IDC Whitepaper: Achieving the full Business Value of Virtualization

W H IT E P A P E R
A c h i e vi ng t he F ul l B us i ne s s V a l ue o f V i r t ua l i z a t i o n w i t h a
S c a l a b l e S o f t w a r e - B a s e d S t o r a g e V i r t ua l i z a t i o n S o l ut i o n
Sponsored by: DataCore Software
Richard L. Villars
July 2011
I D C O P I N IO N
Today's information-based economy demands that IT managers enhance the business
value of existing and planned IT investments while simultaneously reducing the costs
of IT operations. Server consolidation and broader adoption of server virtualization are
some of the key strategies IT teams are counting on to meet these goals.
Dealing with storage, however, is one of the most critical technical and economic
roadblocks to broad adoption of virtualization in many organizations. Limits include
the up-front direct cost associated with replacing storage with complex networked
storage systems, the added operational cost of managing networked storage
systems, and the inherent inefficiencies of many of these storage systems.
Storage virtualization software such as DataCore's SANsymphony-V addresses many
of these challenges. It allows organizations to make better use of "in place" storage
assets while also ensuring that IT organizations can fully achieve a return on their
investments in a virtualized server environment. They can achieve these goals by
quickly taking advantage of the rapid cost declines and performance increases
available in today's standard server platforms. IDC finds that the use of virtualized
storage with solutions such as DataCore's makes it possible for companies to:
Consolidate storage and server assets
Increase the number of virtualized servers running on individual physical servers
while doubling storage utilization rates for installed storage
Leverage lower-cost/higher-capacity storage tiers that can significantly cut the
cost of acquiring new storage assets
Improve application and information availability while shrinking backup times
Significantly reduce the cost to meet the performance and business continuity
objectives of virtualized IT organizations
GlobalHeadquarters:5SpeenStreetFramingham,MA01701USAP.508.872.8200F.508.935.4015www.idc.com

2 #227907 ©2011 IDC
T R AN S IT IO N T O T H E W O R L D O F
V IR T U AL IZ E D IT
Ongoing economic and business uncertainties are placing a growing strain on
organizations around the world. Savvy investments in IT solutions can boost business
efficiency, lower ongoing operating costs, and minimize future capital expenses, all
while helping companies better respond to the needs of their own hard-pressed
customers.
In datacenters around the world, 2010 was a landmark year in the use of server
virtualization technology. It was the first year in which more new application instances
were deployed as virtual machines on a virtualized server than were deployed on a
dedicated physical server. While large enterprises and service providers were the
early leaders in the use of server virtualization, 2011 will be a pivotal year for
deployment of server virtualization in small and midsize organizations.
IDC is concerned that for many small and midsize organizations, efforts to consolidate
and virtualize servers will fail to get under way or grind to a halt in midstream.
R e a l - W o r l d R i s k s o f A g g r e s s i v e S e r v e r
V i r t u a l i z a t i o n
Based upon the experiences of many large enterprises that engaged in rapid
virtualization of server assets, IDC indentified a number of general reasons why efforts
to further boosts in IT asset use and operational efficiency often fail to materialize. The
shift to virtualized servers leads to significant disruptions in a number of areas:
Overloading of storage and data network facilities
Overprovisioning of storage capacity and a quantum leap in storage
administration tasks
Missed or incomplete data backup and uncertain application recovery
In large enterprises, IT teams typically responded by replacing older storage systems
with new, bigger storage platforms. Small and midsize organizations, however, don't
have the same resources. They don't have the budget or skill sets to embark on a
wholesale replacement of both server and storage platforms.
Savvy IT managers recognize this problem up front and are forced to delay their
plans. Many, however, discover the scope of the problem only midway through the
process, leading to unplanned extra costs and/or a significant disillusionment of
senior management.
M a k i n g S e r v e r s a n d S t o r a g e W o r k i n H a r m o n y
W i t h o u t T h r o w i n g O u t P r i o r I n v e s t m e n t s
Early adopters of widespread server virtualization quickly recognized the perils
associated with rapid virtual server growth and developed a standard strategy for
avoiding problems.

©2011 IDC #227907 3
These hard-learned lessons led them to explore smarter storage options, including
device-independent storage virtualization software. The use of technologies such as
virtual volumes, resource pooling, and thin provisioning allowed these companies to
avoid both storage administration overload and the massive overprovisioning of
storage for virtualized servers.
As noted earlier, the wholesale upgrade/migration to new storage platforms is possible
in large enterprises with greater capital and IT staff resources. IT teams in small and
midsize organizations need an inexpensive and nondisruptive solution that allows them
to more effectively use existing storage assets; make better use of low-cost, standard
server platforms for storage functions; and boost storage performance in support of
virtualized server environments.
L o w e r i n g t h e V i r t u a l i z a t i o n B a r r i e r w i t h
S o f t w a r e - B a s e d S t o r a g e V i r t u a l i z a t i o n
An excellent option for small and midsize organizations is to deploy software-based
storage virtualization solutions such as DataCore's SANsymphony-V. This solution
allows organizations to leverage the amazing processing power of today's multicore
x86 server platforms to virtualize installed storage systems while also tuning them to
meet specific needs for performance, capacity, availability, and cost-effectiveness.
These solutions:
Improve utilization of existing storage assets (in many cases doubling useful
capacity), thereby delaying the need to buy new storage systems
Enable more modular and seamless storage expansion, thereby reducing the
need to prebuy capacity that may not be needed for several years
Automate storage provisioning, capacity, expansion, and data protection across
installed heterogeneous storage systems, thereby reducing management complexity
Enable seamless cross-system data movement, thereby enabling easy and
intelligent migration or replication data between storage classes
Tiering allows companies to use one class of storage for performance-intensive
applications while leveraging lower-cost (often 60% to 80% less expensive) and more
scalable systems for backup/recovery, test/development/, or long-term archiving. In
conversations with IT managers, IDC found that the most successful deployments of
storage virtualization allowed companies to delay expansions of high-performance
storage pools for more than 12 months while sustaining continued high (i.e., >50%)
data growth rates.

4 #227907 ©2011 IDC
T H E B U S IN E S S V A L U E O F
D E V IC E - I N D E P E N D E N T S T O R AG E
V IR T U AL IZ AT IO N S O F T W AR E
The remainder of this white paper looks specifically at the business value associated
with the use of software-based storage virtualization in conjunction with previously
installed storage systems. It also examines how the implementation of a virtualized
storage environment ensures that businesses can fully achieve the benefits of a
virtualized server environment. IDC finds that the use of virtualized storage makes it
possible for companies to:
Consolidate storage and server assets, thereby reducing the number of systems
managed by 50% or more in many cases
Increase the number of virtualized servers (often by 60% to 80%) running on
individual physical servers while also increasing storage utilization rates from
20% or less (for direct attached) to more than 40% (and often over 50%), thereby
reducing the need to acquire new server and storage systems in these difficult
economic times
Leverage lower-cost/higher-capacity storage tiers, thereby reducing the cost of
acquiring new storage assets by up to 80% in certain cases
Improve application and information availability while shrinking backup times by
over 80% and reducing IT staff resources devoted to backup and recovery
activities
Eliminating much of the planned and unplanned downtime related to storage
For the purpose of this white paper, IDC compares and contrasts virtualization levels:
nonvirtualized network storage, virtualized storage, and virtualized storage used in
conjunction with virtualized servers. Table 1 provides a summary of both the gains
and the limitations that still remain at each level of virtualization.
T A B L E 1
S t o r a g e Ef f i c i e n c y I nc r e a s e s f r om V ir t u a l i z a ti o n : I T Be n c h m a r k s
Used Capacity as a % of
Total Capacity
Average TB per IT Staff
(Server and Storage)
Average Capacity (TB)
Dedicated per Application
Networked storage 20 23.5 1.00
Virtualized storage 40 41.4 0.50
Virtualized servers and
storage
70 72.4 0.29
Source: IDC, 2011

©2011 IDC #227907 5
In Table 2, we also see the first business value elements that go beyond hard TCO
data. A few items stand out and deserve discussion:
Flexible allocation of tiered storage. Virtualized storage can leverage tiers of
storage with different performance and cost characteristics so that administrators
can easily assign applications to different storage pools.
Easy and nondisruptive data migration. Data sets can be moved to more cost-
or performance-oriented storage pools without disrupting server operations.
Nondisruptive data migration also provides the flexibility to move virtual machine
images as part of business continuity and disaster recovery efforts.
Efficient snapshot and replication of operating systems and applications
for backup, test, and configuration purposes. When IT deploys new
applications, it becomes possible, with little more than some mouse clicks, to
replicate environments that can be used for testing and experimentation.
Enhanced availability and rapid recovery for applications and data.
Companies can quickly restore applications by restarting them on another
virtualized server. In many cases, this recovery can be automated, thereby
reducing the need to use clustered solutions for high availability. The more
sophisticated storage virtualization products can automatically fail over between
redundant systems without disrupting applications.
T A B L E 2
Bu s i n e s s V a l u e o f V i r t u a li z e d D e p lo y m e n t : I T Be n c h m a r k s
Physical Servers per Manager
Downtime Hours per Physical
Server per Year
Time to Launch Application
(Weeks)
Networked storage 17 3.200 7.37
Virtualized storage 27 0.032 3.19
Virtualized servers
and storage
30
(> 150 virtual servers)
0.026 0.57
Source: IDC, 2011
These findings make it clear that IT teams in small and midsize organizations can
avoid significant pitfalls and gain significant additional benefits by deploying software-
based storage virtualization solutions that complement server virtualization solutions.
The key capabilities to look for include:
Support for heterogeneous storage so that companies can better leverage
installed storage systems and have greater negotiation leverage when upgrading
and expanding
Virtual storage pools and thin provisioning that boost utilization rates and reduce
IT administration overhead
Automated data migration, protection, and replication services that enable more
automated and scalable business continuity

6 #227907 ©2011 IDC
R e t u r n o n I T A s s e t s a n d C o s t o f O w n e r s h i p
C o n s i d e r a t i o n s
In IDC's ongoing research on storage for virtualized environments, companies that
deployed storage virtualization as part of the replacement for standalone servers (with
internal storage or DAS) realized the most significant savings and improved return on
assets in the following categories:
Reduced hardware and software spending due to higher utilization rates of both
existing and new assets
Reduced IT labor associated with full system and application deployment and
life-cycle support (e.g., backup and recovery)
Reduced facilities and infrastructure costs associated with datacenter space,
power, and environment (e.g., heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning [HVAC]
systems)
A number of companies leveraging storage virtualization combined with server
virtualization reported a greater than threefold improvement in return on IT asset
investments over a three-year period with many registering positive returns on
deployments in less than a year.
The next section takes a deeper look at DataCore's storage virtualization solution in
the context of these benefits. It examines how deploying this solution can help
organizations of all sizes successfully complete the move to more virtualized IT
environments.
D AT A C O R E S O L U T I O N S F O R S T O R AG E I N A
V IR T U AL IZ E D D AT AC E N T E R
DataCore Software Corporation is a leading developer of storage virtualization
software for virtual and physical IT environments. Its goal is to leverage industry-
standard processors and network technologies, along with its own storage
virtualization and data management software, to deliver the highest availability,
fastest performance, and maximum utilization of IT assets.
DataCore's device-independent solutions (which allow customers to virtualize storage
assets from all leading storage systems suppliers) are designed to fundamentally
change the economics of provisioning, replicating, and protecting storage for
enterprises and small to midsize businesses.
DataCore has been delivering storage virtualization solutions since 1998 and
released the eighth generation of its SANsymphony software in early 2011. It has
over 6,000 customers around the world, many of which claim to have realized
significant and sustained cost savings and productivity gains for several years.
It also has a large number of authorized distributors and integration partners around
the world, many of which specialize in delivering and maintaining lower-cost and more
responsive server and desktop virtualization solutions.

©2011 IDC #227907 7
S A N s y m p h o n y - V R e l e a s e 8 . 0
DataCore's SANsymphony-V release 8.0 is a device-independent storage virtualization
software platform that runs on standard multicore x86 servers (physical or virtual).
A minimum of two servers are required for high availability, but customers can deploy
more in a scale-out configuration for more performance. The solution's high-performance
and highly available architecture provides a comprehensive set of capabilities that range
from small environments with less than 10 terabytes of direct-attached or iSCSI storage to
very large environments with hundreds of terabytes or petabytes of Fibre Channel (FC) or
FC over Ethernet storage on heterogeneous storage systems.
The DataCore solution also provides an easy-to-use management interface with
analysis tools that allow administrators to take full advantage of its storage
virtualization and data management capabilities across the entire environment, not
just individual systems. These functions include:
Virtual disk pooling across heterogeneous storage systems (reduced
administration, improved utilization, and painless data migration)
High-speed caching and data tiering (improved and better-balanced I/O
performance for installed storage assets)
Thin provisioning (better utilization, reduced administration, delayed purchasing)
Full spectrum of data protection/recovery including continuous data protection (CDP),
low-impact snapshots, synchronous mirroring with automated failover/failback, and
remote site replication (improved levels of data protection and less downtime from
storage-related failures and disruptions)
Support for more automated operations including autodiscovery, self-tuning, and
high-availability "Quick Serve" disks to hosts (greater administrator productivity
with less training and fewer errors)
SANsymphony-V release 8.0 also supports high-availability NAS/Cluster File Shares
across heterogeneous storage systems.
C H AL L E N G E S A N D O P P O R T U N IT I E S
The recent introduction of SANsymphony-V by DataCore is a clear signal that many
small and midsize organizations are looking for help in jump-starting their server
virtualization efforts. They need solutions that allow them to get the maximum returns
from their installed IT assets while also ensuring that future investments deliver a
superior return on investment. To deliver on this promise, DataCore must ensure that
SANsymphony-V continues to support the widest range of hypervisors and storage
systems, both old and new.
In today's challenging business environment, general claims of improved system
efficiency or reduced administrative burdens are looked at with deserved skepticism.
DataCore recognizes that storage virtualization is an unknown for many companies,
raising concerns about practical uses, more complex management, and retraining of
IT staff.

8 #227907 ©2011 IDC
As part of its SANsymphony-V solution, DataCore must continue to enhance storage
asset management capabilities and deliver even deeper integration with emerging
virtualization orchestration solutions. As part of the SANsymphony-V launch,
DataCore also identified a number of specific use cases where companies can
achieve immediate and long-term benefits (e.g., desktop virtualization). The company
and its partners need to identify additional use cases that will make it easier for IT
teams to achieve quick benefits for storage virtualization.
C O N C L U S I O N
IT managers at small and midsize organizations are wrestling with many of the same
challenges as they seek to extend the business value of their virtualization
investments. They are looking for solutions that improve the use of existing IT assets
while also allowing them to take advantage of rapidly evolving server, storage, and
network technologies. Meeting these objectives, however, requires more than just
identifying the right use case and selecting the right solution. IT managers also need
to make wise implementation decisions that shield them from costly system
reconfigurations and storage migrations.
IT managers that acquire storage products must evaluate suppliers such as
DataCore, as well as their business partners, based on more than just which
company is providing the cheapest or highest-performing systems. IT managers need
partners that can help them overcome or avoid the traditional shortcomings:
Underuse of installed assets
Less-than-optimal data/application availability
Excessive administrative overhead
Lock-in to proprietary hardware
IT managers should judge IT suppliers such as DataCore based upon how well their
complete solutions allow them to optimize the use of IT investments now and for an
extended period. They also need to look for business partners that leverage emerging
solutions to address specific application and business challenges while delivering
faster, more consistent implementations with minimal risk of disruption to applications,
processes, and business operations.
C o p y r i g h t N o t i c e
External Publication of IDC Information and Data — Any IDC information that is to be
used in advertising, press releases, or promotional materials requires prior written
approval from the appropriate IDC Vice President or Country Manager. A draft of the
proposed document should accompany any such request. IDC reserves the right to
deny approval of external usage for any reason.
Copyright 2011 IDC. Reproduction without written permission is completely forbidden.

IDC Whitepaper: Achieving the full Business Value of Virtualization

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IDC Whitepaper: Achieving the full Business Value of Virtualization