ITG-Nov15-MgmtBrief-Cost-Benefit-Comparison-IBM-VMware

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Management Brief
November 2015
Cost/Benefit Analysis of IBM Spectrum Storage
Comparing IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Control
to VMware Storage Tools

International Technology Group November 2015
Cost/Benefit Analysis of IBM Spectrum Storage:
Comparing IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Control to VMware Storage Tools
Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1
New Approaches 1

Cost Structures 1

Overview 1

Personnel 2

Capacities and Tiers 3

Stability and Skills 4

Conclusions 5

SOLUTIONS 6
IBM Offerings 6

IBM Spectrum Storage Portfolio 6
IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition 7
IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights 7
IBM Virtual Storage Center 7
Multivendor Support 8

VMware Storage Tools 9

Overview 9
Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes 10
DETAILED DATA 12
Basis of Calculations 12

Cost Breakdowns 13

List of Figures
1. Five-year Costs of Ownership – Averages for All Installations 2

2. FTE Storage Administrators – All Installations 2

3. Capacities by Tier – Averages for All Installations 4

4. IBM Spectrum Storage Solutions 6

5. IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition Components 7

6. Principal Platforms Supported by IBM Spectrum Virtualize 9

7. Capacities by Tier – All Installations 12

8. Five-year Costs of Ownership 13

Comparing IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Control to VMware Storage Tools 1
Executive Summary
New Approaches
Data growth has emerged as one of the greatest challenges facing IT organizations. Users face escalating costs.
Quality of service may be undermined, while processes such as backup, replication and recovery become
increasingly problematic. Even in midsize organizations, storage environments have become increasingly
complex and management overhead has increased.
One reason why this has occurred is that, in most organizations, new storage technologies have been exploited in
a piecemeal manner. This has particularly been the case for storage virtualization. Fragmented deployments have
left large segments of storage capacity unused or underutilized. Inadequate management and analytics tools mean
that many organizations cannot properly identify, let alone remove inefficiencies.
Storage virtualization has lagged the server world. While 40 to 60 percent of servers in large organizations are
now virtualized, the comparable statistic for storage capacity appears to be less than 20 percent. Equally, while
some organizations can claim that 80 percent to 100 percent of servers are virtualized, this is rarely the case for
storage resources. New approaches are needed.
This report focuses on two such approaches: (1) use of VMware tools to virtualize and manage storage as well as
server resources; and (2) IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Control, packaged as IBM Virtual Storage Center (VSC).
These approaches are entirely different. VMware addresses storage as an extension of existing VMware server
infrastructures and management practices. In contrast, IBM VSC is a broad-based, storage-specific solution that
may be implemented across multiple tiers and diverse vendor arrays.
VMware’s server-centric emphasis is reflected in the company’s software defined storage (SDS) strategy. Storage
management is handled through the company’s core vCenter Server, while features such as VMware Virtual SAN
(VSAN) and VMware Virtual Volumes (VVols) are dedicated to virtual machine- (VM) specific storage tasks. It
is questionable whether this approach would be viable at the organizational level.
In contrast, IBM SDS strategy is built around a more stable portfolio of IBM Spectrum Storage solutions that
have been widely deployed in large as well as midsize organizations. The company recently added IBM Spectrum
Control Storage Insights, a cloud-delivered set of storage monitoring and analytics tools designed for midsize
users. Storage Insights, which allows users to better understand their existing storage bases, has enjoyed strong
initial reception among these.
There are also differences between VMware storage tools and IBM solutions in cost structures, stability and skill
requirements that are addressed below.
Cost Structures
Overview
Costs for use of IBM solutions are significantly lower than for use of VMware storage tools. This may be
demonstrated by comparisons based on input from 17 midsize users of VMware storage tools, along with 3 users
of IBM VSC and 12 users of IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC), upon which VSC is based.

Comparisons are for installations in midsize retail, health care and e-commerce companies with initial capacities
of 179 to 612 terabytes (TB) of raw disk storage, and 200 to 800 VMware VMs. Calculations allow for annual
capacity growth rates of between 15 and 35 percent, depending on applications. Companies employed IBM
DS8000 and Storwize V7000; EMC VMAX and VNX; and HP 3PAR platforms respectively.
In these installations, five-year costs of ownership for use of IBM solutions averaged 35 percent less than for use
of VMware storage tools. Combined hardware, maintenance, software license and support costs averaged 17
percent less, while personnel costs for storage administrators averaged 56 percent less. Facilities costs, primarily
for energy, averaged 33 percent less.
These differences are summarized in figure 1.
Figure 1: Five-year Costs of Ownership – Averages for All Installations
Based on user input, hardware and software configurations, numbers of full time equivalent (FTE) storage
administrators and costs of ownership were calculated for use of VMware storage tools and IBM VSC for each
installation. Costs include acquisition of new hardware capacity to support growth, along with maintenance,
software licenses and support, personnel and facilities.
Most organizations also employed other software that is part of the vSphere 5 suite, including VSAN. vSphere 6,
which became generally available in March 2015, had not yet seen widespread production use, although many
organizations had initiated proof of concept and/or test projects. There was little experience with VVols, although
there was a great deal of interest in these.
Software stacks employed for VMware calculations included array operating systems and tools for tiering,
copying services, disaster recovery and storage resource management, including non-VMware solutions where
appropriate. IBM VSC provides comparable functionality.
A five-year measurement period was employed because the benefits of large-scale storage virtualization are
typically cumulative – three-year calculations tend to understate long-term savings. This is particularly the case in
that vendors often raise maintenance and support costs substantially after three years.
Personnel
The largest disparity in VMware and IBM solutions costs is in personnel. In the installations employed for
comparisons in this report, numbers of FTE storage administrators were as shown in figure 2. It was assumed that
staffing levels remained consistent over five years.
Retail
Company
Health Care
Company
E-commerce
Company
VMware Storage Tools 2.45 FTEs 1.4 FTEs 0.75 FTE
IBM Virtual Storage Center 1.0 FTE 0.45 FTE 0.25 FTE
Figure 2: FTE Storage Administrators – All Installations
IBM Virtual Storage Center
VMware Storage Tools
Hardware & maintenance
Software & support
Personnel
Facilities
2,123.0
1,382.4
$ Thousands

VMware administrators typically handled server as well as storage administration tasks. Users estimated that
between 30 and 60 percent of administrator time was spent on storage. Many could not quantify breakouts.
VMware tools tend to be more labor-intensive in accomplishing tasks such as multitier configuration, data
movement and management, and capacity allocation for storage systems. This is particularly the case when
storage infrastructures experience high growth, frequent changes or both.
In contrast, IBM VSC draws upon the strengths of conventional storage administration solutions and practices,
while adding new features in analytics, automation and other areas. Integrated analytics enable administrators to
more rapidly identify and resolve problems, and to identify and exploit opportunities to improve efficiency. The
solution employs a graphical user interface (GUI) that has drawn widespread industry praise.
VMware storage tools offer some capabilities that are functionally equivalent to IBM VSC. They are, however,
less well integrated and automated, and there is less user experience with them. In practice, this results in higher
administrative overhead.
Capacities and Tiers
Industry-wide, the norm for storage capacity utilization is generally estimated at around 30 percent. Levels can be
materially improved by storage virtualization.
Some VMware users reported utilization levels in the 50 to 70 percent range. The norm appeared to be 30 percent
or less, although typically this applied to departmental or small-scale projects involving dozens rather than
hundreds of terabytes. (In this as in other areas, statistics cited by VMware users tended to be imprecise.) In
comparison, IBM VSC users reported utilization levels of 80 to 90 percent, and SVC users, without the IBM
Spectrum Control function in VSC, levels of 60 to 80 percent.
Higher utilization means that less physical capacity is required. Costs are, however, affected not only by total
capacity, but also by the type of platform employed. Tier 1 arrays, which offer the highest levels of performance,
availability and recoverability, are more expensive than lower-tier equivalents. This is the case not only for
hardware and maintenance, but also for systems software, copy services, replication, failover and recovery,
storage management and other functions.
Industry-wide, however, Tier 1 arrays represent an average of more than 70 percent of installed capacity. Many
organizations employ these even for data that does not require business-critical resilience and performance.
The ability of IBM solutions to reduce dependence on Tier 1 arrays should be highlighted. Users of these
solutions have reduced Tier 1 capacity to as little as 30 percent within a few years, while maintaining
performance, availability and recoverability targets.
Similar effects are apparent in the installations employed for comparisons in this report. Initial capacities, which
are the same for use of VMware storage tools and IBM solutions, averaged 68 percent on Tier 1 and 32 percent on
midrange arrays. Over five years, users of IBM solutions were able to reduce the proportion of capacity on Tier 1
systems to an average of 24 percent, or half that realized with VMware storage tools.
Figure 3 illustrates these results.
Movement and management of data between multiple tiers of arrays can, in principle, be realized with VMware
storage tools. This is, however, reported to be a complex process, particularly when – as is now common – arrays
themselves are configured with tiered mixes of solid state (SSD), high-performance SAS and high-capacity
Nearline SAS (NL-SAS) or SATA drives.

Figure 3: Capacities by Tier – Averages for All Installations
VMware advances, such as VSAN (which is geared to server-based storage) and VVols (which extend integration
of VMware and storage administration), do not directly address this issue. In contrast, movement of data to lower-
tier systems has typically been a major goal of IBM VSC deployment initiatives.
Further information on profiles, methodology and assumptions employed for calculations, along with cost
breakdowns may be found in the Detailed Data section of this report.
Stability and Skills
In these areas, there are marked differences between VMware storage and IBM solutions.
Although VMware has supported storage interfaces since its inception, the company’s move to extend vSphere to
direct virtualization and management of storage is more recent. Most deployments have occurred in the last few
years, and many have been small, and/or have been test or proof of concept systems.
One reason for this is that, in most organizations, separate teams handle server and storage administration.
Conventionally trained VMware specialists often have little familiarity with the challenges of managing business-
critical arrays, while storage administrators lack VMware exposure.
(This issue has been highlighted by VVols. In principle, these allow VMware and storage administrators to
cooperate in allocating, managing and troubleshooting VMware files on arrays. In practice, however,
organizations often do not have structures in place that would allow this to occur.)
For the next few years, VMware users will be preoccupied with integrating new features in vSphere 5.5 and
vSphere 6. vSphere software is, moreover, intended to form part of VMware’s software-defined data center
(SDDC), an evolving architecture for management of virtualized compute, storage and network resources in cloud
environments. Interdependencies between the vSphere environment and SDDC will add complexity.
In comparison, VSC integrates a set of IBM software offerings that have been in widespread use since the 2000s.
These are stable, widely deployed solutions. IBM VSC is geared to established storage administration practices.
According to users, existing administrators can adapt easily to its capabilities.
Conversely, users of VMware storage tools reported that retraining was typically required, and that – to quote one
organization – the mindsets of server and storage administration were different. Organizations can address these
issues by drawing upon the VMware ecosystem for additional high-end management solutions, consulting
services or both. Cost structures tend, however, to change significantly when this occurs.
Base Configuration
Tier 1
Midrange
Beginning of Period
End of Period
370 TB
630 TB
481 TB

Conclusions
The choice between VMware storage tools and IBM VSC is, to a great extent, a choice between an evolving
architecture and a simple, stable and tightly integrated solution. The components of IBM VSC offer a full set of
enterprise-class capabilities in a single package that is priced by terabytes of managed data.
VMware and IBM VSC are not, moreover, an either/or choice. IBM VSC fully supports integration with VMware
server and network environments. All IBM VSC users who contributed to this report had incorporated VMware
environments in their deployment strategies, or planned to do so.
VMware integration has also been a major focus of IBM VSC product strategy. VMware integration for IBM
storage systems was recently converged in the IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition package, which enables
centralized provisioning, virtualization, monitoring and management of IBM storage resources in VMware cloud
environments.
The broader strategies of VMware (the company) and IBM also diverge. Although VMware continues to update
its storage offerings, its corporate focus has moved toward networking, next-generation data centers and cloud
solutions and services. Although IBM also targets these areas, it treats storage solutions as a distinct business.
SDS represents an IBM corporate investment priority. The IBM Spectrum Storage portfolio has emerged as the
broadest and most effective SDS solution set offered by any major vendor. In February 2015, the company
announced plans to invest more than $1 billion over five years in this portfolio.
In the final analysis, the choice is between treating storage as an extension of existing VMware server bases or
managing it as a distinct set of resources. The industry trend is toward the IBM approach. Server bases are not
growing at 40 to 80 percent per year. A growing number of users recognize that enterprise SDS infrastructures
offer the only viable long-term approach to controlling storage growth.
IBM VSC offers a means of addressing these challenges, yielding results in (at most) one or two years. Longer-
term gains, as this report demonstrates, may be a great deal larger.

Solutions
IBM Offerings
IBM Spectrum Storage Portfolio
The IBM Spectrum Storage portfolio, which forms the backbone of IBM SDS strategy, combines established IBM
storage and data management offerings with new components such as IBM Spectrum Scale for file and object
storage; IBM Spectrum Accelerate (a software-only implementation of the XIV Storage System); IBM Spectrum
Protect for data backup and recovery; and IBM Spectrum Archive for cold data storage.
The IBM Spectrum Storage portfolio currently includes the solutions summarized in figure 4.
DESCRIPTION BASED ON
IBM SPECTRUM ACCELERATE
Offers unique capabilities in real-time provisioning, low-overhead administration,
dynamic load balancing, snapshots, replication, recovery & other areas.
IBM XIV Storage System software
IBM SPECTRUM SCALE
Parallel file system enables multi-petabyte scaling with single global namespace. IBM General Parallel File System (GPFS) &
Elastic Storage Server (ESS)
IBM SPECTRUM VIRTUALIZE
Large-scale, cross-platform storage virtualization solution. Supports automated
tiering, real-time data compression & other advanced functions.
IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC)
IBM SPECTRUM CONTROL
Provides single-console monitoring & management of large, heterogeneous storage
environments. Includes analytics, deployment, performance optimization & replication
management functions.
IBM Tivoli Storage Productivity Center (TPC)
IBM SPECTRUM PROTECT
Provides single-console monitoring & management of enterprise-wide backup &
recovery processes.
IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM)
IBM SPECTRUM ARCHIVE
Enables direct access to archival data stored in IBM tape systems. Eliminates need
for separate tape management software.
IBM Linear Tape File System (LTFS) tape drives
& libraries
IBM SPECTRUM CONTROL STORAGE INSIGHTS
Cloud-delivered storage monitoring & analytics solution designed for midsize users. New offering
Figure 4: IBM Spectrum Storage Solutions
IBM Spectrum Storage offerings are built upon established systems and technologies that have been in widespread
use for five years or more. For example, IBM Spectrum Virtualize, which became available in 2013, employs
technology that first reached the marketplace in IBM SVC more than a decade before.
This portfolio is expected to expand. According to IBM, major emphasis will be placed on enhancing integration
and simplifying management mechanisms across the portfolio; enabling unified console-based management and
orchestration of all storage and data; and providing operational insights and automatic optimization based on
embedded state-of-the-art analytics to reduce cost and avoid performance and capacity issues before they arise.
The company also plans to continue support for all major IBM and third-party storage platforms, including flash-
and disk-based, along with file and object-based storage (FOBS) systems. Conformance with OpenStack and
Hadoop-related standards will be maintained.
A multi-cloud connector will be added to the IBM Spectrum Storage portfolio. This offering, according to IBM,
will enable users to dynamically migrate data across multiple in-house and/or external clouds while maintaining
high levels of availability and security.

IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition
Introduced in March 2015, IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition provides a common backend server for VMware
vSphere users accessing IBM storage resources. Its components are summarized in figure 5.
VMWARE PLATFORM SUPPORT IBM CLOUD INTERFACES
vCenter Server Storage Provider for VMware VASA
vSphere Web Client Storage Enhancements for VMware vSphere Web Client
vSphere APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) Storage plug-in for VMware vCenter Orchestrator
vCenter Operations Manager Storage Management Pack for VMware vCenter
Operations Manager
vCenter Orchestrator
Figure 5: IBM Spectrum Control Base Edition Components
The offering is designed to facilitate integration of VMware environments into IBM Spectrum Storage-managed
cloud storage. VVols are fully supported at their current level of definition. IBM has committed to upgrading
Spectrum Control Base Edition to support the future evolution of VMware specifications and standards.
IBM Spectrum Control Storage Insights
A new IBM offering (announced and available in June 2015), Spectrum Control Storage Insights is a cloud-
delivered package of storage analytics tools incorporating advanced technology developed by the IBM Research
Division. It is designed primarily for midsize users that have limited capability for and experience in
organizational storage management.
Storage Insights allows users to inventory storage assets; monitor and analyze capacity utilization and
performance in a highly granular manner; and determine historical trends for these. Users may also identify
unused or underutilized capacity, and more effectively optimize data placements.
Early users report that Storage Insights may be rapidly deployed – typically in less than one-half hour – and may
begin delivering actionable results almost immediately. The solution is said to be easy to use by personnel without
advanced storage administration skills, and is capable of learning as storage workloads evolve. A 30-day no-
charge trial period is available.
According to IBM, Storage Insights is meant to provide a simple, inexpensive starting point for midsize users to
develop more effective storage management approaches. It appears to be succeeding.
IBM VSC is built around two main components: IBM Spectrum Virtualize acts as a common storage hypervisor,
and IBM Spectrum Control enables storage optimization across multiple heterogeneous array types.
IBM Spectrum Virtualize incorporates the same storage virtualization and management software employed in the
earlier IBM SAN Volume Controller, and in IBM Storwize and FlashSystem V9000 arrays. It enables non-
disruptive volume mobility and pooling across multiple arrays, resulting in higher capacity utilization.
IBM Spectrum Virtualize tools include Easy Tier, which automatically promotes active data extents to higher-
performance tiers for an up to three times increase in overall throughput; thin provisioning; scale-out capabilities;
high availability; synchronous and asynchronous replication using fibre channel (FC) and/or Internet Protocol (IP)
communications.
IBM Real-time Compression is also supported. One of the most efficient compression technologies available
today, this enables compression of active data at levels of up to five times, depending on workloads.

These features may be extended to arrays virtualized by IBM Spectrum Virtualize, even if they do not otherwise
support them.
IBM Spectrum Control is the new name for IBM’s core data and management software. VSC includes IBM
Spectrum Control Advanced Edition, which provides a full range of monitoring, automation and analytics
capabilities for multivendor storage environments. IBM Spectrum Control Advanced Edition also includes IBM
Spectrum Protect Snapshot for application-aware, snapshot and copy management.
These tools operate across all virtualized systems. The management console is based on a high-productivity, easy-
to-use GUI originally developed for the IBM XIV Storage System.
When these capabilities are exploited, it is not necessary to employ equivalent array-based-tools. Savings in
license and support fees may be substantial.
IBM Spectrum Control is one of the industry’s highest-rated SRM solutions. Distinctive capabilities include:
• Tier optimization. This tightly integrated feature set allows administrators to balance performance of
selected storage pools within a single tier, or move these between tiers based on workload characteristics
(e.g., frequently accessed pools may be up-tiered and less active data down-tiered).
Administrators may choose to perform these actions manually. Alternatively, the process may be
automated based on I/O utilization thresholds and/or age of data.
• Volume transformation. This allows administrators to select volumes or groups of volumes, and convert
these to thin provisioned or compressed form (or vice versa) with a single click.
Organizations that have taken advantage of these functions have reported significant improvements in the
efficiency delivered by their storage resources. Available capacity may be more evenly matched with application
requirements, and risks of performance bottlenecks reduced. Integrated analytics tools support both feature sets.
IBM VSC components have long histories of use among large organizations. IBM Spectrum Virtualize, for
example, has been routinely employed to virtualize hundreds of terabytes of disk storage, and larger installations
have been in the multi-petabyte range. IBM Spectrum Control has been widely adopted for IBM and mixed-
vendor storage environments since the mid-2000s.
Additional IBM tooling includes SmartCloud Cost Manager for chargeback accounting and Intelligent Storage
Services Catalog, which enables document applications to be mapped to storage system capabilities.
Multivendor Support
IBM Spectrum Virtualize may be employed with the broadest range of disk, hybrid and all-flash arrays, host
environments, switches and adapters of any storage virtualization solution available today. Currently, more than
340 different storage array brands and models are supported.
The offering may also be used with the storage components of integrated server and storage systems such as
Cisco UCS, HP BladeSystem and Lenovo (formerly IBM) BladeCenter.
Principal supported platforms are currently as summarized in figure 4.
IBM VSC also includes driver-enabling automated provisioning through the OpenStack Cinder volume
management standard. OpenStack, which is developed and managed by the OpenStack Foundation, is the leading
independent suite of cloud standards.

STORAGE ARRAYS
Bull Storeway FDA & Optima
Dell Compellent SC030/40, SC8000
EMC 8000 Series, DMX through DMX-4
EMC VMAX, VNX & VNX2
EMC Clariion CX Series
Fujitsu Eternus
HP 3PAR Series
HP EVA 4000 through 8400, P6000
HP MSA 1000 through 2000
HP XP48 through XP24000, P9500
Hitachi USP100 through USPv
Hitachi VSP & HUS VM
Huawei S Series & Dorado
IBM DCS3700 & N Series
IBM FlashSystem
IBM Storwize Family
IBM DS8100 through DS8870, ESS
IBM DS3000 through DS6000
IBM XIV Storage System
NEC iStorage M & S Series
NetApp E Series & FAS
Nexsan E Series & SATABeast
Oracle Pillar Axiom
PureStorage FA-400 Series
Sun StorEdge 9000 Series
StorageTek D-Series & 6000
Texas Memory Systems Ramsan
Toshiba FL6000 Flash Array
Violin Memory 3000 & 6000
Xiotech X-IO Series, ISE1
HOSTS
Apple Mac OS X Server
Citrix Xen Server, Debian
HP-UX 11i, OpenVMS, Tru64
IBM AIX & i, z/VM, z/VSE
Novell OES2
Oracle VM Server
Red Hat EL 5, 6 & 7
SLES 10 & 11
VMware VASA, VAAI & SRM
Windows Server 2003, 2008 & 2012
Windows Server Hyper-V
SunOS 5.8 through Solaris 11
SGI Irix
INTEGRATED SYSTEMS SWITCHES HOST BUS ADAPTERS
Cisco UCS B & C Series Servers
HP BladeSystem
IBM Flex V7000
Lenovo (formerly-IBM) BladeCenter
Brocade Converged Switches
Cisco MDS & Nexus
McData Eclipse
Qlogic Fabric Switches
Juniper QFabric
Brocade, Emulex, Qlogic
Various
OTHER
IBM Spectrum Accelerate
IBM Spectrum Scale
IBM General Parallel File System
IBM Elastic Storage System
IBM ProtecTIER Deduplication Gateway
Figure 6: Principal Platforms Supported by IBM Spectrum Virtualize
Overview
VMware has, since its inception, placed a strong emphasis on interoperability with storage arrays. The company’s
key APIs – VAAI and VASA – are de facto industry standards supported by all major array vendors and most
smaller players.
Starting with the vSphere 4 suite, introduced in 2009, VMware began to position its tools to manage storage as
well as server resources. Further enhancements were added in vSphere 5 starting in 2011. Key offerings have
included Distributed Resource Scheduler (Storage DRS), an extension of the server DRS load balancing solution;
Storage vMotion for data movement and Storage I/O Control (server I/O prioritization).
These are managed through vCenter Server, and interface to the Site Recovery Manager (SRM) disaster recovery
solution and other VMware software.
It is unclear how much traction VMware storage tools have gained within the VMware community. During
research for this report, it was found that most VMware-managed storage installations were relatively small, or
were at early stage of deployment, or both. Some larger, more sophisticated organizations have, however, adopted
VMware as a strategic storage platform.
EMC has, since 2003, been majority owner of VMware, currently holding approximately 80 percent of the
company’s stock. Although the two companies have collaborated closely, VMware has continued to publish
vendor-neutral APIs. Other storage vendors have been able to offer interoperability comparable to that of EMC.

Virtual SAN and Virtual Volumes
Over the last few years, VMware (the company) has started to move toward an SDS model that is designed to
allow use of server- as well as array-based storage within a broader framework of policy-driven storage.
Key components of this model include the following:
• Virtual SAN (VSAN) enables virtualization and management of server-based storage as pools within
vSphere clusters. VMware has described VSAN as a converged hypervisor extending the core VMware
ESXi hypervisor to server-based disk and flash memory. According to VMware, more than 12,000 users
worldwide signed up as beta customers.
The first Virtual SAN version became generally available in March 2014 as part of vSphere 5.5. It was
enhanced in vSphere 6.0 in February 2015. Maximum cluster size was increased from 32 to 64 nodes (up
to 6,400 VMs) and from 4.4 to 8 petabytes (PB) of storage. Most installations are a great deal smaller.
By the end of first quarter 2015, the company claimed that VSAN was enjoying strong sales, reporting
that it had more than 1,000 paying customers already utilizing this platform.
Most of the VSAN customers identified in research for this report were small or midsize organizations
(200 to 3,000 employees) facing rapid storage growth. Typically, organizations already had major
investments in VMware server virtualization tools and/or virtual desktop infrastructure, and saw VSAN
as a way to avoid investment in new SANs and/or arrays. Installations employed one or two nodes.
• Virtual Volumes (VVols) were introduced in 2012 as a Technology Preview and became generally
available in vSphere 6. They complement VSAN in that they enable closer integration of disk, flash and
hybrid arrays into vSphere environments.
VVols allow arrays to publish the services they offer (e.g. RAID, snapshot copying, replication) through
the VASA interface in a manner that allows administrators to assign them to individual VMs. In principle,
neither logical units (LUNs) nor volumes need to be configured on arrays if VVols are employed.
VVols have generated a great deal of interest in the VMware community. Early user experiences suggest,
however, that deployments of VVols tend to require a great deal of investment in administrator time and
effort. Ongoing maintenance overhead may also be high as storage environments and VMware solution
sets evolve.
All major storage array vendors and many smaller ones support VVols, which have already emerged as a
de facto industry standard.
The overall VMware SDS framework is based on a standard Control Plane and Data Plane design, which is still
incomplete. According to the company, the Control Plane will be anchored by VMware Storage Policy-Based
Management (SPBM), which is in turn based on vRealize Automation (formerly vCloud Automation Center).
VSAN and VVols provide Data Services integrating server- and array-based storage respectively.
SDS forms a subset of VMware’s broader Software Defined Data Center (SDDC), a generalized scheme designed
for the data center of the future. SDDC components, as defined by the company, include the vCloud Suite,
vCenter Server and NSX for vSphere, a network virtualization solution set introduced in 2013. SDDC is,
according to the company, an evolving design.

It is clear, however, that both the SDS framework and SDDC will consist largely of proprietary VMware
solutions. Although the company has pledged to continue supporting OpenStack, its primary goal is to leverage
the existing VMware server base. This will inevitably pose migration challenges for customers, who typically
employ a variety of VMware products, including multiple versions of these.
Adoption of SDDC has to date been among early adopters, and even among these, implementation is still at an
early stage. It can be expected that VMware will continue its practice of providing basic software components and
APIs, while relying upon partners to handle integration for individual customers. Realization may take years.

Detailed Data
Basis of Calculations
Comparisons of five-year costs of ownership were based on calculations of raw capacities for Tier 1 and midrange
arrays in the three installations as summarized in figure 7.
Retail Company Health Care Company E-commerce Company Average
BASE CONFIGURATION (TERABYTES)/PERCENT OF TOTAL CAPACITY
Tier 1 496 81% 192 60% 69 39% 252 68%
Midrange 116 19% 127 40% 110 61% 118 32%
Total 612 100% 319 100% 179 100% 370 100%
END OF PERIOD CAPACITY (TERABYTES)/PERCENT OF TOTAL CAPACITY
Use of VMware Storage Tools
Tier 1 551 54% 258 59% 148 34% 319 51%
Midrange 468 46% 180 41% 284 66% 311 49%
Total 1019 100% 438 100% 432 100% 630 100%
Use of IBM Virtual Storage Center
Tier 1 197 22% 76 32% 72 23% 115 24%
Midrange 691 78% 165 68% 242 77% 366 76%
Total 888 100% 241 100% 314 100% 481 100%
Figure 7: Capacities by Tier – All Installations
Tier 1 arrays included IBM DS8000, EMC VMAX and HP 10000 systems in the retail, heath care and e-
commerce companies respectively. Midrange arrays included IBM Storwize V7000, EMC VNX and HP 7000
series systems.
System costs include hardware acquisition and maintenance for capacity upgrades, systems software licenses and
support, personnel and facilities. IBM VSC costs include licenses and software support for IBM Spectrum
Virtualize and Control, as well as servers upon which these solutions are deployed.
Personnel costs were calculated based on numbers of FTEs shown in figure 2. Calculations were based on annual
average salaries of $91,369 for IBM VSC storage administrators and $77,048 for VMware administrators.
Salaries were increased by 57.8 percent to allow for bonuses, benefits and other per capita costs.
Facilities costs include costs of data center occupancy and energy. Occupancy costs were calculated based on
footprints for arrays and supporting power and cooling systems, including allowance for service clearances, aisles
and other inactive areas. Costs were calculated per square foot per year for midsize data centers.
Energy costs were determined using vendor ratings and independent estimates for arrays, and for power and
cooling equipment. Calculations were based on specific utilization levels and hours of operation. A conservative
assumption for average cost per kilowatt-hour was employed. This remained constant over five years.
All cost calculations were for the United States.

Cost Breakdowns
These are summarized in figure 8.
Retail Company Health Care Company E-commerce Company
VMWARE STORAGE TOOLS
Hardware & maintenance 513,348 1,187,658 188,395
Software & support 494,031 909,341 76,618
Personnel 1,489,377 851,073 455,932
Facilities 93,480 52,783 57,040
TOTAL ($) 2,590,236 3,000,855 777,985
IBM VIRTUAL STORAGE CENTER
Hardware & maintenance 370,865 557,963 136,369
Software & support 979,573 471,488 268,822
Personnel 720,901 324,405 180,225
Facilities 63,801 37,232 35,545
TOTAL ($) 2,135,140 1,391,088 620,961
Figure 8: Five-year Costs of Ownership

Comparing IBM Spectrum Virtualize and Control to VMware Storage Tools
International Technology Group
ITG sharpens your awareness of what’s happening and your competitive edge
. . . this could affect your future growth and profit prospects
International Technology Group (ITG), established in 1983, is an independent research and management consulting firm
specializing in information technology (IT) investment strategy, cost/benefit metrics, infrastructure studies, deployment
tactics, business alignment and financial analysis.
ITG was an early innovator and pioneer in developing total cost of ownership (TCO) and return on investment (ROI)
processes and methodologies. In 2004, the firm received a Decade of Education Award from the Information Technology
Financial Management Association (ITFMA), the leading professional association dedicated to education and advancement
of financial management practices in end-user IT organizations.
Client services are designed to provide factual data and reliable documentation to assist in the decision-making process.
Information provided establishes the basis for developing tactical and strategic plans. Important developments are analyzed
and practical guidance is offered on the most effective ways to respond to changes that may impact complex IT deployment
agendas. A broad range of services is offered, furnishing clients with the information necessary to complement their internal
capabilities and resources.
Clients include a cross section of IT end users in the private and public sectors representing multinational corporations,
industrial companies, financial institutions, service organizations, educational institutions, federal and state government
agencies as well as IT system suppliers, software vendors and service firms. Federal government clients have included
agencies within the Department of Defense (e.g., DISA), Department of Transportation (e.g., FAA) and Department of
Treasury (e.g., US Mint).
Copyright © 2015 International Technology Group. All rights reserved. Material, in whole or part, contained in this document may not be
reproduced or distributed by any means or in any form, including original, without the prior written permission of the International Technology
Group (ITG). Information has been obtained from sources assumed to be reliable and reflects conclusions at the time. This document was
developed with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) funding. Although the document may utilize publicly available material from
various sources, including IBM, it does not necessarily reflect the positions of such sources on the issues addressed in this document. Material
contained and conclusions presented in this document are subject to change without notice. All warranties as to the accuracy, completeness
or adequacy of such material are disclaimed. There shall be no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in the material contained in this
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