Feature

Unified storage for SMBs

Storage vendors are offering integrated storage boxes that support NAS, SAN, iSCSI and storage management
to SMBs. By Abhinav Singh.

Storage vendors want to tap the rapidly growing Indian SMB segment. To this end they have come up with a combination of a solution portfolio and a support network to cater to the information management and storage needs of this segment. The introduction of unified storage boxes with multiple capabilities is a step in this direction. HP, NetApp and IBM have all adopted this strategy.

"Even if a SMB has 60 to 80 PCs it would have about 800 GB of data (engineering design data, e-mail and the like) and it would be difficult for them to manage that data" - Soumitra Agarwal Marketing Director Network Appliance India

According to an analyst, India is one of the fastest growing mid-tier information storage and management markets in the Asia Pacific. A study by Access Market International (AMI), put SMB numbers at 7.6 million. SMBs are set to beef up their IT infrastructure and EMC, for instance, estimates that SMB information solution needs are growing at more than 150 percent annually. With 80 percent of SMBs not having deployed networked storage that’s a large addressable market.

Vendors such as Network Appliance who were earlier focusing only on the large enterprise segment are in the process of introducing SMB-specific products. In NetApp’s case that’s the StoreVault S500 that’ll be out within the next couple of months. Soumitra Agarwal, marketing director, Network Appliance (NetApp) India, says, “The introduction of SMB-specific storage solutions will expand the networked storage market because they are acquiring new customers and are also becoming global suppliers to the world. It will create a customer base for us in the future, and act as a source of additional revenues.”

Facing the same challenges

"A SMB’s DR requirement is equally important, as the impact of a disaster is equally destructive for a SMB as it is for an enterprise" - Shailesh Agarwal Country Manager-Storage IBM India

SMBs in India are facing challenges quite similar to those faced by large enterprises in terms of managing their storage infrastructure. Some key concerns that SMBs face today include servers running out of capacity, lack of server or storage resources, lack of application and storage expertise and the need for guidance from a trusted advisor. Agarwal of NetApp says, “Even if a SMB has 60 to 80 PCs it would have about 800 GB of data (engineering design data, e-mail and the like) and it would be difficult for them to manage that data. They want to consolidate their storage infrastructure for better management by moving from DAS (Direct Attached Storage) to a networked storage environment. Unified storage boxes will help SMBs move to a consolidated storage environment at a far lower price point than enterprise class storage.” Vendors feel that although SMBs want to move to a networked storage environment they may not have the resources and budgets for that. Backup and recovery, archiving, e-mail management, and business protection can be major challenges for mid-size enterprises across sectors.

Praveen Sahai, head-Marketing and Corporate Affairs, EMC India and SAARC says, “SMBs cannot afford to buy more than they can use as the conventional storage solutions were traditionally priced beyond their reach. Additionally SMBs have small IT staffs and some do not even have an IT department. They want solutions that are easy to configure and install and are easy to fix if something goes wrong.”

SMB problems in the area of DR and Business Continuity Planning (BCP) are also significant. Shailesh Agarwal, country manager-Storage, IBM India, says, “A SMB’s DR requirement is equally important, as the impact of a disaster is equally destructive for a SMB as it is for an enterprise. SMBs want a simplified approach towards DR and BCP. If the unified storage box is application aware and has a software component to do that then it can streamline storage allocation to different applications running across a SMB. This functionality also helps backup and restore quickly.” Additionally SMBs are becoming part of global supply chains and need to comply with international regulations. Agarwal of IBM says, “A unified storage box can connect to all the different applications through a single disk and when it comes to DR the data can be replicated to other disks through that single disk over a TCP/IP network.”

One box to solve them all

"Interest among SMBs to move to a unified networked storage environment is high as they are on a growth path and want a system which can help them scale from say 1 to 4 TB or more" - Manoj Suvarna Country Manager-India HP StorageWorks Division TSG

Storage vendors believe that unified plug and play boxes meet most common information challenges such as moving to networked storage, backup, recovery, archival and business protection. Such boxes have been designed for SMBs keeping in mind the ease with which they can be managed. The software and hardware management tools to keep the storage up and running are easy to understand in such boxes and do not require much of investment by the way of training. Agarwal of NetApp says, “Although the storage requirement for a SMB may not be that critical when compared to that of an enterprise, many of them are looking for Business Continuity and storage consolidation because when dealing with international companies they also come under the purview of regulatory compliance.”

Agarwal further adds that the logic of introducing SMB-specific solutions is to cater to the latter’s basic need of consolidating data for easy manageability, enabling information sharing for users and centralising backup. Additionally, unified storage support (support for NAS and SAN on a single platform) reduces complexity in cases where the customer has to consolidate different applications, some of which may require NAS access and others SAN access. Manoj Suvarna, country manager-India, HP StorageWorks Division – TSG, HP India says, “The interest level of SMB customers to move to a unified networked storage environment is high and they are on a growth path and want a system which can help them scale from say 1 to 4 TB capacity or more. Also a unified networked storage box is a step towards eliminating heterogeneous storage. They also want to have self support capabilities by using such boxes.” These unified networked storage boxes for SMBs can easily scale to 120 TB of capacity.

It’s integrated

Integrated boxes help SMBs reduce storage complexity. HP’s All-in-One Storage (AiO) Manager displays storage use and data protection in an application-centric framework that hides the complexities traditionally associated with storage. In fewer than ten clicks, customers can fully set up shared storage for Microsoft Exchange and begin actively serving files, expanding data areas, implementing disk and tape backup policies and creating end-user file shares. Users with little or no storage experience can become experts in application and file data management, automating storage management tasks such as logical unit number provisioning, volume and capacity management, and setting up RAID stripe sets and snapshots. Using the systems, SMBs are also able to store, share, manage, backup and protect their rapidly growing application and file data in a flexible network storage environment. The box will also be self-contained with management software to automate administrative and maintenance functions, a boon for companies with small or non-existent IT staffs.

According to HP there is specific demand from customers for unified networked storage devices that can expand depending on data needs, are easy to manage and integrate with existing infrastructure. Interestingly many SMBs have been sticking with Direct-Attached Storage (DAS) because it is easier to implement and understand.

Suvarna says, “The AiO storage systems aim to deliver simple and affordable solutions for businesses to grow, manage and protect their data without having to understand storage technology. The seamless blending of file serving, shared storage array, and data protection functions under a simple management umbrella delivers value and utility without the cost or complexity of traditional options.” It is being said that the manager who uses AiO hides complexity and is designed to make IT generalists feel like storage experts.

Similarly the StoreVault S500 from NetApp is aimed at the IT generalist within SMBs, which typically need a half terabyte to three terabytes of data storage. The integrated box is aimed at solving the scalability needs of growing businesses and simplicity of storage management and backup processes, and security for reliable data protection.

These solutions allow SMB IT staff to manage the deployment and protection of networked storage assets based upon familiar application-specific processes, rather than forcing them to learn unfamiliar and complex storage-specific processes.

The introduction of integrated boxes for the SMBs is set to speed up the adoption of networked storage by SMBs.

Unified storage