How to Capitalize on Software Defined Storage, Securely and Compliantly

Enterprise needs for data management have exploded in recent years both in scale and complexity. For example, major financial institutions handle millions of transactions per second across multiple data centers, hyperscalers oversee exabytes of data for global customers, and healthcare networks provide quick cost-effective access to medical imaging across multiple locations.

Software-defined storage (SDS) is quickly emerging as a key tool to help companies manage their data more efficiently. However, for smaller and mid-sized businesses, SDS is not as consistently utilized, which is why the SDS market is expected to grow from $38.43 billion in 2023 at a CAGR of 27.9% from 2024 to 2030.

Part of the reason for its growth in popularity is that software-defined storage addresses the increased scale and complexity of today’s data management needs. For example, financial institutions use SDS to tier storage across locations while also complying with GDPR or other regulations; hyperscalers use SDS to ensure reliability and performance standards at massive scale; and hospital networks use SDS to maintain one storage pool across multiple locations with tiered data based on access frequency.

Despite these many advances, SDS also brings with it additional security and governance questions that organizations must manage and address.

Understanding SDS Impact

SDS has advanced in agility, flexibility and cost-efficiency in recent years, bringing a new management framework for storage infrastructure. This takes a broad view of the business and understands the impact of storage across the enterprise. Today’s storage managers are much more sophisticated and want the benefits of flexible, cost-effective storage solutions. They also work closely with IT, operations and financial teams to make buying decisions with a holistic view of how storage will affect all aspects of the company. So, enterprises are seeking much more from their storage solutions. Management of storage systems is now much more well-integrated with other business decisions across the enterprise, from product to revenue to capital expenditures.

(Joe Techapanupreeda/Shutterstock)

Because it fundamentally transforms data infrastructure, SDS is critical for technology executives to understand and capitalize on. It not only provides substantial cost savings and predictability and while reducing staff time required for managing physical hardware; SDS also makes companies much more agile and flexible in their business operations. For example, launching new initiatives or products that can start small and quickly scale is much easier with SDS. As a result, SDS does not just impact IT, it is a critical function across the enterprise.

Software-defined storage in the cloud has brought major operational and cost benefits for enterprises. First, subscription business models enable buyers to make much more cost-conscious decisions and avoid wasting resources and usage. In terms of installation, SDS requires minimal investment from a people perspective. In addition, the ease of use with SDS makes managing storage and making changes simple and often self-serve. Finally, SDS has made integration across vendors much easier, which enables enterprises to select the best options for specific needs and develop a comprehensive solution—rather than being locked into one vendor. For example, VMWare is one ecosystem that enables storage solutions to be easily connected on the backend.

In addition, software-defined storage has also transformed technology management frameworks. SDS has enabled a move to agile DevOps, which includes real-time analytics resulting in faster iteration, less downtime and more efficient resource allocation. With real-time dashboards and alerts, organizations can now track key KPIs such as uptime and performance and react instantly. IT management can be more proactive by increasing storage or resource capacity when needed, rather than waiting for a crash to react.

The move to software-defined storage is also the key to automation and AI/ML advances which provide a variety of productivity and decision-making benefits. This includes: predictive analytics to identify anomalies before problems arise; programs that can auto-detect and self-heal common IT problems; enhanced decision-making as a result of AI-based data analysis and intelligent recommendations; automated scaling of infrastructure to reduce waste; ML-based security detection; and AI-driven compliance checks.

Rising Security and Governance Needs

While software-defined storage has many benefits, there are increased security and compliance concerns due to the move to the cloud, increased mobile usage and the rise of remote-first workforces.

(deepadesigns/Shutterstock)

Users are now more operationally agile; they can simply click and their entire storage provisions – including all compliance requirements — can be leveraged anywhere, anytime, globally. Vendors must provide comprehensive and transparent ways for end users to manage the responsibility of security and governance. This is especially critical with GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2 and other compliance requirements. Building these security-enabled management frameworks is one of the most expensive operations of any infrastructure product. However, the benefits are tremendous: these new management frameworks provide a more resilient way for companies to maintain operations even in the face of security attacks or other disruptions.

Finally, the move to hybrid environments has added new complexity to SDS management. Companies need centralized governance models with policies to drive where data should be located with meta-data-driven classification. In addition, hybrid systems require interoperability through a data fabric to connect various silos as well as APIs. The system also needs workload optimization to determine whether, for example, certain data is compute-intensive and therefore not compatible with a public cloud, while other data may be sensitive and should be kept in a private cloud. Other considerations include latency, cost- efficiency, replication and synchronization and the extent of AI-use.

The cloud transformation enables a new SDS manageability paradigm that makes enterprises more agile and produce smarter data-driven decisions that are cost-efficient and have enhanced security. Using AI and ML, companies can simplify their operations and automate certain tasks and workflows, improving their operations and business outcomes. These transformations in the cloud through software-defined storage are now table stakes for enterprises to keep up in today’s technology and business environment. Taking advantage of these tremendous benefits will position companies to maximize their growth, reduce downtime and decision-making time, increase efficiency and thrive in the future.

About the author: Sunitha Rao is the Senior Vice President and General Manager of Hybrid Cloud and Software-Defined Storage at Hitachi Vantara. She spearheads innovation and strategic growth, delivering transformative cloud solutions powered by a strong product vision and sharp P&L management. A seasoned leader in hybrid cloud storage, cybersecurity, ransomware protection, and AI-driven solutions, Sunitha blends technical expertise with business acumen to drive impactful customer outcomes.