EMC partnered with IDC to capture the global thoughts of customers using VNX2.
In today’s business environment, it is common to hear that IT budgets are flat, and in some cases even shrinking, while the demands of IT continuing to grow exponentially. It is no surprise that companies are expecting more from their IT infrastructure, workload consolidation is everywhere and virtualization is the new norm. Hybrid-flash arrays are seen as the go-to storage work horse, with the VNX2 setting the pace as companies are relying on it to reduce their total cost of ownership, improve their performance and simplify their management for their mixed workload environments.
IDC candidly interviewed 5 VNX2 customers on how they are leveraging the VNX2 in their environment, the benefits they are seeing and their overall experience. The article includes summaries of those interviews. Common themes across all interviewees include:
Flash enabled: Interviewees were enthused by the capabilities of VNX2 to provide predictable and consistent performance but at a fraction of the cost of all-flash arrays. Southeastern Container reported
“Night and day improvement in performance” compared with previous storage technologies used. “Using FAST Cache and FAST VP allowed us to get a significant performance boost without spending too much and without a requirement for increased administrative workload.” – Merel Johnson, Southeastern Container
Workload consolidation: Companies viewed VNX2 to be an able companion on their journey to consolidate their infrastructure and to host both mission critical and non-mission critical workloads.
Human Kinetics depends on files as a core part of its business, alongside of the online transaction processing (OLTP) applications like databases and emails.
“Our biggest benefit with the VNX2came in management cost reduction due to managing SAN and NAS in a single system and a single management interface. We now get better results with less to manage running block and file together and calculate a 50% reduction in management time for the new system.” – Brad Trankina, Human Kinetics
Unified management: The responses were consistent around VNX2 management and its simplicity. The unified management interface increases productivity by enabling staff to spend less time managing storage and more time on other projects.
“We looked at what we would have spent over the next three years running alternative storage technologies and calculated that the VNX2 will save us $400,000 over that period through efficient use of flash, array consolidation, datacenter space reduction, and streamlining of administrative effort.” – Bill Morton, Des Moines University
Read the IDC report on how Boston Scientific, Southeastern Container, Human Kinetics, Des Moines University, and Mutuelle Generale de la Police are leveraging VNX2 to be a strategic business partner and accomplish both IT and business objectives.