Vendor Landscape Plus: Consolidated Storage Platforms

Select a consolidated storage vendor in an increasingly consolidated market.

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Dell

EMC

NetApp

IBM

Nexsan

Hitachi Data Systems

XIO

Scale Computing

Pillar Data Systems

What is a Value Score?

The Value Score indexes each vendor’s product offering and business strength relative to their price point. It does not indicate vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more bang for the buck (e.g. features, usability, stability, etc.) than the average vendor, while the inverse is true for those that score lower.

Price-conscious enterprises may wish to give the Value Score more consideration than those who are more focused on specific vendor/product attributes.

Weight: You can adjust the weight to what is more important to you.

Progress Bars:
When both vendor and product weightings are equal to exactly 100%, your custom shortlist will be generated.

View our vendor methodology

Vendor

Product

Viability

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be around for the long-term.

Strategy

Vendor is committed to the space and has a future product and portfolio roadmap.

Reach

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell and provide post-sales support.

Channel

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the channels themselves are strong.

Total

You are currently over the vendor limit, please adjust your weightings to equal exactly 100%.

Features

The solution provides basic and advanced feature/functionality.

Usability

The solutions dashboard and reporting tool are intuitive and easy to use.

Affordability

The five year TCO of the solution is economical.

Architecture

The delivery method of the solution aligns with what is expected within the space.

Total

You are currently over the product limit, please adjust your weightings to equal exactly 100%.

What matters more, the vendor score or the product score? As you weigh the importance, we will generate the vendor shortlist to match your needs.

Weight

Dell

Dell
Vendor: Product:

EMC

EMC
Vendor: Product:

HP
Vendor: Product:

NetApp

NetApp
Vendor: Product:

IBM

IBM
Vendor: Product:

Nexsan

Nexsan
Vendor: Product:

Hitachi Data Systems

Hitachi Data Systems
Vendor: Product:

XIO

XIO
Vendor: Product:

Scale Computing

Scale Computing
Vendor: Product:

Pillar Data Systems

Pillar Data Systems
Vendor: Product:

View Vendor Shortlist

What is a shortlist?
A shortlist is a personalized list of vendors based on the criteria above.

Your shortlist offers more information about vendor's strengths, weaknesses, price-points, etc, and ranks them according to your needs.

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Your Challenge

Server consolidation, utility computing, server virtualization, internal cloud: they all absolutely require a solid foundation of shared networked storage. However, networked storage is expensive and the vendor space is crowded.
The majority of organizations have moved beyond consolidation benefits of server virtualization, and many are pursuing desktop virtualization, shifting focus to demand for greater input/output operations per second (IOPS) capabilities.
Most organizations have heard about the many benefits of solid state drives (SSDs) that organizations have achieved in their environments, making it all the more important to understand how and when to leverage this technology to meet changing business requirements.
This solution set will clearly describe the strengths and weaknesses of a full range of vendors in midrange storage, and will apply a range of scenarios to provide deeper insight into what solutions are best.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Start with the strategic drivers. For example, infrastructure consolidation and virtualization may have different requirements than providing capacity for a few high traffic OLTP databases.
Align the cost of the storage with the value of what is being stored. The fastest drive types (solid state drives), high redundancy (RAID and replication), and higher cost network switching (FC) may not be necessary for the value of much of what is being stored.
Balance necessary redundancy with improved utilization. Redundancy increases the cost per terabyte of data stored, but may be necessary to meet service levels (performance, availability, and recovery objectives). Utilization features enable doing more with less, decreasing the cost per terabyte of data stored through more efficient provisioning.

Impact and Result

Understand what kind of consolidated storage is appropriate for core needs and what kind of features boost storage value.
Prepare an RFP and score RFP responses effectively.
Create a shortlist of consolidated storage vendors and select which is the best fit for your organization and budget.
Develop implementation plans that address common consolidated storage pitfalls.

Get to Action

Narrow down your list of storage vendors
Invest in the right features and avoid overspending.
- Vendor Landscape Plus Storyboard: Consolidated Storage Platforms
- Storage Vendor Shortlist Tool
Evaluate storage vendors and the capabilities of their offerings
Select the most appropriate offering for business needs for the lowest cost.
- Storage Vendor RFP Template
- Storage Vendor RFP Scoring Tool
Ensure the vendor reveals all of the details behind its strengths and weaknesses
Get the lowest price for the feature set of your selected product.
- Storage Reseller Interrogation Script

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