Violin Memory: Concerto 7000 All Flash Array

Violin Memory, Inc. announced the availability of enterprise data services software on the Concerto 7000 All Flash Array.

The data services software includes synchronous and asynchronous replication and stretch metro cluster capabilities. Storage snapshots, thin provisioning, LUN and capacity expansion, as well as advanced data protection and storage scaling are also available. These enterprise data services will enhance business agility allowing enterprises and cloud providers to consolidate data center resources and open up new business opportunities.

“The Concerto 7000 All Flash Array helps our customers deliver ‘Business in a Flash’, by transforming IT resources into competitive assets that create new possibilities based on the performance, data protection, and transactional capabilities we design into our all-flash solutions,” said Violin Memory CEO Kevin DeNuccio.

Several critical elements of Concerto enterprise data services software, including CDP, WAN optimized replication and in-flight encryption can all be configured on a LUN-by-LUN basis, giving customers the ability to tailor the Concerto solution to their deployment and data center requirements.

Granular control of software features is important to support a varied, heavy enterprise multi-application workload and move beyond point products only appropriate for single applications. The breadth and granular manageability of the Concerto 7000 software provides the platform for mixed and multiple workloads in enterprise and cloud environments.

The Concerto 7000 hardware platform, based on Violin’s Flash Fabric Architecture, delivers micro-second latency and lower cost-per-transaction for demanding mixed and multiple cloud, enterprise and virtualized applications. The result for IT organizations and their line-of-business customers can be up to 20x faster application response times while using 90% less floor space, power and cooling.

“Vendors need to provide a true enterprise offering built around flash optimized architectures. The hallmark of today’s enterprise workhorses is their ability to host mixed multiple workloads while delivering the reliability, availability, scalability and management features that data center applications require,” said IDC flash storage research director Eric Burgener. “Once vendors deliver mature flash-based products with these features the all-flash data center becomes a distinct reality.“

The Violin Concerto 7000 All Flash Array is available worldwide.

Raw capacity scales to 280TB in a fully configured, 18RU, low power footprint. Customers can also upgrade to these powerful BC, high-resiliency, efficiency, protection and scaling capabilities on their current 6000 series all-flash array solutions with the Concerto 7000 upgrade kit for the 6000 family.

Concerto 7000 features include:

BC

• Remote asynchronous replication
• Synchronous replication
• Local/Metro
• Zero RPO and RTO for stretch clusters
• Automated App DR management
• WAN optimized replication
• Consistency Groups for replication

Data Protection

• Snapshots (app and crash consistent)
• Consistency Groups for snapshots
• CDP
• Transparent LUN mirroring
• Backup app integration

Data Scaling

• Scale-up to 280TB raw
• Capacity pooling across shelves
• Online expansion of capacity
• Online LUN expansion
• Single name space across shelves

Data Efficiency

• Snapshots (app consistent, writable)
• Thin provisioning
• Thin clones

“Flash is transforming the enterprise. It is not just about performance, it is changing the economics of how enterprises can turn data into value and competitive advantage. But flash is more than just memory chips. Violin Memory’s announcement of Concerto 7000 represents a unique approach to combining the relevant data services with an optimized flash platform,” said Ben Woo, MD, Neuralytix.

“Flash arrays have proven their worth for acceleration of individual applications, but their use in more general business applications has been hampered by the lack of flash services that support some basic business requirements. With products such as Violin’s Concerto, the barriers to general business adoption of flash arrays for mixed concurrent workloads should be much lower, increasing the penetration of flash products into more general enterprise applications,” said Tom Coughlin, founder, Coughlin Associates.

“Violin Memory Concerto is the missing link for enterprises looking for a no compromise all-flash array experience. Violin already offered the critical flash defined hardware platform with their memory arrays. Now with Concerto they are delivering ALL the enterprise features the enterprises expect. This includes a feature that many offerings curiously leave out replication flash optimized storage architectures are the future and with Concerto, Violin is providing a modern enterprise offering built to host the market’s most challenging mixed workloads while delivering the reliability, availability, scalability and management features that businesses require,” said George Crump, founder, Storage Switzerland.

“The storage market has always been plagued by an over emphasis on dollar per gigabyte. Now it’s about the cost per data center. An all-flash array is a negative cost to the CIO when a solution brings together a one-of-a-kind hardware architecture and advanced software features to sustain enterprise workload performance while reducing hardware, software licenses and power,” said Greg Wong, founder, principal analyst, Forward Insights.

“Violin has led the adoption of all-flash storage systems by both enterprises and service providers. Now, Violin is driving flash usage to encompass a wider range of applications. Data center operators need storage systems that not only meet ever-growing performance challenges, but also offer sophisticated data management and protection services. That is what Violin is providing with its new 7000 series storage system, and Concerto software,” said Tim Stammers, senior analyst, 451 Group.

“Forward-thinking CIOs use flash to lower their costs, but there are still many who hesitate to try the technology. Many argue that they can’t afford the huge gap between flash and HDD price per gigabyte, but they lose sight of the fact that the system’s capital and operating costs both dramatically drop once flash is applied. In the end, the argument boils down to how much the CIO is willing to spend to avoid using flash,” said Jim Handy, director, Objective Analysis.

“Violin Memory, with the new Concerto 7000 all-flash array series, has established major proof points for solid state storage with advanced capabilities. With new Violin developed software features, the 7000 series addresses the capabilities needed for large enterprises of today while meeting the workload and I/O performance requirements. The Violin Concerto 7000 series has fulfilled the promised technology advances that were set in motion in 2013,” said Randy Kerns, senior strategist, Evaluator Group.

“We now see the tipping point for all flash array adoption. Without sophisticated data services, most large enterprises hesitated to make the switch to support the entire business on flash. Now with Violin’s Concerto, these workload heavy organizations now have good reason to consider making the leap into an all-silicon data center for concurrent mixed workloads,” said David Hill, principal, Mesabi Group.

“Data scaling, protection and efficiency are an integral part of solutions that we offer our customers. Violin’s new Concerto offering addresses these requirements. Violin Memory and Ultima share the same vision of providing solutions that transform our customer’s business,” said Toby Butler, enterprise solutions manager, Ultima Business Solutions, UK.

“The addition of Violin’s Concerto offering is critical for our portfolio. The performance and data management services feature set will help transform our customer’s data centre and business,” said Michael Thompson, ACT branch manager, Australian Capital Territory for Ethan Group.

“Our customers today need enterprise-grade storage solutions that address multiple application and business needs. We look forward to partnering with Violin to offer the advanced, comprehensive data services management suite of Concerto to our end-users,” said Heeyeoul, CEO, Thenantech, Korea.

“Wide flash adoption is becoming a reality in our customer’s data centers. Having enterprise data management services is the mandate, and the Violin platform will ease the migration and adoption of flash storage in our customer base,” said Anthony Subbiah, SVP, Stele Infotech, USA.

“Customers looking for a solution for mixed and multiple heavy workloads on a flash platform now can look to Concerto to deliver 20x improved application performance with the requisite data management services that are lacking in other flash systems. We are proud to work with Violin in taking this product to market to our joint end users. It is truly transformative,” said Dale Denning, senior account executive, Blue Ally, USA.