Virtualization: It's the Economy, Stupid

Some vendors tout server virtualization – the ability to run multiple “virtual” servers in software on a single physical server – as a way to not only save money, but to let the business respond more quickly to changing business needs.

 

Fughetaboutit, says iSCSI SAN vendor LeftHand Networks Inc. “It’s really a cost play,” according to Product Management Director Ben Bolles. Fewer physical servers mean lower costs and the ability to deploy high-availability applications and disaster recover at less cost, he says. But virtualization can create a more complex server environment, and that’s where LeftHand is making its play.

 

LeftHand sells a clustered SAN architecture in which each node has its own controllers, processors, and hard drives, allowing customers to scale capacity and performance at the same time. It delivers that architecture in the form of its SAN/iQ software that customers run on industry-standard servers, rather than as custom-designed hardware. This approach seems to be working for LeftHand, which says (without disclosing specific revenue) it has seen 110 percent year-over-year revenue growth for the fiscal year ended June 30^th.

 

It recently introduced an upgrade to SAN/iQ that reduces the storage required for the multiple system images created by virtual servers or desktops, a performance manager to troubleshoot iSCSI connections and a new user interface that simplifies the mapping of virtual machines and servers to virtual volumes. Finally, it announced three new packaged hardware/software bundles aimed at beginning SAN users, virtualization customers and those with multiple sites.

 

Among its cost advantages, says Bolles, is that “we bundle capabilities which others sell as standalone products for as much as $20,000.” LeftHand can do this, in part, because it adds functions in new versions of its software, rather than engineering and building custom hardware. One example: 3PAR recent announcement of hardware-enabled thin provisioning (which leaves disk space free until an application actually uses it, even if that space has already been “provisioned,” or set aside, for the application. LeftHand delivered similar performance improvements in thin provisioning a year and a half ago, he says, by working at the software rather than the hardware level.