Software-defined storage (SDS) significantly shifts the storage industry by enabling more flexible, economical solutions compared to traditional storage systems. By leveraging standard hardware and virtualization, SDS facilitates better scalability, control, and integration within software-defined data centers. As adoption increases, it is projected that between 70-80% of unstructured data will be managed under SDS by 2020, transforming storage management and reducing costs.

1. WHY SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE
MATTERS
Ross Turk
Red Hat Storage
January 2016

2. STORAGE IS A BIG PART OF IT BUDGETS
Storage is a top 3 spending category in any
large infrastructure project, alongside servers
and networking.
Storage in the enterprise has been growing at
40%+ per year, and there is no sign this growth
trend is slowing.
A very large share of IT budgets is spent
on storage solutions.
2018 TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET (IN BILLIONS)
$18.1
$15.2
$12.3
$10.3
$16.0
OS
MIDDLEWARE
EMERGIN
G
STORAGE
MANAGEMENT

3. Traditional Storage
Complex proprietary silos
Open, Software-Defined Storage
Standardized, unified, open platforms
Custom GUI
Proprietary Software
Proprietary
Hardware
Standard
Computers
and Disks
Standard
Hardware
OpenSource
Software
Ceph Gluster +++
Control Plane (API, GUI)
ADMIN USER
THE FUTURE OF STORAGE
ADMIN
USER
ADMIN
USER
ADMIN
USER
Custom GUI
Proprietary Software
Proprietary
Hardware
Custom GUI
Proprietary Software
Proprietary
Hardware

4. WHAT IS SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE?
STORAGE
VIRTUALIZATION
STORAGE
ORCHESTRATION

5. Storage virtualization is the use of software and standard hardware to provide
services traditionally provided by single-purpose storage appliances (similar to
server virtualization, which uses software to emulate servers), providing
increased agility and efficiency.
DISTRIBUTED CLUSTER OF
SERVERS
MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA MEDIA
APPLIANCE
MEDIA MEDIA
APPLIANCE
MEDIA MEDIA
APPLIANCE
MEDIA MEDIA
USER USER USER
STORAGE VIRTUALIZATION
USER USER USER

6. FLEXIBILITY IS CRUCIAL

7. STORAGE APPLIANCE
COMPUTE
NODE + + + +
+
STORAGE
NODE
COMPUTE
NODE + + + +
+ + + +
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
VIRTUALIZED STORAGE SCALES BETTER

8. STANDARD SAN/NAS IS ON THE DECLINE
Server-based storage is “will account for over 60%
of shipments long term.”
“By 2016, server-based storage solutions will lower
storage hardware costs by 50% or more.”
Gartner: “IT Leaders Can Benefit From Disruptive Innovation in the Storage Industry”
Credit Suisse Storage Update, September 3, 2015
Changing workloads drive the need for
flexible, economical server-based storage.
WW DEPLOYED CAPACITY (TB)
2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
(est)
2016
(est)
Source: IDC
0%
60%
20%
40%
80%
100
%
Internal CapacityExternal
Capacity

9. WHAT IS SOFTWARE-DEFINED STORAGE?
STORAGE
VIRTUALIZATION
STORAGE
ORCHESTRATION

10. STORAGE ORCHESTRATION
Storage orchestration is the ability to provision, grow, shrink, and decommission
storage resources on-demand and programmatically, providing increased control
and integration of storage into a software-defined data center.
WEB CONSOLE
A browser interface designed for
managing distributed storage
API
A full API for automation and
integration with outside systems
COMMAND LINE
A robust, scriptable command-line
interface for expert operators
PROVISION INSTALL CONFIGURE TUNE MONITOR
Full lifecycle management for distributed, software-defined data services

11. UNIFIED STORAGE MANAGEMENT

12. A RISING TIDE
“By 2020, between 70-80% of unstructured data will
be held on lower-cost storage managed by SDS”
“By 2019, 70% of existing storage array products
will also be available as software only versions”
Innovation Insight: Separating Hype From Hope for Software-Defined Storage
Innovation Insight: Separating Hype From Hope for Software-Defined Storage
2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019
$1,349M
$1,195
M
$1,029M
$859M
$706M
$592M
SDS-P MARKET SIZE BY SEGMENT
$457M
Block Storage
File Storage
Object Storage
Hyperconverged
Source: IDC
Software-Defined Storage is leading a
shift in the global storage industry, with
far-reaching effects.

13. THE BALANCE
Inflexible
Expensive at large scale
Durable
Convenient
Flexible
Economical at large scale
Durable
Powerful
Appliances are suitable for small-
scale, workloads, but they do not scale
economically.
Software-defined storage has a
learning curve, but bring performance
and economy at petabyte scale.

14. WHY BOTHER?
PROPRIETARY
HARDWARE
HARDWARE-BASED
INTELLIGENCE
SCALE-UP
ARCHITECTURE
CLOSED DEVELOPMENT
PROCESS
Common, off-the-shelf hardware
Lower cost, standardized supply chain
Scale-out architecture
Increased operational flexibility
Software-based intelligence
More programmability, agility, and control
Open development process
More flexible, well-integrated technology

15. THE RED HAT STORAGE PORTFOLIO
Ceph
management
OPENSOURCE
SOFTWARE
Gluster
management
Ceph
data services
Gluster
data services
STANDARD
HARDWARE
Share-nothing, scale-out
architecture provides durability and
adapts to changing demands
Self-managing and self-healing
features reduce operational overhead
Standards-based interfaces
and full APIs ease integration
with applications and systems
Supported by the
experts at Red Hat

16. GROWING INNOVATION
COMMUNITIES
Over 11M downloads in the last 12 months
Increased development velocity, authorship, and
discussion has resulted in rapid feature expansion.
Contributions from Intel, SanDisk, CERN, and Yahoo.
Presenting Ceph Days in cities around the world and
quarterly virtual Ceph Developer Summit events.
78 AUTHORS/mo
1500 COMMITS/mo
258 POSTERS/mo
41 AUTHORS/mo
259 COMMITS/mo
166 POSTERS/mo