VMworld 2016 Q&A: DataCore Showcases Software-Defined Storage and Adaptive Parallel I/O Software at Booth 2406

July 28, 2016

VMworld 2016 Q&A: DataCore Showcases Software-Defined Storage and Adaptive Parallel I/O Software at Booth 2406

Written by David Marshall

As part of VMblog's live VMworld 2016 coverage coming up next month, we're in the process of working up our schedules to make sure we can see and learn as much as possible when the show kicks off. VMworld is the leading virtualization event, and there is no shortage of great information coming out of the keynotes, the breakout sessions, the networking and more. But every year, one of the key places to learn a lot in a short amount of time is the Solutions Expo where valuable vendors from the VMware ecosystem and beyond setup shop to display their wares.

Over the years, VMworld has always had a large turnout of vendors sponsoring the event. And the expo floor always seems massive! With so many vendors exhibiting, how do you know which booths to visit and who to get on your schedule?

Going back as far as 2003, I've personally had the pleasure of following the technology trends that the DataCore Software team has been setting. DataCore has been a force in the IT industry, serving up storage, storage virtualization, Software-Defined Storage and now Adaptive Parallel I/O software solutions since 1998. Most recently, they've been talking about harnessing today's powerful and cost-efficient server platforms to solve the IT industry's biggest storage problem, the I/O bottleneck.

DataCore Software is a leader in software-defined storage. The company's storage virtualization software empowers organizations to seamlessly manage and scale their data storage architectures, delivering massive performance gains at a fraction of the cost of solutions offered by legacy storage hardware vendors. Backed by 10,000 customer sites around the world, DataCore's adaptive and self-learning and healing technology takes the pain out of manual processes and helps deliver on the promise of the new software defined data center through its hardware agnostic architecture.

Read this exclusive pre-show interview with DataCore to learn what they have planned for the upcoming VMworld 2016 event.

VMblog: As a VMworld 2016 sponsor, how can people find you this year? And how many people do you plan on sending?

DataCore: This year, DataCore is a Silver Sponsor and you can find us at booth #2406. We'll have a 20x20 booth with over 20 staff members ready to engage with you, including executives, technical specialists from our product and field teams, and our channel team. To request a meeting at VMworld 2016 or for more information, visit us at http://info.datacore.com/vmworld2016.

VMblog: Is there anything interesting or unique about this year's booth setup? Do you have a theme?

DataCore: Our theme this year is "Learn how to #suckerpunch your I/O problems". The theme is inspired by the fact that in today's environments, 61% of companies experience unacceptably slow applications after virtualizing apps, with 77% blaming I/O problems as the culprit. That's where our solutions can help. Our Parallel I/O technology is responsible for shattering all of the speed and price-performance records for virtualized workloads in both hyper-converged and centralized SAN topologies. It is a playful theme plus notice the use of the hashtag #suckerpunch for fun, social media interaction.

VMblog: If an attendee likes what they see and hear at your booth... what message about your product can you send them back with to sell their boss on your technology?

DataCore: With DataCore, they will have sub-millisecond response for their most latency-sensitive and I/O-intensive Tier 1 workloads. Simply by injecting DataCore software into their existing environment, they can say goodbye to their I/O problems and slow storage and get the industry's fastest response times and lowest cost.

VMblog: And why should a VMworld attendee add you to their MUST SEE list?

DataCore: There are many reasons, but mainly because of our Parallel I/O Technology. With Parallel I/O, your industry-standard x86 servers can fully harness their untapped multi-core & multi-processor computational power to gain the essential I/O performance needed to drive your demanding Tier-1 business application requirements. Unlike other vendors' claims of faster performance, Parallel I/O technology has broken the world record for IOPS, price-performance and, most importantly, response times on the Storage Performance Council's SPC Benchmark 1 (SPC-1). This means that you benefit from dramatically higher productivity and huge server consolidation savings.

VMblog: Talk to us about what you like most about sponsoring VMworld? Why is this a must sponsor event for your company?

DataCore: VMworld really is the place to be. It is one of the biggest industry events. It is where many people in the IT industry as well as our customers go to learn and get informed about the latest technologies for next-generation data centers. Also, it provides great networking opportunities and exposure for our brand.

VMblog: Can you give VMblog readers a sneak peek as to what you will be showing off at your booth this year?

DataCore: Attendees will be able to learn and experience the power of our unique Parallel I/O technology and see with their own eyes how this technology can help them increase the performance of their Tier-1 business applications for higher productivity and consolidate their infrastructure. Also, we will demonstrate the synchronous mirroring capabilities of our Software-defined Storage and Hyper-converged solutions.

VMblog: If you would, please explain or give readers a few reasons why your product or service is considered unique?

DataCore: Our Parallel I/O technology is unique because it can deliver the fastest I/O performance for your mission-critical applications. Unlike other technologies in the market that process I/O serially, our technology can process I/O in parallel. Basically, our technology serves all I/O requests, reads and writes, in a much faster way by taking advantage of the multi-core processors already available in your hardware. This means we can help speed up all of your latency-sensitive applications.

Not only that, but also we have achieved the fastest response time and best price-performance for a Highly Available Software-Defined Hyper-converged solution using off-the-shelf hardware as shown in the results below. This is a much faster solution than All-Flash Arrays and at a much lower price.

DataCore Results

VMblog: How does your company and product fit within the VMware ecosystem?

DataCore: DataCore is a VMware Technology Alliance Partner. Our software solutions offer the most comprehensive storage software that complements server virtualization by eliminating storage challenges and providing adaptive performance, High Availability and unified storage management.

DataCore SANsymphony-V software offers a full integration suite which includes:

SANsymphony-V plug-in for VMware vCenter
VMware vCenter plug-in for SANsymphony-V
VMware SRM Storage Replication Adapter (SRA)
VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) support for:
- Full copy
- Block zeroing
- Hardware-assisted locking functions
- Space reclamation services

DataCore continues to track key VMware innovations and is committed to working with VMware on new technologies such as VVOLs and future ones as they become available.

VMblog: Attendees always enjoy a good trade show tchotchke. Are you guys giving away anything special or interesting this year?

DataCore: Yes, every day we are giving away two Amazon Echo hands-free speakers that you control with your voice to play music, provide information, news, sports scores, weather, and more-instantly. We are also giving away some cool t-shirts and other smaller giveaways.

DataCore VMworld Giveaway

VMblog: Do you have any speaking sessions during the show this year? If so, can you give us the who, what, when and where?

DataCore: Yes, you can't miss our Solutions Exchange Theater presentation. Here are the details about our speaking session.

Title: Next-Generation Infrastructure Consolidation: Going Beyond Server Virtualization
Date: Monday, August 29th
Time: 1:50 PM - 2:10 PM
Location: Theater B
Speaker: Daryn Dean, Vice President, DataCore Software

Abstract: Server virtualization was limited in simplifying and consolidating data center infrastructure due to performance concerns with applications and I/O. In this session, we will show you how to get industry leading I/O response times and the best price/performance so you can reduce and simplify your infrastructure.

In addition, we will be having presentations at our booth focused on performance, VVols, Hyper-convergence and virtualizing MS SQL Server as well as some guest speakers from our alliance partners.

VMblog: Are you guys throwing or involved with any type of party during the week of the event? Can you share the details?

DataCore: We will be hosting an event but the details are still being worked on.

VMblog: What are you guys looking forward to most at VMworld this year?

DataCore: We are looking forward to meeting with new prospects and engaging with them, demonstrating our Parallel I/O technology live to make people go "wow", and making people excited about DataCore and its technology innovations.

VMblog: You guys have been sponsoring VMworld for many, many years now. What keeps you coming back for more?

DataCore: We have been attending VMworld since 2006. We keep coming back because this is the event of the year where we can engage with leaders and experts in the IT industry that are looking for the latest technologies for next-generation data centers. It also provides great networking opportunities and exposure for our brand.

VMblog: What would you say to prospective attendees who are thinking about attending VMworld but aren't sure if it's worth it or not?

DataCore: I's a great opportunity to network with peers in the industry and learn about new technologies that can dramatically make your business more agile.

VMblog: What do you hope to come away with from exhibiting at VMworld? What does event success look like to you?

DataCore: We are planning to engage with a lot prospects, customers and partners. Creating awareness about DataCore and its Parallel I/O technology, letting the world know about our technology's world-record breaking results, generating lots of interest from attendees, scheduling follow-up meetings, and creating a buzz while having fun is how we define success at the event.

VMblog: Do you have any tips for first time attendees of VMworld that you'd like to share?

DataCore: Go to the exhibit hall and stop by the DataCore booth #2406. You won't regret it.

VMblog: What are your thoughts about the venue moving from San Francisco to Las Vegas this year?

DataCore: We like the move as it will change things around and bring something new to the event. Sometimes, when a show is in the same location year after year, it becomes a little stultifying as the vendors do the same things over and over. This move gives the opportunity for vendors to do something different.

Make sure you get DataCore Software on your must see list at VMworld 2016 - Visit them at booth #2406 and find out what's new in their world of Software-Defined Storage and Adaptive Parallel I/O.

Published in vmworld 2016

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David Marshall

David Marshall has been involved in the technology industry for over 19 years, and he's been working with virtualization software since 1999. He was able to become an industry expert in virtualization by becoming a pioneer in that field - one of the few people in the industry allowed to work with Alpha stage server virtualization software from industry leaders: VMware (ESX Server), Connectix and Microsoft (Virtual Server).

Through the years, he has invented, marketed and helped launch a number of successful virtualization software companies and products. David holds a BS degree in Finance, an Information Technology Certification, and a number of vendor certifications from Microsoft, CompTia and others. He's also co-authored two published books: "VMware ESX Essentials in the Virtual Data Center" and "Advanced Server Virtualization: VMware and Microsoft Platforms in the Virtual Data Center" and acted as technical editor for two popular Virtualization "For Dummies" books. With his remaining spare time, David founded and operates one of the oldest independent virtualization news blogs, VMblog.com. And co-founded CloudCow.com, a publication dedicated to Cloud Computing. Starting in 2009 and continuing all the way to 2016, David has been honored with the vExpert distinction by VMware for his virtualization evangelism.