Storage Virtualization Has Finally Found Its Perfect Match in the Form of Desktop Virtualization
Ever since storage virtualization solutions from providers such as FalconStor first appeared on the scene nearly a decade ago, they have been actively on the lookout for a problem where they function as the killer app. Over the years storage virtualization solutions have frequently been adapted (CDP, NAS, VTL, etc.) to function in specific ways but until now it really has not been viewed as the perfect fit for any specific application. But now thanks to the rapidly growing adoption of desktop virtualization technologies such as VMware View in organizations, storage virtualization may have finally found its perfect match.
Desktop virtualization is a technology that I was a big believer in as far back as 1996 when I first deployed it at a police department where I used to work as a system administrator. However shortly after adopting it the limitations of the technology quickly became apparent to me. While it pretty much worked as advertised, it did not scale very well and it was best suited for a small number of end users who only used it to run the most basic of desktop applications.
Fast forward to today and enterprises are actively talking about roll-outs of desktop virtualization technology to not tens, hundreds or thousands of users but to tens and even hundreds of thousands of users. These types of conversations indicate that desktop virtualization technology has progressed to the point where even power users are comfortable running applications on virtualized desktops.
This is all good news to corporate management. Desktop virtualization addresses their growing concerns regarding the deployment and management of desktops and laptops as it minimizes the hardware and software costs associated with deploying, managing and maintaining them. Further, it centralizes the storage of user data so there are fewer concerns about data loss plus it creates new options for data protection and recovery. It is for reasons like these that corporate interest in its adoption is piqued.
However reports of storage problems are surfacing in the early deployments of desktop virtualization. As organizations consolidate desktops using VMware, they are encountering enterprise like storage problems. One commonly cited problem is the 8:00 am boot storm that occurs when thousands of users log on first thing in the morning. Some organizations reporting slowed user response times that last 30 - 60 minutes that is usually only solved with the deployment of very expensive solid state drives (SSDs).
Yet another commonly reported problem that desktop virtualization creates is a new need to economically scale out these back end storage systems. Consolidating all of this data that was once on desktops and laptops creates unprecedented storage requirements for data that whose value to the organization is sometimes deemed dubious at best. Yet supporting it requires storage systems that scale-out and adequately protect it. Needless to say, these systems are not cheap.
So this is the dichotomy that enterprises are running into: they need very specialized storage systems that scale-out to large storage capacities and can deliver high levels of performance. But at the same time organizations are accustomed to paying $50 - $100 for the internal hard disk drives (HDDs) that are found in desktops and are in no hurry in this economy to spend more just because they are adopting VMware View. If anything, they want to spend the same amount of money and ideally less.
Until now the storage industry really has had no response. But that starts to change with today's announcement from FalconStor regarding its Network Storage Server (NSS) SAN Accelerator for VMware View.
Making the FalsonStor NSS particularly well suited for VMware View is that it delivers the enterprise characteristics that organizations want their storage solution for their newly virtualized desktops to have: high levels of availability, reliability, performance and storage capacity. But what makes it stand out from the crowd is that organizations can get these storage features a price point at or even below what organizations pay now for hard drives in individual desktops and laptops.
A particularly desirable feature on the FalconStor NSS SAN Accelerator is its support of SSDs. While FalconStor has supported SSDs for some time, FalconStor has now extended that support to VMware View environments so it can provide the performance boost that VMware Views users need when they are booting up first thing in the morning. But because the NSS is also a storage virtualization engine, it also gives users the flexibility to use any tier of storage from any vendor that they want.
The FalconStor NSS also has many proven data protection technologies including snapshots, thin clones and replication. These features can then also all be deployed transparently and without impact to the end-users. But maybe best of all, there is every reason for enterprise organizations to believe that using all of the native capabilities that are found in FalconStor NSS they can eventually drive their cost per user for storage down to under $50/user without sacrificing capacity or performance.
Storage virtualization has for a long time been an answer searching for a problem. The enterprise storage challenges that desktop virtualization solutions such as VMware View create may be just the ticket to unlocking the pent-up value that has been building in storage virtualization solutions such as FalconStor NSS.
The one big edge that FalconStor NSS has over other storage system solutions is its flexibility in giving users the option to select any tier of storage that they want. While up to this point this flexibility has been minimized because cost was not always the overriding concern when used with business critical applications, cost is emerging as THE differentiator in desktop virtualization deployments, especially if it can deliver all of the other enterprise features that users are seeking.
It is for this reason that it appears that storage virtualization is more than just a perfect match for desktop virtualization. Desktop virtualization may finally be the app that makes FalconStor NSS and storage virtualization a must-have technology and one that is strategic in the eyes of enterprise organizations.
If you would like to learn how to get a better handle on the economies of scale that a virtualized storage infrastructure provides and how FalconStor helps organizations size it for VDI environment so as to weather the frequent I/O storms that occur in them, I encourage you to check out a blog entry by Fadi Albatal where he goes into greater detail on how FalconStor NSS SAN Accelerator for VMware View can provide these features.
Desktop virtualization is a technology that I was a big believer in as far back as 1996 when I first deployed it at a police department where I used to work as a system administrator. However shortly after adopting it the limitations of the technology quickly became apparent to me. While it pretty much worked as advertised, it did not scale very well and it was best suited for a small number of end users who only used it to run the most basic of desktop applications.
Fast forward to today and enterprises are actively talking about roll-outs of desktop virtualization technology to not tens, hundreds or thousands of users but to tens and even hundreds of thousands of users. These types of conversations indicate that desktop virtualization technology has progressed to the point where even power users are comfortable running applications on virtualized desktops.
This is all good news to corporate management. Desktop virtualization addresses their growing concerns regarding the deployment and management of desktops and laptops as it minimizes the hardware and software costs associated with deploying, managing and maintaining them. Further, it centralizes the storage of user data so there are fewer concerns about data loss plus it creates new options for data protection and recovery. It is for reasons like these that corporate interest in its adoption is piqued.
However reports of storage problems are surfacing in the early deployments of desktop virtualization. As organizations consolidate desktops using VMware, they are encountering enterprise like storage problems. One commonly cited problem is the 8:00 am boot storm that occurs when thousands of users log on first thing in the morning. Some organizations reporting slowed user response times that last 30 - 60 minutes that is usually only solved with the deployment of very expensive solid state drives (SSDs).
Yet another commonly reported problem that desktop virtualization creates is a new need to economically scale out these back end storage systems. Consolidating all of this data that was once on desktops and laptops creates unprecedented storage requirements for data that whose value to the organization is sometimes deemed dubious at best. Yet supporting it requires storage systems that scale-out and adequately protect it. Needless to say, these systems are not cheap.
So this is the dichotomy that enterprises are running into: they need very specialized storage systems that scale-out to large storage capacities and can deliver high levels of performance. But at the same time organizations are accustomed to paying $50 - $100 for the internal hard disk drives (HDDs) that are found in desktops and are in no hurry in this economy to spend more just because they are adopting VMware View. If anything, they want to spend the same amount of money and ideally less.
Until now the storage industry really has had no response. But that starts to change with today's announcement from FalconStor regarding its Network Storage Server (NSS) SAN Accelerator for VMware View.
Making the FalsonStor NSS particularly well suited for VMware View is that it delivers the enterprise characteristics that organizations want their storage solution for their newly virtualized desktops to have: high levels of availability, reliability, performance and storage capacity. But what makes it stand out from the crowd is that organizations can get these storage features a price point at or even below what organizations pay now for hard drives in individual desktops and laptops.
A particularly desirable feature on the FalconStor NSS SAN Accelerator is its support of SSDs. While FalconStor has supported SSDs for some time, FalconStor has now extended that support to VMware View environments so it can provide the performance boost that VMware Views users need when they are booting up first thing in the morning. But because the NSS is also a storage virtualization engine, it also gives users the flexibility to use any tier of storage from any vendor that they want.
The FalconStor NSS also has many proven data protection technologies including snapshots, thin clones and replication. These features can then also all be deployed transparently and without impact to the end-users. But maybe best of all, there is every reason for enterprise organizations to believe that using all of the native capabilities that are found in FalconStor NSS they can eventually drive their cost per user for storage down to under $50/user without sacrificing capacity or performance.
Storage virtualization has for a long time been an answer searching for a problem. The enterprise storage challenges that desktop virtualization solutions such as VMware View create may be just the ticket to unlocking the pent-up value that has been building in storage virtualization solutions such as FalconStor NSS.
The one big edge that FalconStor NSS has over other storage system solutions is its flexibility in giving users the option to select any tier of storage that they want. While up to this point this flexibility has been minimized because cost was not always the overriding concern when used with business critical applications, cost is emerging as THE differentiator in desktop virtualization deployments, especially if it can deliver all of the other enterprise features that users are seeking.
It is for this reason that it appears that storage virtualization is more than just a perfect match for desktop virtualization. Desktop virtualization may finally be the app that makes FalconStor NSS and storage virtualization a must-have technology and one that is strategic in the eyes of enterprise organizations.
If you would like to learn how to get a better handle on the economies of scale that a virtualized storage infrastructure provides and how FalconStor helps organizations size it for VDI environment so as to weather the frequent I/O storms that occur in them, I encourage you to check out a blog entry by Fadi Albatal where he goes into greater detail on how FalconStor NSS SAN Accelerator for VMware View can provide these features.
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