Software-defined storage

Abstracts the storage intelligence from the underlying storage infrastructure.

Virtualizes direct-attached storage into a shared pool.

Automates provisioning and load balancing.

Allows a business to increase available storage resources, both capacity and processing power, by adding entire nodes (for example, a server with storage software and media) to a cluster. The resulting cluster of nodes in turn acts as a single pool of storage capacity.

Virtualization

Abstracts compute and network functions.

Enables physical resources to be shared.

Improves utilization, mobility, and security.

x86 servers

Include high-performance processors, large memory.

Use flash media that delivers consistent, predictable performance.

Solid-state storage

Uses SSDs (most frequently, various types of flash memory) to store data. This storage can reside in a storage controller or in a server, but for this assessment we are considering use cases limited to tiered and all-flash storage arrays.

In hybrid arrays, some of the drives in the array are solid-state and house the most active data on the array.

In all-flash arrays, all drives in the array are solid state.

High-speed networks

Connect nodes to create a cluster.

Enable HCI to deliver IOPS and reduced latencies.

Connect applications to users.