Yesterday, Permabit released its Albireo data optimization software–a deduplication solution designed to be embedded into primary storage systems. Right now, a majority of primary storage systems do not have dedupe capabilities and, because of lengthy product cycles, it is hard to determine when they will. Now, hold that thought for one second.
I spend a majority of my time researching the information management software market–solutions that deliver search, access, and business process management / automation (including electronic discovery and retention management) capabilities. As I was driving home from SFO the other night I saw a billboard for Box.net – a “cloud” content management provider and alternative to SharePoint. The billboard highlighted “two software updates per month versus two years”–a direct shot at Microsoft which has pretty much standardized on bi-annual product releases.
Let me connect my two disparate thoughts. One of the primary reasons that “cloud-based” software or “Software-as-a-Service” threatens major “on-premise” applications is the agility without risk. Upgrades are delivered automatically and may be executed a few times per month as Box.net proclaims. With on-premise software, a single upgrade can take months and, if anything goes wrong, it could be much longer and more expensive. Now, there really isn’t an equivalent in the systems business–especially in storage. However, one could argue that Permabit’s approach–delivering embedded software that runs on x86 architecture / standard operating systems that will ultimately serve as a single feature of the system–could be the next best thing. Let’s say you build primary storage systems and you want to add dedupe, but your next product release is scheduled 12 months from now. The issue is that you have already completed this future system design and, unless you make substantial changes, the next possible opportunity to add dedupe is a product that will be delivered three years from now (2 years from the next scheduled release). Alternatively, you could leverage embedded software to minimize the R&D investment and get the capability to market in the next product cycle. In other words, getting new features into a system using a third party-embedded technology developer is the way hardware systems become more “cloud-esque”. The bullets explain the benefits:
- Users can still buy tangible assets–but can get upgrades via code loads from their favorite vendors.
- System manufacturers can add features more rapidly in the middle of planned product cycles.
- System manufacturers can focus R&D resources on getting the next solution to market quicker, potentially accelerating product cycles.
The bottom line is, while there are new R&D methods (agile development methodologies), there are other ways for developers to get features into hardware solutions much quicker and thus new capabilities into users’ hands faster. Sometimes those other means may not be that apparent unless you study the software marketplace.
Read Brian’s other blog entries at IT BULLETins.
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