<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
storage	B-General_Concept
architecture	O
that	O
combines	O
storage	B-General_Concept
and	O
computing	O
resources	O
into	O
a	O
single	O
entity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
can	O
result	O
in	O
the	O
development	O
of	O
platforms	O
for	O
server	O
centric	O
,	O
storage	B-General_Concept
centric	O
or	O
hybrid	O
workloads	O
where	O
applications	O
and	O
data	O
come	O
together	O
to	O
improve	O
application	O
performance	O
and	O
delivery	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
combination	O
of	O
storage	B-General_Concept
and	O
compute	O
differs	O
to	O
the	O
traditional	O
IT	O
model	O
in	O
which	O
computation	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
take	O
place	O
in	O
separate	O
or	O
siloed	O
computer	O
equipment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
traditional	O
model	O
requires	O
discrete	O
provisioning	O
changes	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
upgrades	O
and	O
planned	O
migrations	O
,	O
in	O
the	O
face	O
of	O
server	O
load	O
changes	O
,	O
which	O
are	O
increasingly	O
dynamic	O
with	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
,	O
where	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
increases	O
the	O
supply	O
of	O
resources	O
along	O
with	O
new	O
VM	O
demands	O
in	O
parallel	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
goal	O
of	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
is	O
to	O
bring	O
together	O
server	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
and/or	O
application	O
and	O
data	O
to	O
deliver	O
services	O
that	O
are	O
better	O
optimized	O
for	O
target	O
workloads	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
can	O
mean	O
server	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
converged	O
within	O
a	O
common	O
hardware	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
example	O
,	O
a	O
blade	B-Architecture
server	I-Architecture
enclosure	O
,	O
applications	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
brought	O
together	O
within	O
a	O
server	O
by	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Server	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
can	O
be	O
managed	O
as	O
a	O
resource	O
pool	O
,	O
for	O
example	O
in	O
infrastructure	O
-	O
as-a-service	O
(	O
IaaS	B-General_Concept
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Industry	O
standard	O
servers	O
,	O
such	O
as	O
those	O
using	O
Intel	O
processors	O
(	O
x86	B-Operating_System
)	O
,	O
form	O
the	O
basis	O
of	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
these	O
servers	O
follow	O
Moore	O
’s	O
Law	O
and	O
increase	O
power	O
and	O
performance	O
they	O
have	O
the	O
capabilities	O
to	O
run	O
storage	B-General_Concept
workloads	O
,	O
in	O
addition	O
to	O
being	O
compute	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
centers	O
can	O
further	O
consolidate	O
and	O
minimize	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
physical	O
space	O
and	O
energy	O
by	O
using	O
industry-standard	O
–	O
based	O
blade	B-Architecture
server	I-Architecture
for	O
both	O
server	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
server	O
virtualization	B-General_Concept
,	O
multiple	O
"	O
virtual	O
"	O
servers	O
operate	O
on	O
a	O
single	O
platform	O
using	O
hypervisor	B-Operating_System
technology	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
By	O
using	O
storage	B-General_Concept
controller	O
software	O
,	O
these	O
servers	O
could	O
also	O
be	O
made	O
into	O
data	O
storage	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
latter	O
architecture	O
is	O
known	O
as	O
virtual	O
machine-based	O
storage	B-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
storage	B-General_Concept
software	O
is	O
often	O
called	O
a	O
VSA−virtual	O
SAN	O
appliance	O
or	O
virtual	O
storage	B-General_Concept
appliance	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
VSA	O
products	O
from	O
companies	O
such	O
as	O
HP	O
,	O
Nutanix	O
and	O
VMware	O
allow	O
users	O
to	O
build	O
storage-area	O
networks	O
using	O
their	O
existing	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
goal	O
of	O
IaaS	B-General_Concept
is	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
pool	O
of	O
resources	O
that	O
can	O
be	O
quickly	O
deployed	O
to	O
deliver	O
new	O
services	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
requires	O
a	O
service	O
designer	O
to	O
lay	O
out	O
the	O
required	O
characteristics	O
for	O
a	O
new	O
service	O
or	O
application	O
and	O
an	O
orchestration	B-Application
(	O
computing	O
)	O
engine	O
to	O
configure	O
the	O
underlying	O
infrastructure	O
to	O
deliver	O
the	O
new	O
service	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scale-out	B-Architecture
architecture	O
is	O
a	O
component	O
of	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scale-out	B-Architecture
storage	B-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
combination	O
of	O
modular	O
computers	O
and	O
standardized	O
storage	B-General_Concept
components	O
to	O
create	O
federated	O
storage	B-General_Concept
pools	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
result	O
is	O
an	O
increase	O
of	O
computer	O
power	O
,	O
bandwidth	O
and	O
storage	B-General_Concept
capacity	I-General_Concept
that	O
can	O
exceed	O
that	O
of	O
a	O
single	O
traditional	O
storage	B-General_Concept
array	O
or	O
high	O
performance	O
computer	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Storage	B-General_Concept
vendors	O
such	O
as	O
NetApp	O
,	O
Dell	O
,	O
Hewlett-Packard	O
and	O
EMC	O
provide	O
scale-out	B-Architecture
storage	B-General_Concept
to	O
address	O
both	O
the	O
growth	O
of	O
unstructured	B-Application
data	I-Application
and	O
the	O
need	O
to	O
simplify	O
data	O
center	O
operations	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
file	O
system	O
level	O
,	O
parallel	O
file	O
systems	O
like	O
BeeGFS	B-Application
are	O
available	O
to	O
provide	O
a	O
single	O
namespace	O
with	O
automatic	O
data	O
distribution	O
for	O
shared	O
network	O
access	O
across	O
the	O
internal	O
storage	B-General_Concept
devices	O
of	O
multiple	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Scale-out	B-Architecture
storage	B-General_Concept
differs	O
from	O
scale-up	O
architectures	O
in	O
traditional	O
storage	B-General_Concept
,	O
which	O
primarily	O
scales	O
by	O
adding	O
many	O
individual	O
disk	O
drives	O
to	O
a	O
single	O
non-clustered	O
storage	B-General_Concept
controller	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
a	O
scale-out	B-Architecture
architecture	O
,	O
management	O
software	O
is	O
used	O
to	O
manage	O
the	O
multiple	O
storage	B-General_Concept
devices	O
,	O
to	O
act	O
like	O
a	O
single	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Storage	B-General_Concept
analyst	O
company	O
,	O
Enterprise	O
Strategy	O
Group	O
,	O
writes	O
that	O
scale-out	B-Architecture
storage	B-General_Concept
can	O
help	O
to	O
provide	O
timely	O
IT	O
provisioning	O
,	O
improve	O
system	O
availability	O
and	O
provide	O
better	O
resource	O
utilization	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Storage	B-General_Concept
federation	O
(	O
also	O
known	O
as	O
federated	O
storage	B-General_Concept
)	O
uses	O
distributed	O
volume	O
management	O
to	O
shift	O
workloads	O
from	O
busy	O
arrays	O
to	O
those	O
with	O
available	O
capacity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multiple	O
autonomous	O
storage	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
are	O
combined	O
and	O
managed	O
as	O
a	O
single	O
storage	B-General_Concept
pool	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
helps	O
to	O
improve	O
storage	B-General_Concept
utilization	O
,	O
balance	O
workloads	O
and	O
ease	O
storage	B-General_Concept
migration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
supports	O
the	O
multitenant	B-Architecture
(	O
multitenancy	B-Architecture
)	O
architecture	O
of	O
cloud	B-Architecture
computing	I-Architecture
,	O
in	O
which	O
multiple	O
machines	O
or	O
users	O
access	O
the	O
virtual	O
and	O
physical	O
resources	O
at	O
the	O
same	O
time	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
addition	O
to	O
storage	B-General_Concept
,	O
the	O
other	O
resources	O
accessed	O
in	O
this	O
architecture	O
are	O
processors	O
and	O
networks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
converged	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
does	O
this	O
by	O
moving	O
application	O
workloads	O
between	O
disk	O
systems	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Monolithic	O
storage	B-General_Concept
architectures	O
share	O
RAM	O
across	O
multiple	O
IO	O
controllers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
have	O
been	O
characterized	O
as	O
large	O
storage	B-General_Concept
arrays	O
that	O
require	O
a	O
large	O
upfront	O
investment	O
and	O
resources	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Hitachi	O
Vantara	O
,	O
is	O
quoted	O
as	O
saying	O
such	O
storage	B-General_Concept
requires	O
enterprises	O
to	O
spend	O
$	O
500,000	O
on	O
customizing	O
their	O
data	O
centers	O
to	O
support	O
the	O
power	O
requirements	O
of	O
monolithic	O
equipment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Monolithic	O
architectures	O
support	O
both	O
block	O
and	O
file-based	O
architectures	O
,	O
either	O
independently	O
or	O
in	O
a	O
unified	O
storage	B-General_Concept
system	I-General_Concept
that	O
brings	O
together	O
both	O
block	O
and	O
file	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Direct-attached	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
(	O
DAS	O
)	O
provides	O
scaling	B-Architecture
of	O
storage	B-General_Concept
directly	O
attached	O
to	O
the	O
server	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
storage	B-General_Concept
is	O
dedicated	O
to	O
a	O
single	O
server	O
and	O
is	O
not	O
sharable	O
among	O
multiple	O
servers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
stored	O
on	O
a	O
Storage	B-General_Concept
area	O
network	O
(	O
SAN	O
)	O
and	O
network-attached	B-Application
storage	I-Application
(	O
NAS	B-Application
)	O
architectures	O
can	O
be	O
shared	O
among	O
several	O
server	O
applications	O
.	O
</s>
