Grid Meter » Data virtualization advances could be catalyst for Grid adoption

November 28, 2005 | Comments: (0)

Data virtualization advances could be catalyst for Grid adoption

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Grid computing is most commonly understood in terms of increasing the CPU horsepower and driving the performance of distributed applications. But really, it's the data virtualization capabilities of Grid -- as evidenced by new directions from vendors like NetApp and EMC -- that have the most possible downstream benefits for enterprise applications, and are stirring up the most excitement in the industry these days.

This article today is a very timely sneak preview about some of NetApp's new data virtualization Grid efforts, and the company's supporting Data OnTap GX operating system.

IT's concept of storage has generally been associated with dumb physical devices tied to an intelligent system (Disks hanging off a CPU). As the author of the article notes, NetApp's data virtualization technology decouples the physical device and turns it into an autonomous resource -- which is a critical 'next step' in the Grid evolution.

Taking this evolution even further would be to provide transformation functionality inherent with the data itself as Grids require very complex data migration without service interruption. Consider the fact that in manufacturing, the same quanta of data needs to be presented in different ways to an inventory application than it does to a CAD application. Although not specifically mentioned, one would suspect that with the emphasis on being able to scale out horizontally and "intertwined data management services," NetApp has this well in the works.

But what I believe will be most interesting to meter is what aspects of this operating system NetApp decides to expose, both from a functional aspect and in terms of open source. If the OnTap GX operating system is effective and becomes a commonly accepted method of data virtualization, it could prove revolutionary to enterprise Grid adoption.

Posted by Greg Nawrocki on November 28, 2005 11:54 AM

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