Self-Service Breakthrough with EMC VMAX Cloud Edition

Today at VMware’s Partner Exchange, EMC launched VMAX Cloud Edition. I’ve been a part of some pretty big transformations leading product management and technical marketing teams at companies like EMC and Microsoft. I can testify that it’s truly a fundamental change to the whole idea of what “enterprise-class storage” is, and how “as-a-service” delivery works for cloud. For more detail and to participate in the conversation join our launch webcast today at 11 am ET.

This is a first for the industry. It’s a self-service, enterprise-class as-a-service, cloud delivery platform that provides easy access to consume storage for public, private and hybrid cloud.

The breakthrough is self-service access. It’s easy, flexible and fast—with enterprise storage attributes. It’s all made possible by the pre-engineered and pre-configured service levels that form a service catalog for tenants to choose from. Gone are engines, drives and nerd-knobs with VMAX Cloud Edition. It’s about right-sizing your storage for your application needs. Also, all of the service levels spring from the most powerful, Tier-1 storage in the industry: VMAX.

What’s the impact?

VMAX Cloud Edition accelerates the design and implementation of “as-a-service delivery” up-to 4.5X faster than any other multi-tenant storage in the industry today. How’s that possible? VMAX Cloud Edition basically eliminates the steps to design/model/test service levels, create array configurations, and implement the configuration. VMAX Cloud Edition automates all of those day to day storage tasks.

Here’s how it works.

Need higher performance? Pick a higher performance service level like Gold, Platinum or Diamond. Activity is low? Change on the fly to a service level like Silver or Bronze. A DBA, a business application owner or virtualization manager
– with no specialized storage skills – can easily provision storage 6X faster than a storage expert provisioning storage traditionally.

Cool, huh?

Brian Garrett, Vice President, ESG Lab at Enterprise Strategy Group offers his take on the experience here:

Jason Currill is the CEO of Ospero, a UK based worldwide cloud utility company shares his reaction:

Like I said – a fundamental change.

VMAX Cloud Edition includes everything needed to run IT as a business. It’s got tenant-level metering and chargeback or show-back reporting, as well as REST APIs to integrate reporting, operation and self-service into your existing management and orchestration layer.

There’s also a linear cost model for predictable management of the business of cloud. Each service level is priced consistently per TB regardless of the quantity purchased, so private IT and cloud service providers can buy-in and scale-up without a cost penalty. That removes a lot of risk in establishing chargeback pricing.

One question remains. If users can easily make the choices they need based on service level outcome, and enterprise-class service level delivery is automated, will anyone ever look at storage the same way again?

About the Author: Peter C. Conway