As a term, software-defined storage (SDS) has been around for over a decade. The concept of abstracting storage software from the storage hardware is even older, predating Y2K. Despite its time on the market and many apparent advantages, SDS adoption rates are relatively low. The primary reason for SDS’ tepid acceptance is a lack of performance within the ecosystem that it drives. Today though, flash media is replacing hard drives, and in fact, NVMe flash is replacing SAS SSDs. There is also plenty of computing power available to drive the storage software, in addition to its other responsibilities. Lastly, the missing link, the network, is now set for its major upgrade as NVMe over Fabrics replaces SCSI-based networking.
Tune into this Lightboard Video as George Crump of Storage Switzerland and Cameron Crandall of Kingston map out the current state of SDS and why now is the best possible time to start embracing the technology to not only lower costs but also increase performance.