In StorageMojo’s analysis of the EMC bid to take Data Domain from NetApp, Robin Harris quoted Chuck Hollis of EMC on why the deal makes sense:
From a storage perspective, the real action is at both ends of the storage media spectrum: making storage capacity go really fast (think enterprise flash drives) – and making storage capacity really cheap (think data deduplication, spin down, etc.).
SSD and deduplication exemplify all that’s valuable in storage these days. IT has to do more with less; SSD both accomplish this, but in entirely different ways.
SSD is all about leverage. A little flash turbocharges a much larger disk-based storage investment.
SSD overcomes the long-standing imbalance between capacity growth and I/O speed on disk drives. Capacity has grown a million-fold over a few decades. I/O speed: not so much. The rise of SSD is a repeat of what happened when linear-access tape was replaced by random-access disk as King of the Storage Media a couple of decades back.
Deduplication has emerged as the most efficient and implementable data compression advance in a decade. It’s the trash compactor of data, but not just for trashy data; it’s a equal opportunity opportunity for companies to greatly reduce their data storage without throwing away data. (IT hates to throw away data.)
It’s no surprise to see Data Domain in play. And the SSD story has only just begun! Just wait till more mature, enterprise-ready SSD devices hit the market later this year.
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