Concurrent FC & iSCSI

Storage Networking Ports MAX

20

1 / 10 / 40 Gb Ethernet Ports MAX / /

8 / 16 Gb FC Ports MAX /

InfiniBand

Non-disruptive Ops TOTAL #

2

Operating Temp Range CELSIUS

Max Watts

Max BTU

SUPPORT

Contract Support Availability 24x7x365

Contract Support TOTAL #

3

Non-Contract Support TOTAL #

3

Hardware Warranty 5 Years

VMWARE INTEGRATION*

vSphere Integration for Array Management / Snapshots /

Full Copy

Hardware Assisted Locking

Block Zeroing

Thin Provisioning Dead Space Reclamation (SCSI UNMAP)

Thin Provisioning Stun

Full File Clone / Fast File Clone /

Out-of-Space Conditions

Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

MANAGEMENT & SOFTWARE* (CONT'D)

Automated Data Tiering

Tiering / Caching Mgmt Per VM / Per LUN /

Metadata Stored Separately

Metadata Stored in DRAM / NVRAM /

Workload Prioritization (QoS) TOTAL #

Performance Monitoring TOTAL #

Provisioning: Automation & Policies TOTAL #

Network File Systems TOTAL #

7

Authentication via Active Directory / LDAP /

MANAGEMENT & SOFTWARE*

Feature Software Licenses Included

Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning

Snapshot Methods TOTAL #

1

Asynch Replication CONTINUOUS / PERIODIC /

Synch Replication

Thin Provisioning /Eager-Zeroed-Thick /

SCSI UNMAP / Automated Storage Reclamation /

Symantec Zero Reclamation API

Deduplication and Compression

Forms of Deduplication BLOCK / FILE /

Deduplication IN-LINE / POST-PROCESS /

Compression IN-LINE / POST-PROCESS /

DRAM / NVRAM Deduplicated or Compressed /

Lossless Deduplication

Zero Overhead Snapshots & Volume Copy

Other Flash Optimizations

Wear Leveling / Wear Monitoring & Alerting /

Write Coalescing / Variable Stripe Sizing /

Data Aging Timer Tuning / Proprietary Methods /

Aberdeen AberNAS N21L Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE



50.07 16.65 12.85 16.55 3.95BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC BASIC



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning



Synch Replication

























VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


45.6 TB / TB

Capacity per Rack Unit 22.8 TB

Min Rack Units 2U


5



GB / GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



4

1 / 10 / 40 Gb Ethernet Ports MAX

4 / 2 /


InfiniBand


8


5 – 35

Max Watts

Max BTU

SUPPORT



6


2

Hardware Warranty 1 Year

Astute Networks ViSX G4 Approximate Starting List Price: $38,000






OVERALL SCORE



41.42 15.33 2.50 19.78 3.75BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC BASIC

HARDWARE*


1.6 TB / 80 TB

Capacity per Rack Unit .8 TB

Min Rack Units 2U




96 GB / 1,698 GB

Controller Config Active-Active

CPU Cores MAX


MAX50


FC / iSCSI /



8


6 / 2 /


InfiniBand


8


Max Watts

Max BTU

SUPPORT



5


3


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







1


2



3




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning



Synch Replication















Avere Systems FXT 4200 Approximate Starting List Price: $99,500






OVERALL SCORE



42.37 15.33 2.50 20.73 3.75BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC

SUPPORT



5


3


HARDWARE*


3 TB / 150 TB


Min Rack Units 2U




144 GB / 3,146 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX50


FC / iSCSI /



8


6 / 2 /


InfiniBand


8


Max Watts

Max BTU

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







1


2



3




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning



Synch Replication















Avere Systems FXT 4500 Approximate Starting List Price: $159,500






OVERALL SCORE



39.26 7.88 9.75 16.45 5.15BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC GOOD

SUPPORT



9


2


HARDWARE*


24 TB / TB

Capacity per Rack Unit 12 TB

Min Rack Units 2U


5



2 GB / 2 GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


4 / 4 /

8 / 16 Gb FC Ports MAX

2 /

InfiniBand 1


6


10 – 35

Max Watts 200

Max BTU 614







1


1



1


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


1


Synch Replication















Cisco Whiptail ACCELA Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



8


2


HARDWARE*


24 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 2U


5



2 GB / 2 GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


4 / 4 /


2 /

InfiniBand 1


6


10 – 35

Max Watts 300

Max BTU 1,024







1


1



1


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


1


Synch Replication















Cisco Whiptail ACCELA-D Approximate Starting List Price: Not Disclosed






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



8


2


HARDWARE*


48 TB / 144 TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


5



4 GB / 4 GB

Controller Config Dual-Active

CPU Cores MAX


MAX2


FC / iSCSI /



8


4 / 4 /


2 /

InfiniBand 1


6


10 – 35

Max Watts 1,440

Max BTU 4,916







1


1



1


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


1


Synch Replication















Cisco Whiptail INVICTA Approximate Starting List Price: $249,000






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



8


2


HARDWARE*


48 TB / 720 TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


5



4 GB / 4 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX6


FC / iSCSI /



8


4 / 4 /


2 /

InfiniBand 1


6


10 – 35

Max Watts 1,440

Max BTU 4,916







1


1



1


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


1


Synch Replication















Cisco Whiptail INVICTA INFINITY Approximate Starting List Price: $250,000 - $500,000






OVERALL SCORE



87.52 33.45 13.45 34.40 6.15EXCELLENT GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



8


4


HARDWARE*


1,500 TB / 4,500 TB


Min Rack Units 4U


7



128 GB / 192,000 GB


CPU Cores MAX

24


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



26


10 / 10 /


16 / 16

InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts

Max BTU 3,071

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







2


8


7


9




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


7


Synch Replication















Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000





OVERALL SCORE



79.87 25.23 16.25 33.03 5.30GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD

HARDWARE*


19.2 TB / 307 TB


Min Rack Units 2U


5



32 GB / 32 GB

Controller Config Active-Standby

CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX38


FC / iSCSI /



4


4 / 4 /


InfiniBand


10


5 – 40

Max Watts 375

Max BTU 1,280

SUPPORT



7


3


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







2


8


6


3




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


7


Synch Replication















Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000


** This vendor did not respond to DCIG requests for information.






OVERALL SCORE



79.96 35.78 16.75 20.78 6.65GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



9


4


HARDWARE*


41.1 TB / TB


Min Rack Units


6



64 GB / 4,200 GB

Controller Config Active-Active, Active-Standby, Dual-Active

CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



44


16 / 16 /


40 /

InfiniBand


5


10 – 35

Max Watts

Max BTU

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







12


2


2


8




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600) Approximate Starting List Price: Not Disclosed




DCIG Scores and Rankings**

OVERALL SCORE



47.14 23.53 7.75 9.20 6.65BASIC GOOD BASIC BASIC EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



9


4


HARDWARE*


20 TB / TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


1



GB / GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX4


FC / iSCSI /




4 / 4 /


4 /

InfiniBand



10 – 35

Max Watts 750

Max BTU 2,559

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







1



1





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


2


Synch Replication















EMC XtremIO X-Brick Approximate Starting List Price: Not Disclosed








OVERALL SCORE



79.70 38.25 14.35 23.38 3.65GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD BASIC

SUPPORT



5


4


HARDWARE*


9.6 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 4U


3



128 GB / 128 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



16


4 / 4 /


8 /

InfiniBand


9


10 – 35

Max Watts 2,100

Max BTU 7,800

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







1


6


2


2




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


2


Synch Replication















GreenBytes IO Offload Engine Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 – $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



106.20 42.70 18.15 38.28 7.00EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



9


9


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


300 TB / 300 TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


3



256 GB / 364 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX4


FC / iSCSI /



48


4 / 4 /


48 /

InfiniBand


11


10 – 40

Max Watts 600

Max BTU 2,146







4


8


6


5




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


8


Synch Replication















HDS Hitachi Unified Storage VM Approximate Starting List Price: $150,000 - $250,000






OVERALL SCORE



116.62 50.33 20.65 38.13 7.45RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED BEST-IN-CLASS EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED







12


8


10


7


HARDWARE*


220 TB / 220 TB


Min Rack Units 2U


3



128 GB / 128 GB


CPU Cores MAX

8


MAX4


FC / iSCSI /



24


8 / 8 /


24 /

InfiniBand


10


5 – 40

Max Watts 452

Max BTU 1,540

SUPPORT



10


10

Hardware Warranty 3 Years, 5 Years on SSDs

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



44.46 12.60 5.25 23.08 3.50BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD BASIC



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


4


Synch Replication






















5




VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


40 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 2U


3



32 GB / 32 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



16


8 / 8 /


16 /

InfiniBand 4


8


5 – 40

Max Watts 660

Max BTU

SUPPORT



3


3


Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



3


3


HARDWARE*


38.4 TB / TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


3



96 GB / 100 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



40

1 / 10 / 40 Gb Ethernet Ports MAX / /


40 /

InfiniBand


6


5 – 40

Max Watts

Max BTU

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /













Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado5100 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



43.03 10.40 2.60 24.25 5.75BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



8


8


HARDWARE*


66 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 2U


2



GB / GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



16


16 / 16 /


16 / 8

InfiniBand 8


8


10 – 35

Max Watts 900

Max BTU 1,194

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /








1


2





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning



Synch Replication















IBM FlashSystem 840 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



77.58 31.15 15.80 24.85 5.75GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT

SUPPORT



8


8


HARDWARE*


66 TB / TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


6



GB / GB

Controller Config Active-Active, Dual-Active

CPU Cores MAX


MAX8


FC / iSCSI /



6


2 / 2 /


6 /

InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts 1,300

Max BTU 4,435







2


5


4



VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















IBM FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution Approximate Starting List Price: $212,000






OVERALL SCORE



78.03 31.65 15.30 25.30 5.75GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT

HARDWARE*


16.5 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 2U


6



GB / GB

Controller Config Active-Active, Dual-Active

CPU Cores MAX


MAX8


FC / iSCSI /



16


16 / 16 /


4 /

InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts 860

Max BTU 2,932

SUPPORT



8


8


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







2


5


4





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















IBM Storwize V7000 FlashSystem Edition Approximate Starting List Price: $150,000 - $250,000




DCIG Scores and Rankings**

OVERALL SCORE



58.23 29.73 3.45 21.28 3.75GOOD GOOD BASIC GOOD BASIC

SUPPORT



3


3


HARDWARE*


128 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 4U


6



1,024 GB / 1,024 GB

Controller Config Active-Active, Active-Standby

CPU Cores MAX

8


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



26


26 / 12 /


12 /

InfiniBand


6


10 – 35

Max Watts

Max BTU

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /








2



3




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


4


Synch Replication















IceWEB ERX Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000








OVERALL SCORE



67.10 24.15 7.10 32.03 3.75GOOD GOOD BASIC EXCELLENT BASIC

SUPPORT



6



HARDWARE*


24 TB / 240 TB


Min Rack Units 4U


1



128 GB / 128 GB


CPU Cores MAX

32


MAX20


FC / iSCSI /



80


40 / 40 /


40 /

InfiniBand


10


Max Watts 3,058

Max BTU 10,434

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /








1


6





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















Kaminario K2 Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE



78.20 28.98 13.85 30.05 5.25GOOD GOOD EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD

SUPPORT



8



HARDWARE*


192 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 2U


7



24 GB / 16 GB


CPU Cores MAX

8


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8

1 / 10 / 40 Gb Ethernet Ports MAX / 8 /

8 / 16 Gb FC Ports MAX / 8

InfiniBand 4


9


0 – 35

Max Watts 498

Max BTU 1,630

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







3


5


8





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















NetApp EF550 Flash Array Approximate Starting List Price: $172,800






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



8


1








2


1


2


6


HARDWARE*


384 TB / 1,536 TB


Min Rack Units 5U


2



32 GB / 4,096 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX24


FC / iSCSI /



52


52 / 24 /


24 / 24

InfiniBand


11


10 – 40

Max Watts 408

Max BTU 1,393

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















NetApp FAS3250 Series AFA Approximate Starting List Price: $298,262






OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



8


1


HARDWARE*


384 TB / 4,608 TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


2



192 GB / 36,000 GB


CPU Cores MAX

24


MAX24


FC / iSCSI /



64


68 / 64 /


64 / 64

InfiniBand


11


10 – 40

Max Watts 645

Max BTU 2,202







2


1


2


6


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















NetApp FAS6290 Series AFA Approximate Starting List Price: $380,120


©2014 DCIG, LLC. All rights reserved. All other brands or products are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders and should be treated as such. The information, product recommendations and opinions made by DCIG, LLC are based upon public information and from sources that DCIG, LLC believes to be accurate and reliable.

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

SUPPORT



10


10




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


8


Synch Replication















48




Nimbus Data Gemini F400 Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000







1


6


7


9


HARDWARE*


48 TB / 1,000 TB


Min Rack Units 2U


7



128 GB / 128 GB


CPU Cores MAX

24


MAX22


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 / 8

InfiniBand


11


0 – 35

Max Watts 384

Max BTU 1,310

OVERALL SCORE



124.65 53.20 18.65 46.03 6.70RECOMMENDED RECOMMENDED EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED EXCELLENT






OVERALL SCORE



131.42 55.03 18.15 51.48 6.70BEST-IN-CLASS BEST-IN-CLASS EXCELLENT BEST-IN-CLASS EXCELLENT

HARDWARE*


48 TB / 1,000 TB


Min Rack Units 2U


7



128 GB / 128 GB


CPU Cores MAX

24


MAX22


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 / 8


InfiniBand 8


11


0 – 35

Max Watts 384

Max BTU 1,310

SUPPORT



10


10








1


6


7


9


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


8


Synch Replication















Nimbus Data Gemini F600 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



100.77 50.88 13.40 28.38 8.05EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED GOOD GOOD BEST-IN-CLASS

SUPPORT



9


9


HARDWARE*


35 TB / 35 TB


Min Rack Units > 5U


1



256 GB / 36,000 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



12


4 / 4 /


4 /

InfiniBand


9


10 – 35

Max Watts 575

Max BTU 1,970

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /








3


10





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


5


Synch Replication















Pure Storage FA-400 Series Controller Approximate Starting List Price: $100,000 - $150,000






OVERALL SCORE



39.90 23.48 1.20 15.15 0.00BASIC GOOD BASIC BASIC BASIC

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


44 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 1U


1



GB / GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



43


40 / 3 /


InfiniBand


1


10 – 35

Max Watts 350

Max BTU

SUPPORT

Contract Support Availability



Hardware Warranty







1


1



1




Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning



Synch Replication















Skyera skyHawk Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE



88.06 40.35 13.50 29.30 4.90EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD GOOD GOOD

HARDWARE*


3 TB / 300 TB


Min Rack Units 5U


1



GB / 8 GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX

12


MAX100


FC / iSCSI /



2


2 / 2 /


InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts 450

Max BTU 1,535

SUPPORT



10


2

Hardware Warranty

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







8


3


3





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















SolidFire SF3010 Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE



88.72 40.35 13.50 29.90 4.90EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD

SUPPORT



10


2

Hardware Warranty

HARDWARE*


6 TB / 600 TB


Min Rack Units 5U


1



GB / 8 GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX

12


MAX100


FC / iSCSI /



2


2 / 2 /


InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts 450

Max BTU 1,535

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







8


3


3





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















SolidFire SF6010 Approximate Starting List Price: Under $50,000






OVERALL SCORE



89.72 40.35 13.50 30.90 4.90EXCELLENT EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT GOOD

SUPPORT



10


2

Hardware Warranty

HARDWARE*


9.6 TB / 960 TB


Min Rack Units 5U


1



GB / 8 GB

Controller Config

CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX100


FC / iSCSI /



2


2 / 2 /


InfiniBand


11


10 – 35

Max Watts 450

Max BTU 1,535

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /







8


3


3





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















SolidFire SF9010 Approximate Starting List Price: $50,000 - $100,000






OVERALL SCORE



106.00 52.80 17.20 29.48 6.45EXCELLENT RECOMMENDED EXCELLENT GOOD EXCELLENT







3


8


6


5


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


4.4 TB / 4.4 TB


Min Rack Units 2U


9



192 GB / 4,697 GB


CPU Cores MAX

16


MAX2


FC / iSCSI /



20


12 / 4 / 4


4 /

InfiniBand


10


Max Watts

Max BTU

SUPPORT



10


10

Hardware Warranty 90 days



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


6


Synch Replication















Tegile Zebi HA2800 Approximate Starting List Price: $150,000 - $250,000






OVERALL SCORE




HARDWARE*


13 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



1 GB / 1 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,400

Max BTU 4,626

SUPPORT



3


2


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /








3


1





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication















Violin Memory Violin 6212 Approximate Starting List Price: $150,000 - $250,000






OVERALL SCORE






Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication






















3


1



VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

SUPPORT



3


2


HARDWARE*


26 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



1 GB / 1 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,050

Max BTU 3,551

Violin Memory Violin 6224 Approximate Starting List Price: Not Disclosed






OVERALL SCORE






Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication






















3


1



VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

SUPPORT



2


2


HARDWARE*


35 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



1 GB / 1 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,750

Max BTU 5.884







OVERALL SCORE



55.05 20.65 7.40 22.75 4.20BASIC BASIC BASIC GOOD GOOD

VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /

HARDWARE*


70 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



2 GB / 2 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,500

Max BTU 4,961

SUPPORT



4


2









3


1





Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication















Violin Memory Violin 6264 Approximate Starting List Price: Not Disclosed






OVERALL SCORE



50.17 21.05 7.40 17.95 3.70BASIC GOOD BASIC BASIC BASIC








3


1



HARDWARE*


6.5 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



1 GB / 1 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,150

Max BTU 3,822

SUPPORT



3


2


VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication





















OVERALL SCORE




SUPPORT



4


2


HARDWARE*


17.5 TB / TB


Min Rack Units 3U


1



1 GB / 1 GB


CPU Cores MAX


MAX


FC / iSCSI /



8


8 / 8 /


8 /

InfiniBand 8


8


0 – 35

Max Watts 1,700

Max BTU 5,780








3


1



VMWARE INTEGRATION*


Full Copy


Block Zeroing





Reserve Space

Extended Statistics

VASA / AQDT /

SIOC / VADP /

vMSC / VASRM /

PSA / Storage DRS /



Snapshot

Replication

Thin Provisioning


3


Synch Replication




















MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

VMware

VMware

& SUPP

ORT

& SUPP

ORT

INTEGRAT

ION

INTEGRAT

ION

HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE


Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado2100 G2

Cisco Whiptail INVICTA INFINITY

Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellentGood Basic

Product Rankings Dashboard

HP 3PAR StoreServ 7450 Storage

HDS Hitachi Unified Storage VM

GreenBytes IO Offload Engine

EMC XtremIO X-Brick

EMC VNX-F (Based on the VNX7600)

Dell EqualLogic PS6210S-FS7600

Dell Compellent SC8000-FS8600 SSD SAN-NAS Solution

Cisco Whiptail INVICTA


Cisco Whiptail ACCELA-D


Cisco Whiptail ACCELA


Avere Systems FXT 4500


Avere Systems FXT 4200

Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellentGood

Basic

Astute Networks ViSX G4


Aberdeen AberNAS N21L







MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

VMware

VMware

& SUPP

ORT

& SUPP

ORT

INTEGRAT

ION

INTEGRAT

ION

HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE

NetApp EF550 Flash Array

Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellent Good Basic

Kaminario K2


IceWEB ERX


IBM Storwize V7000 FlashSystem Edition


IBM FlashSystem V840 Enterprise Performance Solution


IBM FlashSystem 840


Huawei Enterprise OceanStor Dorado5100


Basic

NetApp FAS6290 Series AFA

Nimbus Data Gemini F400

Nimbus Data Gemini F600

Pure Storage FA-400 Series Controller

Skyera skyHawk

SolidFire SF3010

SolidFire SF6010

SolidFire SF9010

NetApp FAS3250 Series AFA

Best-In-Class RecommendedExcellent Good

Basic

Product Rankings Dashboard (continued)





MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

MANAG

EMEN

T

VMware

VMware

& SUPP

ORT

& SUPP

ORT

INTEGRAT

ION

INTEGRAT

ION

HARDWAR

E

HARDWAR

E

SUPP

ORT

SUPP

ORT

OVERALL

SCORE

OVERALL

SCORE

Violin Memory Violin 6616


Basic







Basic



Basic



Basic

Tegile Zebi HA2800

Best-In-Class Recommended Excellent Good Basic

Product Rankings Dashboard (continued)





APPENDICESAppendix A: Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

Appendix B: Storage Provider Contact Information

Appendix C: Author Contact Information




A-1DCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology

Management & SoftwareFeature Software Licenses Included

A check mark indicates if the array includes a license for the Snapshot, Replication or Thin Provisioning features without an extra licensing fee.

Snapshot Methods (Total #)This score indicates if the array can do snapshots and how comprehensive the snapshot options for this array are. The number specifies the number of different supported elements available. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG).

Asynch ReplicationIndicates if the array can asynchronously replicate data to another array from the same storage provider. Asynchronous replication may be continuous or periodic.

Continuous: Every write I/O is copied, stored in a local disk cache and then replicated as soon as possible to a secondary array.

Periodic: A snapshot of one or more volumes is periodi-cally taken with that snapshot and then replicated to a secondary array.

Synch ReplicationThe array can synchronously replicate data to another array from the same storage provider. Write I/Os need to be received at the primary or source array and then copied and written to the secondary, or target array, with the write confirmed as complete by both before processing can continue.

Thin ProvisioningA storage optimization method where volume resources are allocated on the disk only when needed.

Eager-Zeroed-ThickA thin provisioning optimization method used primarily in virtualized environments where volume resources are pre-allocated on the disk and the space then filled with

Definitions, Explanations and TerminologyThis section contains brief definitions and/or explanations of the terms used and assumptions made when developing the data sheets found in the DCIG 2014-15 Flash Memory Storage Array Buyer’s Guide. These terms are in the same order as they appear on the individual data sheets.

zeros. This is done to indicate the space is unused and may be reclaimed as well as a method to overwrite data on storage space that was previously used by another virtual machine.

SCSI UNMAPUsing the SCSI UNMAP command, a host can inform a storage array that space may be reclaimed that previ-ously had been occupied by a volume that has been migrated to another datastore or deleted.

Automated Storage Reclamation An optimization strategy related to thin provisioning. Blocks that were allocated to a volume but are no longer used or needed are returned to a storage system’s pool of unallocated storage capacity. A check indicates that this capability is supported natively by the array without the aid of 3rd party software.

Symantec Zero Reclamation APIIndicates support for Symantec’s Zero Reclamation API which allows reuse of areas of storage that have been filled with zeros in thin provisioning scenarios.

Deduplication and CompressionData deduplication saves space by storing only one copy of data when identical data is already stored on the array. Compression is a feature that reduces the amount of data stored by encoding data using fewer bits than the original data by eliminating statistical redundancy. Like deduplication, data compression works in both SAN and NAS environments.

Forms of Deduplication Block: Deduplicates data on a per-block basis. Stores a

pointer to an existing identical block of data rather than a second instance of the block.

File: File deduplication stores a pointer to an existing identical file on the array rather than storing a second instance of the file. Some vendors call this single instance store.





Appendix A—Definitions, Explanations and Terminology (continued)

Deduplication (In-line vs. Post-process)In-line: Data is deduplicated before it is stored.

Post-process: Data is first stored in its native or raw format and subsequently deduplicated.

Compression (In-line vs. Post-process)In-line: Data is compressed before it is stored.

Post-process: Data is first stored in its native or raw format and subsequently compressed.

DRAM / NVRAM Deduplicated or CompressedIndicates if deduplication and/or compression is applied to data in the array’s DRAM cache or NVRAM/flash memory cache in addition to the destination media. Doing so multiplies the effective capacity of these cache resources.

Lossless DeduplicationRead verifying all duplicates rather than relying solely on hashes.

Zero Overhead Snapshots & Volume CopyThe ability to create snapshots with almost no impact on I/O operations and using very little storage. Generally this is accomplished through metadata-only operations on systems that store metadata separately from file data.

Other Flash OptimizationsFlash memory media have individually erasable segments, each of which can be put through a limited number of erase cycles before becoming unreliable. Various optimization techniques may be employed to address this flash memory weakness and extend the life of a flash module or SSD. Optimization techniques that may be supported include:

Wear leveling: Arranges data so that erasures and re-writes are distributed evenly across the medium. In this way, no single erase block prematurely fails due to a high concentration of write cycles.

Wear monitoring and alerting: The storage system tracks flash memory wear and issues a pre-failure alert to the management console so that media can be replaced before data loss occurs.

Write Coalescing: Once any portion of a flash memory block holds data, the entire block must be erased prior to updating any data in that block. Buffering and/or coalescing of writes to match erasure block size (EBS) reduces the number of erasures that must be performed. This technique enhances both the long-term performance and the life expectancy of flash memory.

Variable Stripe Sizing: Matches the RAID stripe sizes to the underlying erasure block size (EBS). This technique enhances both the long-term performance and the life expectancy of flash memory.

Data Aging Timer Tuning: Enables the storage administrator to adjust data again timers. An aspect of write buffering.

Proprietary Methods: Other techniques implemented by the vendor to extend the life of the flash memory.

Automated Data TieringTiering/caching ensures the most critical data always reside on high performance media including DRAM, NVRAM, or Solid State Drives (SSDs), while less active data blocks are moved to the hard disk drive tiers.

Tiering/Caching Management (Per VM / Per LUN)Indicates if the array offers management of storage tiering/caching at the Virtual Machine or LUN level. Management at each level typically can be accom-plished with system presets or user-defined policies.

Metadata Stored SeparatelyIn traditional storage systems, metadata about a file is stored on the target media with the actual file data. Some storage systems store this metadata separately, generally on the highest performing media or in ways otherwise optimized for rapid reading.

Metadata Stored in DRAM / NVRAMDRAM is the highest performing storage media in a storage system, but the contents of DRAM are subject to loss during a power failure. Systems that store metadata in DRAM should also have a mechanism for protecting DRAM from power loss and/or a mechanism for storing a copy of the metadata on non-volatile media.

NVRAM or DRAM backed by flash memory provides a storage media that performs like DRAM but has the benefit of being a persistent data store. Because NVRAM is much more expensive than DRAM, it is generally provided in much lower capacities; therefore, NVRAM capacity may limit the amount of metadata that can be stored.

Workload Prioritization (QoS) (Total #)A count of the workload prioritization methods supported by the array. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG). Workload prioritization options include:

• I/O automatically balanced across all VMs/LUNS/volumes.






• User-defined queue ratios (i.e. one VM/LUN/Volume gets 80%, another gets 20%)

• User-defined target IOPs for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined target bandwidth for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined target system response time for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined guaranteed minimum IOPs for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined guaranteed minimum bandwidth for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined guaranteed minimum average system response time for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined maximum IOPs for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined maximum bandwidth for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User-defined maximum system response time for each VM/LUN/Volume

• User categorizes each VM/LUN/Volume into pre-defined service levels (i.e. Gold, Silver, Bronze)

• Sacrifice performance of lower priority workloads for higher priority ones during degraded state operation (disk drive rebuild, controller failure, etc.)

Performance Monitoring (Total #)A count of the performance monitoring options. The array provides an application that monitors and reports on how an array’s resources (disk drives, storage networking ports, cache, LUNs, VMs, etc.) are being utilized and how well they are performing. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG).

Provisioning: Automation & Policies (Total #)A count of the automation and storage provisioning options supported by the array. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG). Automation and provisioning options include:

• Policy-based storage selection

• Create storage templates to include SLA/QOS requirements

• Provisioning via server groups linked to storage templates

• Self-service portal for server and/or storage administrators

• Automated reclamation when virtual server is decommissioned

• Scheduling and notification of provisioning activities

• Exposes APIs for use by 3rd party storage automation tools

• Support integration with ITSM products (Remedy, Tivoli)

• SDK for integration with management software

Network File Systems (Total #)Indicates a count of the network file systems supported by the array. A Network File System (NFS) is a protocol that allows the “mounting” of devices or file systems on other systems over a network. Options include NFS v2, NFS v3, NFS v4, pNFS (NFS v4.1), dNFS (Oracle Direct NFS), CIFS/SMB1, SMB2, SMB 2.1, SMB 3.0 (previ-ously named SMB 2.2), and WebDAV.

Authentication via Active Directory / LDAPActive Directory: (ADS) The standard Microsoft Windows

domain authentication system. ADS is an extension of the Kerberos and LDAP protocols.

LDAP: Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP)provides a very simple indexed database that is often used to store contact and authentication information.

VMware IntegrationvSphere Integration for Array Management

A check mark indicates the array has a vSphere plug-in to perform array based management functions.

vSphere Integration for SnapshotsSupport for full integration with vSphere’s snapshot capability either natively, or through a plug-in provided by the storage array vendor.

Full CopyUsed to copy data and/or create clones, avoiding the need to send data back and forth to a host. Full File Clone, or Full Copy, is similar to the Extended Copy (XCOPY) hardware acceleration primitive provided for block arrays. This primitive enables virtual disks to be cloned by the NAS device rather than by using the Data Mover, which consumes ESXi host, CPU, and memory resources as well as network bandwidth.

Hardware Assisted LockingAllows vCenter to offload SCSI commands from the ESX server to the storage array so it can control the locking mechanism while the storage array does data updates.






Block ZeroingThe VMware vSphere ESXi host issues a command to the array that it recognizes. This command instructs the storage array to write zeros to the virtual VMDK or VMFS LUNs. This generally occurs when initializing the virtual disk for a new VM. Support for this feature indicates that the storage array recognizes this vSphere primitive and performs this zeroing activity. Enables the storage array to zero out a large number of data blocks to speed the provisioning of virtual machines (VMs) and reduce I/O.


Using the SCSI UNMAP command, an ESXi host can inform a storage array that space may be reclaimed that previously had been occupied by a VM that has been migrated to another datastore or deleted.

Thin Provisioning StunThe first enhancement was introduced to address concern regarding the impact on virtual machines when thin-provisioned datastore usage reaches 100 percent of capacity. Historically, this affected all virtual machines running on the datastore. With the release of the vSphere 5.0 VAAI Thin Provisioning primitives, if a thin-provisioned datastore reaches 100 percent usage, only those virtual machines requiring extra blocks of storage space are paused; those not needing additional space continue to run. After additional space is allocated to the thin-provi-sioned datastore, the paused virtual machines can be resumed. (Source: http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMware-vSphere-Storage-API-Array-Integration.pdf)

Full File CloneThis command is part of VAAI 5.0 and is a NAS hard-ware acceleration primitive. The VMware vSphere ESXi host issues a command to the array that it recognizes. This command instructs the storage array to clone a virtual disk. Support for this feature indicates that the storage array recognizes this vSphere primitive and performs this cloning activity.

Fast File CloneThis command is part of VAAI 5.0 and is a NAS hard-ware acceleration primitive. The VMware vSphere ESXi host issues a command to an array that supports this feature. This command offloads the creation of VM snapshots to the storage array. Support for this feature indicates that the storage array recognizes this vSphere primitive and performs these offload activities.

Out-of-Space ConditionsThis command is part of VAAI 5.0 and was introduced to mitigate the impact on VMs when thin-provisioned datastores reach 100 percent of capacity. The array alerts the VMware vSphere ESXi host and/or vCenter when specified thresholds are reached. Should a datastore reach 100 percent of capacity, only those VMs requiring additional capacity are paused while VMs needing no additional capacity continue to run. Support for this feature indicates that the storage array recognizes this vSphere primitive and performs this out-of-space alerting.

Reserve SpaceThis command is part of VAAI 5.0 and is a NAS hardware acceleration primitive. The VMware vSphere ESXi host issues a command to the storage array that it recognizes. This command instructs the storage array to create thick VMDK files on NAS datastores. Support for this feature indicates that the storage array recognizes this vSphere primitive and performs this file allocation activity.

Extended StatisticsExtended Statistics enables vSphere functionality to display actual space usage statistics on NAS datastores without the use of third-party tools. Before the introduc-tion of Extended Statistics, it would have been neces-sary to use array-based tools to monitor the space being used on a thinly provisioned Virtual Disk Machine (VMDK) on a back-end data store.

VASAvSphere Storage APIs for Storage Awareness is a set of APIs that permit storage arrays to integrate with vCenter for management functionality. Storage Awareness collects configuration, capability and storage health information from storage arrays. This allows the adminis-trator to build Storage Profiles based on capabilities.

AQDTVMware ESX 3.5 Update 4 introduced an adaptive queue depth throttling (AQDT) algorithm that adjusts the LUN queue depth in the VMkernel I/O stack. This algorithm is activated when the storage array indicates LUN I/O congestion by returning a BUSY or QUEUE FULL status. When LUN congestion is detected, VMkernel throttles the LUN queue depth. The VMkernel attempts to gradually restore the LUN queue depth when LUN congestion conditions subside. AQDT prevents the array from being flooded with LUN I/O requests and enables the array to recover to a normal operational state. NOTE: This is not applicable for NFS mounted storage.

http://www.vmware.com/files/pdf/techpaper/VMware-vSphere-Storage-API-Array-Integration.pdf








SIOCStorage I/O Control (SIOC) for VMware is a dynamic control mechanism for proportional allocation of shared storage resources to VMs running on multiple hosts.

VADPvStorage APIs for Data Protection (VADP) is a data protection framework introduced in vSphere 4.0. VADP which enables centralized, off-host LAN free backup of vSphere virtual machines, reduces ESX host resources to do backup processing, and enables flexible backup windows.

vMSCVMware vSphere Metro Storage Cluster (VMware vMSC) is a new configuration within the VMware Hardware Compatibility List. This type of configuration is commonly referred to as a stretched storage cluster or metro storage cluster. It is implemented in environments where disaster/downtime avoidance is a key requirement. (Source: http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/vsphere-metro-storage-cluster-white-paper-released.html)

VASRMvStorage APIs for Site Recover Manager (VASRM) offers remote replication features enabling a device to failover to a recovery site.

PSATo manage storage multipathing, ESX/ESXi uses a special VMkernel layer—Pluggable Storage Architecture (PSA). The PSA is an open modular framework that coordinates the simultaneous operation of multiple multipathing plugins (MPPs). PSA is a collection of VMkernel APIs that allow third party hardware vendors to insert code directly into the ESX storage I/O path. This allows 3rd party software developers to design their own load balancing techniques and failover mechanisms for particular storage array. The PSA coordinates the operation of the NMP and any additional 3rd party MPP. (Source: http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011375)

Storage DRSStorage Distributed Resource Scheduler (DRS) provides virtual machine placement and load balancing mecha-nisms based on I/O and space capacity.

HardwareMax Raw Flash Capacity (Appliance)

The maximum amount of raw flash memory storage capacity in terabytes (TBs) that the array can have under

its management. This number only includes the array’s footprint and not the storage capacity of other systems it may have virtualized.

Max Raw Flash Capacity (Cluster)The maximum amount of raw flash memory storage capacity in terabytes (TBs) that a fully configured cluster of arrays can have under its management. This number only includes the cluster’s footprint and not the storage capacity of other systems it may have virtualized.

Capacity per Rack UnitThe maximum amount of flash memory that this product can provide per standard EIA rack unit. This measure of storage density is presented in terms of Terabytes (TB) per rack unit.

Min Rack UnitsThe minimum number of standard EIA rack units required to deploy this solution.

RAID Options (Total #)Lists the standard RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) levels supported by the device. Examples include: RAID 0 (striping without mirroring or parity), RAID 1 (mirroring without striping or parity), RAID 5 (block-level striping with distributed parity), etc.

Information Dispersal AlgorithmsInformation dispersal algorithms/erasure coding allows an array to store data across multiple locations as a way to enhance redundancy and protect against data loss. (Generally used as an alternative to RAID.)

Cache (Max DRAM/Max)The maximum number of gigabytes (GBs) of cache that each array controller can support.

Max RAM: Specifies the maximum number of gigabytes (GBs) of DRAM cache.

Max: Cache may consist of any combination of DRAM, NVRAM and SSD.

Controller ConfigActive-Active: Two controllers are configured with multipathing software and have concurrent access to the disk drives that are then presented as LUNs to attached hosts. In the event a controller fails or is taken offline, attached host(s) may detect little or no interruption in service as the other controller takes over for the failed unit though a drop in performance may occur. This is considered an enterprise class feature.

http://blogs.vmware.com/vsphere/2012/05/vsphere-metro-storage-cluster-white-paper-released.html



http://kb.vmware.com/selfservice/microsites/search.do?language=en_US&cmd=displayKC&externalId=1011375








Active-Standby: All LUNs are controlled and assigned to a single active controller through which all storage I/O traffic is routed. A secondary standby controller takes over the storage I/O traffic for the active controller should it fail or be taken offline. The secondary controller also assumes control of the array’s LUNs at any time.

Dual Active: Both controllers are active and have concurrent access to the drives that are presented as LUNs to the attached hosts. The difference from Active-Active is that half of the storage array’s LUNs are assigned to and controlled by one controller and the other half of the LUNs to the other so a LUN can only be accessed down one path through one controller at a time. If a controller should be taken offline or fail, the other controller assumes control for its LUNs.

CPU Cores (Max)The maximum number of CPU processor cores available in one fully-loaded rack-mountable controller chassis.

Scale-out Controllers (Max)The maximum number of controllers that the model can support in a single logical configuration. An “X” indicates that this array does not support a scale-out configuration.

Concurrent SAN & NASThe ability for the storage array to communicate with applications using both block (SAN) and network file system (NAS) clients at the same time.

FCFibre Channel (FC) is used as a networking protocol to transmit data between computer devices, such as a server and a storage device.

iSCSIInternet Small Computer System Interface (iSCSI) is a block-based protocol for running SCSI commands over Internet Protocol (IP) on Ethernet to access storage resources.

Concurrent FC & iSCSIThe ability for the storage array to connect to hosts over Fibre Channel and iSCSI at the same time.

Storage Networking Ports (Max)The maximum number of ports available in any configu-ration to connect the array to hosts or to a dedicated storage network. Controllers that support both Ethernet and Fibre Channel may also support concurrent use of both technologies. See “Concurrent FC & iSCSI” for

additional clarification. Ports for managing the array or interconnecting multiple storage controllers are not included in this count.

1/10/40 Gb Ethernet Ports (Max)Indicates the maximum number of 1 Gb, 10 Gb and 40 Gb Ethernet storage networking ports supported by the array in any configuration.

8/16 Gb FC Ports (Max)Indicates the maximum number of 8 Gb and 16 Gb Fibre Channel storage networking ports supported by the array in any configuration.

InfiniBandIndicates the maximum number of InfiniBand storage networking ports supported by the array in any configu-ration. InfiniBand ports are generally offered as 40 or 56 Gb connections.

Non-disruptive Ops (Total #)The native array capability to: update controller code, replace an entire controller, add a controller, add storage shelves/nodes, and migrate data without disrupting the availability of the storage system. Redundant and hot swap power supplies, fans, and drives are also included in this measure. The number specifies the number of different supported elements available. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG).

Operating Temp Range (Celsius)The supported range of operating temperatures for this unit.

Max WattsThe maximum power draw of one fully-loaded rack-mountable controller chassis.

Max BTUThe maximum heat dissipation of one fully-loaded rack-mountable controller chassis.

SupportContract Support Availability

Specifies the hours when support is available under service contract. Examples include: “business hours” (9am – 5pm, weekdays), “24x7” (24 hours a day, seven days a week, but not holidays) and “24x7x365” (24 hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays).






Contract Support (Total #)A count of the methods of support offered by the vendor. Options include: phone, email, web chat, remote monitoring, remote login/problem resolution, dispatch technician onsite, dispatch technician onsite with 4-hour GTD response, same-day delivery of replacement parts, pre-failure shipping of replacement parts, and proactive remediation based on phone home data. The number specifies the number of different supported elements available. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG).

Non-Contract Support (Total #)A count of the methods of support offered by the vendor. Hours of availability and support methods may differ from those offered for on-contract arrays, and may require a fee. The specific elements supported for each product are available by accessing the DCIG Interactive Buyer’s Guide (IBG).

Hardware WarrantyIndicates the length of standard warranty that is included with the array at no extra cost.




B-1DCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Appendix B—Flash Memory Storage Array Provider Contact Information

Aberdeen10420 Pioneer Blvd.Santa Fe Springs, CA 90670+1.562.903.1500www.aberdeeninc.comFor more contact information: http://www.aberdeeninc.com/abpeop/employ.htm

Astute Networks15015 Ave of Science, Suite 150San Diego, CA 92128+1.866.673.7701www.astutenetworks.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.astutenetworks.com/company/contact/

Avere Systems910 River Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15212 USA+1.412.894.2570www.averesystems.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.averesystems.com/ContactUs.aspx

CISCO-Whiptail9 Whippany RoadBuilding 2, 6 & 7Whippany, NJ 07981+1.888.550.8136www.whiptail.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://whiptail.com/contact/

Dell1 Dell WayRound Rock, TX 78682+1.800.671.3355www.dell.comFor more contact information: http://www.dell.com/contact

EMC Corporation176 South StreetHopkinton, MA 01748+1.866.438.3622www.emc.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://emcinformation.com/contact_en

GreenBytes, Inc275 Promenade Street, Suite 225Providence, RI 02908+1.877.GRN.BYTEwww.getgreenbytes.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://getgreenbytes.com/contact/

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation2845 Lafayette StreetSanta Clara, California 95050-2639+1.408.970.1000www.hds.comFor more contact information: http://www.hds.com/corporate/contacts/?WT.ac=us_mg_cor_concts

Hewlett-Packard Corporation3000 Hanover StreetPalo Alto, CA 94304+1.866.625.0242 www.hp.comEmail using this form: https://h41268.www4.hp.com/live/index aspx?qid=11263For more contact information: http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact_us.html

Huawei5700 Tennyson Pkwy., Ste. 500Plano, TX 75024+1.214.919.6000www.huawei.com/us/For more contact information: http://enterprise.huawei.com/en/about/contact/index.htm

Flash Memory Storage Array Provider Contact Information

http://www.aberdeeninc.com/

http://www.aberdeeninc.com/abpeop/employ.htm

mailto:sales%40astutenetworks.com?subject=

http://www.averesystems.com/

mailto:askavere%40averesystems.com?subject=

http://www.averesystems.com/ContactUs.aspx

http://www.whiptail.com

mailto:sales%40whiptail.com?subject=

http://whiptail.com/contact/

http://www.dell.com

http://www.dell.com/contact

http://www.emc.com

mailto:info%40isilon.com?subject=

http://emcinformation.com/contact_en

http://www.getgreenbytes.com

mailto:sales%40getgreenbytes.com?subject=

http://getgreenbytes.com/contact/

http://www.hds.com

http://www.hds.com/corporate/contacts/?WT.ac=us_mg_cor_concts

http://www.hp.com

https://h41268.www4.hp.com/live/index.aspx?qid=11263

http://welcome.hp.com/country/us/en/contact_us.html

http://www.huawei.com/us/

http://enterprise.huawei.com/en/about/contact/index.htm




B-2DCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Appendix B—Flash Memory Storage Array Provider Contact Information (continued)

IBM Corporation1 New Orchard RdArmonk, NY 10504-1722+1.800.426.4968 www.ibm.com/storage Email: [email protected]

IceWEB22900 Shaw Road, Suite 111Sterling, Virginia 20166-9279+1.571.287.2380 www.iceweb.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.iceweb.com/Company/Contact-Us.aspx

Kaminario, Inc.275 Grove Street, Suite 2-400Newton, MA, USA 02466+1.877.982.2555 www.kaminario.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://kaminario.com/contact/

NetApp495 East Java DriveSunnyvale, CA 94089+1.877.263.8277www.netapp.com

Nimbus Data Systems, Inc.701 Gateway Blvd, Suite 100South San Francisco, CA 94080+1.877.6.NIMBUS www.nimbusdata.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.nimbusdata.com/company/contactus.php

Pure Storage650 Castro Street, Suite #400Mountain View, CA 94041+1.800.379.7873 www.purestorage.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://info.purestorage.com/ContactSales.html

Skyera, Inc.1704 Automation ParkwaySan Jose, CA 95131+1.408.954.8100 www.skyera.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.skyera.com/company/about-us/

SolidFire1620 Pearl St, Suite 200Boulder Colorado 80302+1.720.523.3278 www.solidfire.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://solidfire.com/contact/

Tegile Systems, Inc.8000 Jarvis AveNewark, CA 94560+1.855.5.TEGILE www.tegile.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.tegile.com/company/contact-us

Violin Memory, Inc.685 Clyde AveMountain View, CA 94043+1.888.9VIOLIN (984.6546) www.violin-memory.comEmail: [email protected] more contact information: http://www.violin-memory.com/company/contact-us/

Flash Memory Storage Array Provider Contact Information

http://www.ibm.com/storage

mailto:callserv%40ca.ibm.com?subject=

http://www.iceweb.com

mailto:sales%40IceWEB.com?subject=

http://www.iceweb.com/Company/Contact-Us.aspx

http://www.kaminario.com

mailto:info%40kaminario.com?subject=

http://kaminario.com/contact/

http://www.netapp.com

http://www.nimbusdata.com

mailto:info%40nimbusdata.com?subject=

http://www.nimbusdata.com/company/contactus.php

http://www.purestorage.com

mailto:sales%40purestorage.com?subject=

http://info.purestorage.com/ContactSales.html

http://www.skyera.com

mailto:sales%40skyera.com?subject=

http://www.skyera.com/company/about-us/

http://www.solidfire.com

mailto:info%40solidfire.com?subject=

http://solidfire.com/contact/

http://www.tegile.com

mailto:%20info%40vmem.com?subject=

http://www.tegile.com/company/contact-us

http://www.violin-memory.com

mailto:info%40vmem.com?subject=

http://www.violin-memory.com/company/contact-us/




C-1DCIG: Empowering the IT industry with actionable analysis.™

Appendix C—Author Contact Information

DCIG, LLC7511 Madison StreetOmaha, NE 68127+1.402.884.9594

CONTACT

Ken Clipperton DCIG Managing [email protected]

WEBSITE

www.dcig.com

Author Contact Information

mailto:ken.clipperton%40dcig.com?subject=

www.dcig.com

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